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Boulder City Magazine® June 2009 Issue
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Book Watch
by Fran Haraway
Boulder City Library
Lottery
by Patricia Wood
Perry (named for Perry Mason) L. (stands for Lucky) Crandall is considered an idiot by some folks in Everett, Washington, but Perry knows that he is not retarded. His IQ is 76, and he saw in the Reader’s Digest that retarded people have IQs of 75. |
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Perry was raised by his grandmother, who made sure that Perry had his priorities straight and who lived long enough to have her beloved grandson’s label changed from “slow” to “cognitively challenged”. She loved it!
This young man may have had trouble learning from books, but, thanks to Gram, his coping skills are impeccable. Some pieces of information Perry lives by include:
Drinking is something other people do a lot of.
Remembering is fun. Not forgetting is hard.
Not being fooled is what everybody says they are.
Spanish is like English only you can’t understand what people are saying.
If the songs you like are all by dead people, then you are really old. [I’m a Johnny Mercer fan, myself.]
Perry has a mother and “cousin-brothers” (He knows that, although they are his brothers, they call themselves his cousins.) who make Cinderella’s folks look like Nobel Peace Prize recipients. It is no surprise then, that when Perry wins twelve million dollars in the Washington State Lottery, the familial leeches cling en masse. Luckily Perry has advocates.
First is his best friend, Keith, who drives a banged-up truck named Yo (The To and ta are missing.) and always parks in handicapped spaces because Yo is obviously disabled. Then there are Gary, Perry’s boss at Holstead’s Marine Supply, and Cherie who cashiers at the Marina Handy Mart and sells Perry his lunch-time tuna sandwiches. They all do their best to protect Perry from the circling sharks, but they (and we) find out Perry does what Gram taught him, and Gram taught him exceptional survival skills.
Perry, who delights in word meanings, knows that “idiot” comes from “idios”, which means “private citizen”. According to Gram, “That pretty much sums up just about everybody I know.”
If you are interested in this book or would like to learn more, contact me at info@bouldercity magazine.com.
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