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Maximum occupancy: 4 (very skinny) people. Seeing my own mug, I heard Rosetta Thorpe singing, "Trouble in mind, I'm blue, but I won't be blue always. When you see me laughing, I'm laughing just to keep from crying."

Twenty-five years ago, I used to listen to that while lying in bed with Grace. Hi, Grace! I saw her last in Milwaukee. I hope you're doing well, Grace.

We also heard "Shout, Sister, Shout!" Here's a verse:

There's a reason for living
A reason for dying
A darned good reason why a woman starts crying
A reason for a mole,
a reason for a dimple
But there ain't no reason why a man's so simple

Grace loved that last line. Just about every time she heard that, she'd laugh and say something like, "That's you, kiddo!"

Grace was 36. I was 21.

Mieko Kawakami gave me this excellent Fujifilm camera. Thank you, Mieko! I hope you're happy and productive in Tokyo. You're a beautiful soul. We'll meet again before everything falls apart, I hope.



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