One of my sons, Adriaan, is coming today with Christina, his wife. Since they live near Nashville, we don’t manage to get together very often. This weekend happens to be his 40th high school reunion, but it’s also very close to the birthday that he shares with my husband, Bill, and we’re also marking the publication of my second book.
The Girl Who Talked Too Much is a memoir of what it was like to grow up with my sister Kippy, who had an intellectual disability, and whose Tourette’s syndrome made it possible to listen in on her thoughts. Adj remembers her very well, since we saw a lot of her during his childhood.
We had lived in Melbourne Beach, only three houses from the ocean and a half-hour south of Cape Kennedy. He was only six when we moved back to this area when the space program ended, and his dad got a job as an engineer for one of the phosphate-mining companies.
When he called to tell me he was coming, he said he wanted to buy both my books, the one about Kippy and American Governess, about my year in a Bavarian castle. “Can I get them from you?” he asked, on October 17.
“Well, I just ordered author copies of both of them, but I’m not sure when they’ll get here. Let me check and I’ll get back to you”
So…..that was how I learned that my copies wouldn’t be delivered until November 10. Rats! Probably the reason is that the publisher doesn’t take as large a cut, since the author gets a discount. So why would they hustle?
He ordered a copy of each one on October 20, and had them shipped to me so I can sign them.
They arrived yesterday, October 24.
Ann Dickinson Sargent 