Darkness and stars at noon

The group is reading Arthur Koestler’s Darkness at Noon (1940), “a book known to the world only in translation” for most of its existence (the German manuscript, which went missing in wartime, resurfaced in 2015). I’m reading the supposedly flawed translation by Daphne Hardy that everyone used for decades. Does the novel deserve its lofty Modern Library ranking? Probably not, but it’s engrossing enough; and it’s not difficult to read, which is lucky because my household has been ill. (I should read more “secret agent” lit. Nothing is so glamorous-gloomy as sad-sacks slinking around European capitals.)

Probably a red herring: Denis Johnson wrote a 1986 novel called Stars at Noon about espionage/​political dissent in Nicaragua. It was moviefied in 2022 by Claire Denis, with a Tindersticks soundtrack and with Margaret Qualley and Joe Alwyn in disagreeable but involving lead roles (I’ve seen the movie, not read the book). Apart from (a) similar titles and (b) the themes of spying and revolution, there’s little to connect this story with Koestler’s. (Well, the movie and Koestler’s book do both feature a mephistophelean interrogator. He’s a Communist in Darkness and a CIA operative in Stars.)

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Martin’s Super Market sent this postcard to gloat about the demise of our local Kroger.

About eight years ago, Martin’s began shrinking its Portage Ave./​Elwood St. store, which served an even poorer neighborhood than our Kroger. It converted a grocery store into a mere meat market; then, in 2020, it closed the store altogether.

A sad realization for the boys

Out strolling, the boys didn’t want to go home just yet, so they begged to go to Kroger. “There isn’t much food there anymore,” I told them. (The store’s final closure is scheduled for this evening.)

They begged to go anyway.

So, we walked up and down the all-but-empty aisles. The boys were shocked. Samuel cried all the way home.

“I’ll only drink water now,” he said.

“Why, Sammy?”

“Because Kroger is closing forever.”

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A few remarks about my other sons, so as to be fair to all.

Daniel was treated to another solo outing (that is, without his brothers). Here he is at the zoo, with his Grandpa Scott. Notice how he’s leashed.

Abel has learned to scoot forward on his belly. When not impeded, he beelines for the cats’ plates. He overturns them and licks the pellet-food.

Today he seized the Trollope novel I was reading and tore its cover.

It was The Warden, which details the misdeeds of churchmen and reformers. A novel of enduring relevance.

I’d turned to it after reading Hatch’s Democratization of American Christianity (for the group).

(Jane Austen is a clergy critic, too.)

R.I.P. Western Avenue Kroger

STORE CLOSING

(A sign posted at our Kroger.)

Shoppers are invited to use the “neighboring” branch, seven miles away, on Ireland Road.

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Nearer to us, at a distance of just one mile, is the much “Guccier” Martin’s Super Market. It shouldn’t be too miserable to walk to, after the heat dome has dissipated.

(I walked to Martin’s and back, in the heat, on Sunday; and when I got home, I promptly fell asleep.)

But I don’t think I’ll often stroll to Martin’s with the children – not even in good weather. We’d have to scurry over busy Mayflower Road.

There’s a crosswalk, but cars aren’t meant to halt there. They just slow down. And not every time.

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I’ve almost finished reading Sense and Sensibility.

This is my favorite S&S cover painting. It adorns a Penguin Classic – but I’m reading from an old Modern Library omnibus.

A savage read!

Did you know that christianbook.com sells literary classics? (Only certain classics. Not, e.g., Sade or Céline. But still.)

I didn’t know, before today.

S&S is on sale now.

“NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE!”

Hot today, huh? I mowed this morning: it was only going to get hotter. I left ten percent unmowed. I felt like collapsing.

I lent the mower to our neighbor, and he mowed his lawn and felt like collapsing. When he returned the mower he told us about his recent excursions to Kroger. The security guard there embroiled himself in a dispute, and a half-dozen shoppers slipped away without paying. Another shopper loaded a hundred dollars’ worth of meat into his cart and fled without paying. Our favorite worker got fired for shoving someone in a dispute; he’ll get rehired, our neighbor expects. Our neighbor “almost got into it” with the butcher, then with the deli worker. Then he “almost got into it” with the worker who shelves the sleeves of bread (who’d nearly run him over in the parking lot). “Sounds like you need to chill out,” I told our neighbor. We like him, we get along great, but the better we know him, the more people he tells us he’s “almost gotten into it” with. He’s a chill guy, he assures us.

I worry that our Kroger will close down, because that’s something that happens to less-than-upscale supermarkets like ours. Please pray that it doesn’t close down. We love and need our Kroger.