26 dec 14, friday afternoon, 12:56 p.m. e.s.t.this is #14 from macdonald for me...128 page paperback with the title you kill me..."previously published as you live once"copyright 1956 john d macdonald...original title: you live oncethis edition, january, 1961, you kill mestory opens:i have never awakened easily. i have always had a sneaking envy for those people who seem to be able to bound out of bed, functioning perfectly. i have to use two alarm clocks on work mornings.the prolonged hammering at my door finally awakened me. i groped blindly for my bathrobe, and shouldered into it as i walked heavily, still drugged with sleep, from the bedroom of my apartment out through the living room to the front door.i just finished a science-fantasy, as i believe macdonald calls it in an afterword...possibly the second story he ever wrote...marked it as a favorite Wine of the Dreamers check it out. good reada note on the narrationt'would appear that this is a 1st person, eye-narrated piece. time place scene settings*sunday morning in may*clinton sewell's apartment in warren...at 989 jefferson*locust ridge club*smith lake...jones beach...the pryor place is here...their beach place*the warren dump*a logging road off the road to the lake*warren tube & cylinder division of consolidated pneumatic, inc. where clinton sewell is employed*toni's apartment at 985 jefferson*the c.p.p. building on madison near 50th in new york*the tree on the pryor farm*the raymond residence*police station/jail/interrogation room*raphael's...a little place on broad...bar restaurant *warren public library...the office of two newspapers in warren, one establish in 1822 characters major minor peripheral real imagined name only*clinton sewell: our hero, eye narrator. he has an apartment in warren...works at the warren tube & cylinder division of consolidated pneumatic, incorporated...this is his second summer in warren, his second summer in the midwest, and he finds mary dead in his closet, strangled with a belt he never uses*two men standing on the shallow front stoop, one in uniform, one not*mary olan: *some woman...golf...with mary, 27 holes...name provided later in story, neale bettinger...repeatedly mistakenly called miss bettson by the cops*mary's aunt*the raymonds...friends of mary's...clinton's*the commissioner of public safety*the pryors...the olans...money families*dodd raymond, clinton's boss...and it is implied that mary and dodd are an item...and that clinton is trying to help...end it. seems like nancy knows, nancy, dodd's wife...or, that is implied*nancy raymond, dodd's wife*some fool...who turned into the driveway...waiters, doormen*an energetic salesman*mrs speers, busybody landlady of clinton's...she was married, raised a family, but lives alone now*rolph and nadine olan...possibly mary's parents? nadine was a pryor is in a hospital...sounds like...she killed her husband who was cheating on her*a taxi driver...who drives clinton to retrieve his car at the club*willy pryor, is/was nadine olan's brother*myrna hubbard...married to willy pryor*mrs speers youngest daughter...who played with mary olan when they were younger*father and two yellow-headed boys...at the warren dump*various clerks...taxi drivers...a multitude of women characters who open doors, answer telephones.*three girl children of myrna and willy pryor:*jigger, dusty & skeeter...15, 16, & 17*john fidd...works the pryor farm and tends to the beach property*swedish lady, mrs. johannsen. cook*her daughter ruth, who helps cook...cleans*nels yeagger...keeps the boats running, odd jobs...all four of these/above work for the pryor family*tony wylan, friend of clinton sewell...he is in new york...and provides information as needed*dodd raymond's mother...and her nurse*the guys on clint's level at brookways...the plant where he works...the girls in the office*a woman with a top sergeant voice*a hollow-eyed brunette with a staccato bray*meyer davis and bobby hackett...real life musicians?*a man who looked like a bald pekingese*a junior miss*marciano...the boxer/fighter...hemingway...john donne*homer stace, executive vice president in charge of production, member of the board*sharp-eyed girls from the offices*a soft-voiced duchess...a golden girl*a troop of brownies...one brownie...her mother*judson sutton, chief of police, warren*captain joseph kruslov, related to gus kruslov, who works at the plant where clint sewell is employed*paul france...a private investigator hired by the family*men who dated mary...*bill mulligan...don rhoades...mr sewell...nels yeagger*watson, a cop, a sergeant behind a wicket...a bored man...a sniffling girl...a short fat matron*yeagger was with a guy and two girls...one of the girls had a husband*the girl at the piano in raphael's...sounds like or style like previn...presumably a real life musician?*clinton sewell's girl...secretary, antonia "toni" macrae*danny, a cop...tow truck driver*mrs. timberland...toni's landlady*jerry hyers, a lawyer*reverend doctor lamarr*mr upmann...to do with funerals*a young lady, miss angora, with very large breasts that point the way...the upstairs girl*the people with regular hours were leaving*a bouncy, swarthy little girl*simpy...one of the horses at the pryor farm*ray walt...the previous head honcho at the plant where clint is employedan oddball metaphor/simileclint's hands are like the frail drifting wings of toy gliders...say whud? heh!update, 27 dec 14, saturday morning 5:50 a.m. e.s.t.and i'm done. good story. be interesting to read a biography of macdonald...see what is there. 'cause his fiction is suggestive, as are the promotional photographs on the back cover. reading macdonald's stories, you begin to get a sense of the dynamic between men and women, a sense of what was allowed and what was taken...you begin (i do) to recall scenes from black and white television...back when you had to traverse the living room to change the channel on the old philco...or follow the same path and reach behind the warm box to turn the controls, get the picture to stop rolling top to bottom or from side to side. you recall the fluttering eyelids of the dame in the arms of the man...always in coat and tie...the lady in a dress...lipstick...all of them playing a part. and then you think back to the first time you set behind the wheel...ma in the front seat the old man in the back and you, worrying about how you turn the wheel...the actors on teevee always turned the wheel...a lot...and you're worried, is that how it is?reading the stories...i dunno...maybe you notice the pendulum swing. macdonald uses the phrase in this one, the evil of righteousness and what with the permissible denigration of all things religious in our time you begin to wonder if things haven't always been that way. pendulum? what pendulum? you have these men and women, many of them in macdonald's stories prone to the same urges that provides opportunity for a president to do what he did...much like a macdonald character, half the globe wanting to punish, the other half turning away. seems like there is that...conflict of desires in the stories...and i've wondered if the same conflict was present in his life. a desire to be good...whatever that is...and a desire to be bad...whatever that is.i'm not getting anywhere, am i? heh! so...good story, good read. there's quite a cast of characters here...all manner of people. some elements are off...but they move the story and help end it and that's the way, oh ho, uh huh, we like it.
