Chamblee54

When PG took Spring Fever back to the Chamblee library, the facility was getting ready to close. Make your final selections, and bring them to the front desk.
PG took a stroll through the fiction section. He saw that no unread books by Mary Kay Andrews, or Raymond Chandler, were available. PG decided to check the Armistead Maupin section. (Spell check suggestion: Farmstead Maudlin) Significant Others did not ring any bells. PG decided to take it home.
It became obvious before long that PG had already read this book. The old copy on the book shelf was a clue. The Tales of the City series is great fun, and reading one a second time is worth the effort. Besides, you can compare the two editions. The already owned copy was printed in 1994. The list price is $12.00. It had a picture of a younger Armistead Maupin. “He lives in San Francisco with his lover and partner, Terry Anderson.” (PG heard once that Mr. Anderson is from Marietta GA. Mr. Maupin met Mr. Anderson in Atlanta, while on a book tour. There is no link for that story.)
The library copy has text identical to the shelf copy. It was printed in 2007, and has a list price of $13.95. The picture of the author is smaller, and has much more gray hair. “Maupin lives in San Francisco with his husband, Christopher Turner”.
There are a few quotes which were remembered from the first reading. These quotes each say something about the story. For those who are new, the Tales of the City books are collections of a newspaper column that Mr. Maupin wrote. It is the story of a collection of people who live by the bay. One of the prime players is Michael Tolliver, who lives in a house at 28 Barbary Lane. The house is owned by Anna Madrigal. She does not have a large role in S.O.
“Michael looked out to sea. “That was nineteen eighty one … the last time I went” “Four years,” said Thack. (A tourist that Michael befriends.) “It seems like forty,” said Michael. He turned and looked at Thack. “Does it bother you that I am positive?”
AIDS hit San Francisco earlier, and harder, than it hit Atlanta. In 1985 it was mostly a rumor in Georgia. This would change in 1986, as the bug made up for lost time. Meanwhile, in California, men were dying left and right. There were few treatments, and even less support from the general public.
“Michael regarded him for a moment, then said: “My mother gave me a new address book last Christmas. I haven’t written in it yet, because I can’t make myself leave out the people who are dead. I can’t even cross out their names”.
Some of the women in the story go to a music festival called Wimminwood.(Spell check suggestion: Satinwood) One of the ladies is just a bit rowdy. “She gets like this,” offered the woman with the ice chest. “She was with the post office for thirty seven years.”
This was a clue to the time PG read S.O. In the years at Redo Blue, the lady who ran specs was married to a retired mailman. PG repeated the quote for this lady, who appreciated the truth of it. This means that PG read S.O. roughly eleven years ago.
Maybe now would be a good time to mention the principal at Cross Keys the first year PG was there, His name was William Armistead. PG never had to talk to him. PG’s Aunt had a man who worked in her garden named Armistead. He would get locked up, and Uncle Ralph would bail him out.
Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”.