I’m in a dream where snow is piled up in this parking lot, covering the cars, but out of nowhere mine appears, the snow having been cleared off by some miracle. Only thing, it’s a U.S. Post Office mail delivery
vehicle – which belongs to me. The first person who figures out what in blazes that means gets a free, signed copy of my book, Murder in Palm Beach: The Homicide That Never Died.
The book was the subject of what awaited me Tuesday morning after the alarm clock snapped me out of my winter fantasy and I twisted my head for a look at the blinds-covered bedroom window, through which a faint light seeped, signaling dawn. I had an appearance set for 7:45 a.m. before the Rotary Club Palm Beach of Flagler at the Chesterfield Hotel in Palm Beach. That is a masochistic hour for yours truly, who on most nights has not gotten to bed much before then.
But not for the 20-some hale and hearty, bright-eyed souls, younger and older, who gathered for breakfast, a few business items, and a book presentation that would have left me nodding off. No somnolence here, I quickly learned, as a flurry of enthusiastic questions erupted upon the completion of my reading. I must say, it was a thoroughly delightful experience, and these curious folks bought a boxful of books.
The event organizer was the effervescent Mary Rogan, an abundantly resourceful woman with boundless energy. I’m well along with another novel, and this is one group that I’m hoping will, in another year or so, invite me for a Rotary reading redux.
Many thanks to Mary and her merry band of rugged Rotarians.