Redartz: Greetings, all! Today we're doing something a little different, and your help is needed. Allow me to explain:
Have you ever tried to remember something that was 'right on the tip of your mind', so to speak? Many of the subjects we discuss here are things we recall both fondly and vividly. Comics, tv, films, music, toys, all manner of esoterica; almost anything we can remember is fair game at BitBA. One nice side effect of our discussions is that it triggers memories that we may have forgotten. Someone's comment might suddenly cause us to remember a long-forgotten book , or a commercial that has languished in our sub-memory for decades. This is my goal for our discussion today.
I have an example for you, one that inspired this post today. I'll share it, and perhaps someone among you might be able to reveal the 'missing pieces' of this memory. And then you can bring up any half-memories that you'd like to complete, and maybe we can all help each other out.
My faded memory is as follows:
Years ago, when I was about 9 (this would have been about 1970), I read many books; especially adventures and mysteries starring kids. You know, Hardy Boys, Encyclopedia Brown, and many other such books of less reknown. Therein lies my difficulty. There was a story that included a specific phrase which has stuck in my mind ever since. I believe the story was about a boy visiting a relative and finding mysteries. The phrase: "...I could see the lights of Connecticut across Long Island Sound".
Allow me to explain a moment. For many of you, that phrase may seem pretty unremarkable. But I was a shy kid, living in the flat farmlands of Indiana, surrounded by pretty ordinary scenery. I had traveled very little, but had visited many places via the books and comics I loved. Among the locales I dreamed of most was the New York area- prompted no doubt by all those Marvels. Even the place names seemed a bit magical to me: Manhattan, Long Island, Connecticut, Yonkers. Although I don't recall anything else about the story, I remember that boy gazing out alone across the night-darkened waters towards faroff lights, and imagining what lie beyond. That boy could have been me. A bit naive, I know. But that mental image really stuck with me, even up to today. That brief passage perfectly evokes my youthful (and still active) longing for new horizons. I still have never been anywhere near New York, but I still hope to. And when I go, I hope also to find an opportunity to take a nighttime excursion to Long Island, and to look for the lights of Connecticut across the Sound.
Sorry for taking so long to get to the point. My question, and I realize this is very very little to go on: does anyone recognize that story or book? I'd love to find out what that line came from. If nothing else, I finally got to pull that phrase from my head and send it out into digital space.
Now, even if you've no clue as to the identity of that book, you have a chance to pin down your borderline memories. Is there a comic you half remember, a book you loved but can't remember the name of? Perhaps there is a song whose lyric you know, but not the title. Again, it's all fair game today. Let's see if we can solve a few mutual mysteries. Thanks for participating, and thanks for your patience as I wax personal today...