It’s so cold in the woods and the ice is strong, glassy, I glide the wetlands in my boots. After about twenty minutes, I think, this will be a short walk. I’ll just take the short way, up this trail and head home. But then I forget I’m uncomfortable, and I keep going, the long way. Then I think, okay, I’ll take this shortcut back, but no, I realize I want to keep taking the longer way, and so, luckily, I don’t miss finding the nest of bittersweet in the far meadow, a splash of bright red splendor hidden in the tangle of dead bracken and vines.
Albert DeSalvo, the Boston Strangler, was arrested on this day, January 13, 1966 [Boston Globe]
Today I got an e-mail from a friend, Anne Ellinger, who reads this blog. Kindly, she asked if she could read the unpublished story I wrote about my brother Bobby’s birthday that I mentioned in my #NewThisDay blog on January 11. So, on my walk, I decided to share it – secretly – with Anne, and anyone else who reads #NewThisDay, like a hidden surprise for anyone interested. And, serendipitously, as I uploaded Strangler, and all the illustrations today - I realized this day is the day the Boston Strangler was finally arrested, on January 13, 1967!
So, if you’d like to read Strangler: My illustrated personal narrative of the January my baby brother was born and the Boston Strangler was on the loose, you can do so here. You MUST enter the PASSWORD: mumps. (I’ll leave it up until February 1, 2019.)
I hope you enjoy reading Strangler as much as I have enjoyed writing it, and thank you for being a reader of #NewThisDay.