The Crusty Crew

Hello again,

When last we left our intrepid hero he had stumbled upon the world of competitive scrabble at his nearby bakery and been soundly defeated by a sweet little old lady. Louise is one of the regulars at Panera. When asked how she is doing, she invariably replies “fat and sassy” though she is neither overweight nor caustic (a stiff finger joint did result in her infamously giving an opponent the bird in the middle of a game though). Somehow she manages to make intricate art in miniature scale using bird eggs as backgrounds for tiny scenes from the life of her friends and family. She plays scrabble with a group of friends that though younger than her, are much more set in their ways. They have bizarre house rules, tend towards group games and not one on one contests, and shun all the myriad methods available for improvement. Louise just shrugs and beats them with the knowledge and techniques she has gained from the club.

Kathy (with a K and not to be confused to Cathy with a C who we will get to soon) is another regular and also a senior citizen though not quite the link back to Babe Ruth and Roosevelt our matriarch provides. Kathy acts and writes and publishes books and goes to game show tapings and generally stays pretty busy. I hear she is ex-military though she looks like a strong wind would whisk her away. Maybe she was kind of skinny secret agent able to fit into (and sneak out of) tight spots. Hmm..... And the scrabble skills come from years of code breaking and memorization. I have probably said too much... Moving on.

The last of the Silver Squadron (as I think of them) is Jo Ann. An active member of Friends of the Library (and unconfirmed founder of Foes of Blockbuster or F.O.B.) she also is very involved with her church. She claims that these activities are how she knows so many people. The math just doesn't check out though. She appears to know every other person that passes us by. I privately believe she knows the other half also, but just does not like them as much. Her vocabulary, like her social network is also near infinite. If there is a word that a person could learn from life experience and/or extensive reading, she knows it. Not just the spelling mind you, but the meaning as well, which is extraneous in scrabble. It is only the truly obscure, the words that scrabble list memorizers have learned (or at least their spelling and pluralizations) that are sometimes outside her grasp. She is learning those too though. Heaven help us all...

There are many more members to go, but it is time for a break. Club will meet in a little while and I want to find a few words/ people that are odd enough that Jo Ann will not know them. Wish me luck.