Monday, April 9, 2012

Report From Page 70 (Give Or Take)

I'm too lazy to check if I'm on page 70 or 71 or whatever in The Shade Of The Moon. But I'm pretty sure I'm around there somewhere.

I'm taking today and tomorrow off from writing. I visited my mother this morning and I have a meeting of my good deeds organization in about an hour. Originally I planned on doing some writing after the meeting, but I worked last night instead.

Tomorrow I'm having lunch with a friend, and then we're going to see the movie Footnote (which is not the same as the movie Footloose, although they're probably related on their mothers' side). I can hardly be expected to work on a day where I'm having lunch with a friend and going to a movie.

Because Footnote is about Talmudic scholars (as opposed to Footloose, where there's nary a Talmudic scholar in sight, although it's a well known fact that Talmudic scholars can dance up a storm), I decided to google my grandfather, Rabbi Pfeffer the Talmudic scholar. Rabbi Pfeffer was dead long before I was born, which is why I call him Rabbi Pfeffer (as do some of my cousins, who also didn't know him).

Google was very excited when I googled Rabbi Pfeffer. Indeed, I googled in Alter Saul Pfeffer, and they asked me if I'd prefer Alter Shaul instead. So after I Alter Sauled, I Alter Shauled for a bit.

Oh, this is why he was named Alter Saul. Maybe it was him, or maybe it was an ancestor of his (my father didn't know), but some Saul in the family was very ill, and to fool the Angel Of Death, they added an Alter to his name. As a result, I have quite a number of cousins named Arthur (and one named Arnold), as opposed to cousins named Saul (my brother, Alan, was named for my mother's uncle Abe, in case you were wondering).

Anyway, there were a few Alter Saul Pfeffer entries and a few Alter Shaul Pfeffer entries, including ancestry.com, which claims Rabbi Pfeffer and Mrs. Rabbi Pfeffer (I didn't know her either) had 18 children, which would be enough to get them a reality TV series, except to the best of my knowledge they had 10 (9 of whom lived). Many of those unknown and probably unreal Pfeffer babies, ancestry.com thought were named Private. Not even Alter Private.

The favorite thing I discovered by way of Google was that three of my grandfather's letters were auctioned over the years. This one is my personal favorite because it has his signature. At least I assume that's his signature. Don't ask me what the rest of the letter says, because the only part I understand is the letterhead.

I think it's very cool that my grandfather Rabbi Pfeffer is a collectible.

I've also been following the poll results, over on the right side. I think it's pretty funny none of you think everyone will live. Granted, I don't think everyone will live either (they're all alive on Page 70 give or take, but that doesn't mean they'll stay that way), but a little optimism is always in good taste.

Oh well. Maybe I should change all my characters' names- Alter Miranda and Alter Alex and Alter Mom.

That'll fool the Angel Of Death!

12 comments:

Bonnie Jacobs said...

Oh, you are witty today! I love this post and am inspired to Google a grandparent or two.

Signed,
Alter Bonnie

alter emi said...

Yay,nobody dead yet! :) If you kill Miranda I will cry.

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Hello to Bonnie Jacobs and alter emi (you could start a trend)-

As of the moment, Miranda is a live and well, and will most likely stay that way. I'm not so sure about Scooter though, since he's spent much of today (right now included) blocking my view of the monitor.

Not being able to see what I'm typing could have a strong negative effect on my career!

Rebecca Gomez said...

Wow, a lot of people think Mom is going to die! I could see that, especially considering how reluctant she was to even leave the house! I asked my daughter and she said "Mom" without even thinking.

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Good morning Rebecca-

Yes, Mom definitely gets a plurality of the dead meat votes.

My guess is it's because she's the oldest on the list, and therefore the most vulnerable.

I'm kind of surprised the brand new character option didn't get more votes. I'm very fond of killing off non-family members!

Anonymous said...

What are your plans for Miranda, if it's okay to ask?

Anonymous Santa Fe

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Hello Anonymous Santa Fe-

I can't give away too much (not without shrieking SPOILER all over the place), and the book is maybe 1/3 done, with details of the ending definitely not ironed out yet.

But as of the moment, Miranda's on course to be alive with a relatively happy ending.

Anonymous said...

Will she end up being a "granny doctor"?

Anonymous Santa Fe

Kate said...

Just thought I'd drop in a word to say I really love your books, and I absolutely can't wait for the next one!
I think it's nice we heard a bit from Jonny's point of view, considering he's probably one of the worst off since he's so young.

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Hello (again) to Anonymous Santa Fe and hello as well to Kate-

I'm reluctant to give too much away (because people get mad at me when I do) but I will say Jon is in good shape and Miranda doesn't become any kind of doctor!

depgrl said...

Hi, where are your Pfeffers from? My ancestors' name was spelled Pfefer. They were from Radom-Kielce, Poland.

Unknown said...

fyi--i googled and found (among other things, including this page) the ancestry page to which you refer. the 18 kids were 9 kids, each listed with hebrew and english names.
nomi