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bethb's Diaryland Diary

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The Book Leavers

Ok, so to get to what i want to write about- i have to tell a sad story, but bear with me.

When i moved into my apartment building, my friend and i had finished loading everything in, we were discussing a cute cat-thing we had seen at a store, when i said 'speaking of cats...' Sadie had bolted out the door my friend had left open. She was only out in the hall, but proceeded to run downstairs, Lea and i in hot persuit. I grab ms. LaRue and we go back upstairs and-oh yes...the door has blown shut.

Long-story-short, as i was waiting for someone to help me break into my apaprtment, i meet one of my downstairs neighbors- Dick Levine. Dick was going to introduce me to Vivian, who lives on my floor. As he's knocking on Vivian's door; the door next to hers opens, and Pete appears. Pete is actually able to jimmy my door open because it wasn't the deadbolt, just the thumblock in the doorknob. Made mental note, never rely solely on the doorknob lock. Anyway...what's important here, is that i met Dick Levine. He lived in the first apaprtment as you enter the building. He was, what i would consider, kind of the ambassador of the building. And last summer, in the midst of the 100+ degree heatwave here in Washington, Dick died. The coroner figured he must have been dead for 4 days i think. The police had to break the door down, and when they tell you that that's a smell you don't forget- believe them. I get 'dead-people' whif all the time now. It's gross, and all i can think is 'i smell dead people'.

This happening has many off-shoots i will not forget. Like glimpseing into the room as i would pass it to walk up the stairs. Dick Levine was an old newspaper-man. He was almost nominated for a Pulitzer Prize while working at the Baltimore Sun in the 1960's for an article on the pervasive corruption that ruined baltimore's police department. He was a voracious reader. He would read the Washington Post, the Washington Times and either the NY Times or the Sun everyday. Every. Day. He would also read books by the ton. Occasionally, i would see old and moldy books appear in the vacant stone planter out in the hall. I now understand it was Dick leaving them there to read and share.

He was also a pack-rat.

He never threw anything away. There was (and i am not exaggerating about this) a carpet, 4 feet high, of just....trash...in his apartment. It started about 2 feet from the door, and ramped up to a height that would have burried me to my armpits. Pete also said that his bathroom wasn't really a functioning bathroom anymore. That it had two feet of human waste and tissue paper in it. The cabinets in the kitchen were peeling away from the walls, the walls were dirty and stained, large canopies of peeling paint suspended themselves from the ceiling. It was unreal. If i wasn't so sickened, i would have taken pictures because you just can't find research like that.

His friends started to bail out the apartment. It took them a day to find where the bed had been....probably not slept on for years. His family arrived. It took almost a week to get to the floor. And 142 garbage bags.

While they were cleaning out Dick's apartment, John and Robert (two of dick's friends) were pulling aside books and lining them up in boxes to leave by the sidewalk. Some books the family kept. But most were offered out the the public to continue Dick's efforts to share books and knowledge. ( i myself got a copy of the Tibetian Book of the Dead, and Virginia Woolf's 'A room of one's own')

And since Dick's death, there's been a peculiar phenonmenon.

I call them 'The book leavers'.

People will occasionally leave books on the brick stanchion-things that seperate the sidewalk from the yard of my apartment building. Usually, they're educational books. Almost like school or college tomes. Not so much fiction. The other day, there was a copy of an american history book. I picked it up and when i'm done, i'll return it . Sometime's they're funny in an un-intentional way (Dealing with Erectile Dysfunction. Evidently, Bob Dole was in my neighborhood i guess) But i always think- How cool!

How nice it is for people to do this, and carry on the tradition of Dick Levine.

Knowledge is power. And check on your elderly neighbors not just during the summer, but all the time.

Last night at the Most Secret Method show, Marc Nelson told us all to cherish the hugs we give and recieve. He's absolutely right.

Now for a little bit about last night: Tocar from Kalamazoo Mi. opened. They were right-on. And the drummer was so cute, i considered for a moment, lifting the ban on boys from Michigan...having had my poor lil'heart broken three times now by them. It was my first time actually seeing the Dusters. And Hilary Solidary from Smart Went Crazy joined the most secret method for Guess the Route. Amazing. Plus, i don't think i've ever seen an electric cello before. How cool. It looked like an abstracted sculpture of a cello.

The most secret method aren't just amazing musicans, but amazing people as well. I'm sad that i won't get to hear marc sing for a year, but seeing him around at work won't be so bad either . :)

14:26:26 - 2000-06-11

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