|
A certain Dr. Alfonso Slish, who gives his address only as Double Trouble, NJ, sent me the following letter along with several of the photographs that appear on subsequent pages. I believe this information is of local history interest. (Peter Lucia)
12 July, 2001 My dear Mr. Lucia, While examining several boxes of ephemera, willed to me by Professor Hans Van Vanderhans (famed deltiologist and noted welding machine salesman), I encountered several intriguing photographs of a woman that I am sure are worth your time. According to the notes on the back of the photos (written in Hans Van Vanderhans' hand) the woman was a resident of the North Jersey Shore. At various times, she has gone by the name of Rosamunda, Vilma, Velma or "Starlet." It may be of interest to you that Interlaken (NJ) is mentioned on several occasions and that there is reason to believe the woman resided in this borough. (I am not sure if Interlaken has an official historian, but if it does please forward the enclosed material to him.) Most surprisingly, the notes refer once to Nowever Then (which most certainly will interest you). This reference leads me to speculate on a number of temporal peculiarities suggested in the photographs. Could it be, I wonder, that this woman lived outside the normal passage of time? To wit: "Surly [sic] she is worth[y] of a monograph on the quantum aspecs [sic] of time and memory." This sentence, found on a wine-soaked scrap of paper in professor Vanderhans' gin-soaked breeches, was the last thing written in Hans Van Vanderhans' hand. By his own hand -- employing a vintage stocking thought to belong to the woman in question (as well as a convenient ceiling beam of the sturdiest ebony) -- he expired on September 9, 1999 at age ninety-eight. If you or anyone you know possesses information about the mysterious woman shown in the photographs please contact me. Perhaps together we can complete the work that the good professor envisioned as he dangled and slowly rotated. I remain, yours very truly (etc.), [signed] Alfonso Slish (F.A.S.N.)
|
|
 |
|