Passing the time ...

Originally published in the Ketchikan Daily News, November 2009; written by Tammy Dinsmore

I recently took a trip on the ferry. Since the weather report was predicting some pretty bad weather I opted to take along a couple books and some movies to pass the time.

Red’s Hot Honky-Tonk Bar by Pamela Morsi is a fun, romance story of a woman (Red) in her forties who owns and runs a honky-tonk in Austin, Texas. She is happy with her life, her bar is doing well, and her relationship with a younger guy is going great. Then she gets a call from her daughter, Bridge, who is serving in a medical unit in Afghanistan. The woman who was taking care of Bridges’ two children (their other Grandmother) has had a stroke and is in the hospital. Bridge needs Red to take care of her kids until she is able to get home.

Red doesn’t think she did such a good job at raising Bridge, so she’s really unsure about taking care of her grandchildren. She lives in the apartment above the bar with just enough room for herself. And what will the boyfriend think? He doesn’t even know she has a daughter.

While Red is trying to juggle work at the bar, caring for the kids, and her boyfriend, there are also things happening in the neighborhood. Construction crews show up and start tearing apart her patio that sits on the bank of the San Antonio River. A redevelopment project has started and, until now, she has ignored the paperwork that came in the mail.

I’m not going to tell you what happens, as that would spoil the story. It does however have a happy ending!

Out of the half-dozen or so movies I took with me on the trip, Slumdog Millionaire was by far my favorite. I’d been meaning to watch it but just never took the time until this trip. I am usually pretty skeptical of movies that win tons of awards like this one did. I was pleasantly surprised.

Jamal Malik grew up in the slums of Mumbai. He is now 18 years old and one question away from winning 20 million Rupees on India’s version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”. The host of the show is sure that he has somehow been cheating and has Jamal arrested. Jamal claims his innocence and throughout the movie tells the story of his life growing up with his brother and how he comes to know the answers to some of the questions. There is plenty of violence in the movie but also some romance.

If you find yourself with some time over the Thanksgiving holiday, there’s no better way (in my opinion) to while away the hours than with a good book and/or maybe a movie or two. Come in and stock up!