A Day in the Lonesome October-fest, October 25

The continuing account of reading A Night in the Lonesome October with an nine-year-old, out loud and during the day.

October 25

This chapter has my mom's favorite line:      Growing moon.  Angry cat.  Feather on the wind.  Autumn comes.  The grass dies.

Also, of note, I took Lily out Trick or Treating, and she said to her friend, "I'm reading a really good book with my dad, Roger Zelazny's A Night in the Lonesome October? Have you ever read it?" While I'm afraid my immediate circle of friends has given her a distorted impression of Zelazny's popularity, I am very pleased to be raising a second generation Zelazny evangelist.

Lily had a lot of questions about the specifics of the shadow ritual, which I was't able to answer beyond "That's just how it functions." We also had this interesting exchange.

"Are Morris and MacCab openers or closers?" I asked.

"I'm pretty sure they're openers," Graymalk said.

"Yes," Cheeter agreed. "They are."

"What about the Good Doctor?"

"Nobody knows. The divinations keep going askew for him."

Lily: Is he even a player?

Me: What do you mean?

Lily: He doesn't seem to do anything. He just hangs around on the outskirts.

Me: *steeples fingers*

Her attention wandered a bit during the shadow ritual, and I do think it is a bit longer than it needs to be. Still, we enjoyed it.