Whenever I read at the airport, it is burned into my long term memory.

59. The Haunting of Frances Rain – Margaret Buffie

Let me start with this, ghosting when someone already has tickets to a very important show that is on your side of the country is not very nice. The person who has the tickets will probably never forgive you, especially if those tickets were to see Uncle Acid on the very day of their birth. However, that very situation is what led me to reading this book in the Atlanta airport while waiting for someone who was a vastly better companion for the entirety of my birthday odyssey (we all knew I was describing myself being ghosted, right, being screwed over is one of the houses for my wheels when it comes to relationships, not just me though, thankfully).

Anyway, I was having a hard time concentrating on it because the baggage claim area associated with the flight I was tracking moved like three times and I kept looking up and seeing that it was different and having to wander down to a big screen and re-check and then go find a new part of the wall to lean on and I got there too early because I know that airport is confusing, I have been a passenger there before.  Eventually I found a good post to lean against to wait and realized that this is a pretty intriguing book.

The characters were realistically drawn, which is pretty necessary when there’s a pair of glasses that allow the wearer to see the past as the catalyst for the story… The setting is very densely composed; it’s easy to feel the damp chill and see the rotting remains of the cabin on the island. I also realized that I’ve barely read anything set in Canada and the little details that I didn’t recognize were amusing. And, not unlike the situation that precipitated my starting this book, there were no loose ends that did not resolve in a satisfactory manner. Although, to be fair to satisfactory resolution, the story didn’t have any pandas, but mine totally did. Me and Yang Yang have the same birthday. He was napping through his- that was not my path. But, his name means “little sea” and this story is set on a lake. Everything’s coming full circle there. Ew.

Belvedere has never been to the airport in Atlanta, seen Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, or watched a panda sleep. He’s also never successfully worn glasses to see into the past, paddled a canoe, or had a summer romance while coming to terms with his stepfather. He’s also never made an attempt to ruin anyone’s birthday so he’s definitely still ahead.

Mixtape:

1. I Come from the Water – Toadies

2. Mud – Legendary Shack Shakers

3. I.O.U. – Tomahawk

4. The Worst There Is – The Ettes

5. Runaway Girls – Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats

6. If Crimson Was Your Colour – Witchcraft

7. Solitary Traveler – Torche

8. Black Motorcade – Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats

9. I Am Lost – Those Poor Bastards

10. A Tall Shadow – Graveyard Train

11. In the Pines – Widowspeak

12. Sweetheart in the Summer – Ween

13. Cemetery Breeding – Black Mountain

14. Sulk – Trust

15. Mile Markers – The Dead Weather

16. Capt. Midnight – Tomahawk

17. Shout Me Out – TV on the Radio