No one’s hurt, no houses collapsed as far as we can tell. Some vases broke, and the Caboose didn’t budge! The earthquake was 5.6 according to the US Geological Survey. The mirrors on the stair swung about a foot according to those on the scene (ie my family).
Inspirational Quote:
Would you not like to try all sorts of lives — one is so very small— but that is the satisfaction of writing — one can impersonate so many people. Katherine Mansfield
Impersonation carries so many risks! A casual description would be like comparing a cartoon to a Rembrandt work of art. To be successful one would have to be prepared with endless details of another’s life or to substitute one’s own details which would risk immediate detection by anyone prepared to question them.
While chatting at an otherwise boring social party I met a young man who identified himself as a sociologist with his specialty being Thanksgiving dinners. Being bored (see above) I challenged this occupation as being intrinsically flawed as most of said dinners would prove to be essentially the same and unworthy of a paper – much less a Master’s Thesis (not to say the PhD!) Instead of stunning my opponent, his superior smile did not waiver and he suggested that I tell him in detail the content of my family’s previous Thanksgiving dinner – which I did in thorough and boring detail. He pressed me further: instead of “turkey with dressing” I was pushed to describe minutely, for example, the stuffing: “the same in both orifaces? what was added to the bread chunks? from a package or torn by hand? gibblets chopped and then added? nuts? mushrooms? wild or from Safeway? moistened with drippings? milk? melted butter? salt and pepper added? other spices? called “dressing” or “stuffing” or other?” Endless details pressed me further and further. Finally in conclusion he gave me a detailed description of my family’s history for many generations back: partly English, mostly French and Dutch but forced to emmigrate to Switzerland and then to the U.S. for religious persecutions (Huguenot),settling in the U.S. Southern mountains, etc. Never again will I affect superiority over someone else’s choice of profession!