Punky and the Revolution

I helped a patron today find the phone number of a family in Italy that had taken her in from a refugee camp when she was a young woman fleeing Communists in Hungary in the 1960s. She cared for this Italian family's children and then eventually moved on to the United States after being granted asylum. She was going back to Italy and wanted to see them and thank them again for their kindness. We were able to find a couple of promising phone number leads and she came back a while later to say that she had reached them on the phone and then we both got a little emotional together. I have a special soft spot for survivors of communist totalitarian regimes because we get a lot of haunted survivors of the Cultural Revolution in China at this branch. Orwell had no idea how bad it could get. 1984 was a real walk in the park in comparison.

Earlier I spotted Punky roving around the neighborhood with a videocamera - just like Leni Riefenstahl, but a lot more mincing and drunk. I was wondering if Punky had taken up videography as a new hobby when the Feisty Old Broad came in and said that Punky told her he 'found' the camera on a playground bench. I'm sure he found that video camera just like he found the bike he stole outside the library. He then tried to sell it to her and every single person that passes through the park, but there were no takers. Even the wig shop/thrift store on the corner, which is notorious for fencing stolen items, won't touch it.

The FOB said that she saw that the frantic and heartbroken owners took out an advertisement in the paper offering a reward for its return in yesterday's paper. The FOB said that she was going to go to the homeless center and threaten Punky that she would call the police on him if doesn't return it. I hope that the rightful owners get it back, but Punky is so spiteful that I fear he will destroy the camera rather than relinquish it, even if it is of no use to him. He's just that petty.

Loretta Update

It's now summer and Loretta has taken a new lover. Putting her boozy coquetry and cozy new lodgings to work, she got herself a man and she is now cohabitating with him in her new residential hotel room. I hope he treats her decently.