We hadn’t been to one of Diane and Hal’s “Read to Me” evenings for a long time but last night our stars were aligned and we were able to attend.  It apparently was a good night for lots of folks, for there were nineteen of us gathered in a spilling-over circle in their cozy living room.   There may have been almost as many people who couldn’t make it.  I know that from those who didn’t answer the call.  The format of the evenings works like this:
     1.       People gather at 6:30, reading material in hand.
     2.      On the coffee table is a bowl containing little pieces of paper, each with a name on it.
     3.      Diane pulls out the first name and that person reads.
     4.      The reader then pulls out the next name and that person reads.
     5.      If no one answers to their name, the paper is set aside.
     By the end of the evening, there were a number of ‘extra’ names on the table.  I was amazed at how many.  And, I must confess to feeling a tad bit relieved that not everyone had come…  It was a long evening.
     As has always been true when we’ve been in attendance, we knew or at least had met everyone there.  We were an eclectic group and, predictably the reading selections we shared were disparate – from the story of Cinderella in “Politically Correct Bedtime Stories” to excerpts of translations of Pushkin’s poetry.  There was even an original essay by one of the guests and a sort of book report about guardian angels by another guest who had come away from home without his book.
     I wished, as I always do, that there was time to ponder and discuss each selection but that, of course, would have taken us well into the wee hours. So, we toddled home and off to bed and put our thoughts on hold for awhile.  I wished, too, that I’d written down a few of the titles but, as usual, I thought of that too late.