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So yesterday evening I got home from work and immediately took Benjamin and Gabriel around the block to start selling popcorn to our neighbors. I was a little nervous because I wasn’t sure how well the boys would do with rejection.

When I was a kid we would sell tickets to a troop jamboree. I don’t remember how much they cost but we would set up at the local civic center and demonstrate “scout skills” I realize now and probably understood then too, that this was a pretty lame event. What I don’t think I grasped was how kind it was of my neighbors to support me when I asked for it. Although, even with the generous neighbors I had as a kid only a few of them had any interest in buying tickets to the scout jamboree.

So I wasn’t sure how they would handle rejection. The good news is that after visiting maybe 12 houses in an hour last night I’m still not sure how they would handle rejection because virtually nobody rejected them!!

There was one house of foreigners who maybe didn’t know anything about the scouts who turned their noses up at the price of the popcorn and didn’t buy any, but I attribute that to not understanding what the scouts were doing.

Otherwsie, EVERYONE gave us something. One old man didn’t want any popcorn but gave us $1.75!! Another woman who didn’t want popcorn actually went to the trouble of writing us a check for $5!

The boys were very good about how they presented themselves. They would ring the bell and then when someone answered it they would nervously introduce themselves:

“Hi! My name is Ben/Gabe Solomon and I’m with cub scout pack 615 here in Melrose. Would you be interested in buying some popcorn to support scouting?”

They were IRRESISTABLE!! Young women and old women would smile and giggle at the adorable scouts in their uniforms who were being unbelievably polite in a day and age when few children offer respect to their elders and are polite. There were some working men (like tradesmen) who were very generous as well. Everyone seemed to like scouting! It was very impressive. By the end of the hour Gabriel didn’t want to do the talking any more and would have been happy to let Ben do the talking. But I think they actually get something out of the process so I wouldn’t let him back out.

They sold a fair amount of popcorn and said they would like to go out again tonight. I wouldn’t mind going out again, but I would prefer to do it before the sun goes down, which is about 5:45pm here.

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Xanth: A Spell for Chameleon (2007) Movie Preview with Cast & Crew, Photos & Trailer at The Movie Insider

Way back when I was a lad, just cutting my teeth on fantasy and science fiction literature, my parents used to take me to the local bookstore where they would spend literally hours of time wandering their three aisles of books. No joke: three aisles. no exaggeration: hours. the bookstore was called “Gateway”. As I recall, the last time I was in my hometown it had closed down.

Well, my brother and I had to find something to do there, so we would pick out a book in short order and sit down to read it. In truth we rarely got very far in to the books. In any case, one of the first and most accessible real fantasy books I read was called “A Spell for Chameleon” by Piers Anthony. Although I have fond memories of it I have no illusions about its place in the pantheon of fantasy literature.

I looked at Epinions to see what they thought of it and they used words like lighthearted, imaginative, juvenile and inconsequential.

I remember someone I knew described Piers Anthony as a mysoginist. I don’t remember that coming through in this book, but its been, maybe 25 years since I read it. wow.

So when Ben and I were returning from camping we were talking about things and he expressed an interest in writing in general and about gnomes in particular. He’s developed an interest/fascination with gnomes lately. Don’t ask why - well, don’t ask me.

You can ask him, but I have no idea.

So we were talking on the way home and his interest in fantasy in general and writing made me think that he’s probably ready to take on a full-sized book and I remember A Spell for Chameleon as being funny and silly and … accessible, you know? He’s ten years old. I think he’ll dig it.

So I ordered it from half.com and it just arrived today, so I can give it to him this evening.

I wonder if he’ll be interested or just discard it.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

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Over the last five days I’ve gotten, maybe, 25 pieces of spam in the comments.

I continue to reject the necessity of making people register with a central authority before posting any comments. I think that would discourage posters.

So I’m going to see if I can find some way of verifying that a user is a real person. I’ll see what I can find.

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CNN.com - Malawi politician victim of vampire rumors - Jan. 11, 2003

BLANTYRE, Malawi (Reuters) — Hundreds of angry Malawians hounded a senior political figure from his house and stoned him late Wednesday, accusing him of harboring vampires.

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