Episode 8 - The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare
Welcome back to Pickaxe friends, where we meet Polly Duncan (Melinda got dumped and went to work in Boston) and we have Qwill's first Big One - the first big snow that starts blanketing Moose County from November until the thaw in April.
Senior Goodwinter dies suddenly in a car crash, leaving the future of the Picayune in the hands of Merry Widow Gritty, who wants to sell as soon as possible - so she can run away with her lover who also happens to be the buyer. Qwill intervenes with the reappearance of Harry Noyton who manages to save the Picayune's name, but not the paper - a fire destroys the historic building and sends Qwill on a nosey mission to uncover the source. Iris Cobb is engaged, married and widowed in the space of one book, we meet the Old Timer's Club and there are more Hamlet quotes than you can shake a stick at!
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My Thoughts:
With Polly on the scene, Qwill’s tastes become blatantly more literary - it’s clear LJB has expansive knowledge of early 20th century literature and with Polly in play, she gets to use it. Everything from Polly’s name (short for Hippolyta in Midsummer Night’s Dream) to a cutesy scene with Koko ordering Qwill to bed with Hamlet (Tis now struck twelve, get thee to bed). It tapers off somewhat in later books, but basically this one is ALL THE SHAKESPEARE! (And made teenage me feel smug for being able to identify most of the quotes - score one for the obnoxious theatre kid).
Another running bit is Qwill’s thrifty nature, and how it fails when he encounters Scottie of Scottie’s men’s shop. The more Scottie (the Scot) burrs his “r”s, the more Qwill buys.
Names are big here - as we learn more about Moose County, we meet the people who will populate it - Homer Tibbet, the Exbridges, Derek Cuttlebrink, so on and so forth. At one point, the names are described as Shakespearean and I think that’s deliberate, not just for this book, but the whole series.
Poor Iris - she doesn’t cook well when she’s excited - there’s a mushroomless omelette, salt in the applesauce and sugar in the soup before the big reception. In all of the books where she is featured, she has an irrational love for a pine wardrobe, named as a Pennsylvania German Schrank (a highly decorative combo of wardrobe, curio display and cabinet). She saves it from being trashed in the Cat Who Played Post office, so it’s only fair that Qwill offers it to her as a wedding present. When Herb tells her she can’t have Antiques in the house, she gets in a great zinger - “He can give up his smelly habit. You don’t hear the surgeon general issuing warnings about ANTIQUES!” Go Iris - you may be man-crazy but you are not going to be a doormat this time!
Sign of the Times - while a previous book refers to Word processors (the children of the typewriters) this book refers to actually computerizing the museum catalogue! We also get a line about how “Computers and Video Recorders do not a civilization make!”
Country folks is Different and Moose County Folks is More Different! - per Homer Tibbet.
A note on Homer Tibbet - he later becomes famous for having a mysterious flask in a paper bag and while the revelation after his death near the end of the series is different, I believe, He is absolutely having a nip with his coffee in this book!
Finally, Cats will be cats: Koko interrupts the meeting of the historical society by riding on the new elevator with a mouse he caught! And when Hixie tries to film a commercial with Koko to promote the fancy cat meals, he is hilariously uncooperative. Notable - when the minister asks if anyone has any objections at Iris and Herb’s wedding, Koko responds with a firm, “YOW”. He was right.
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