{"id":974,"date":"2014-06-18T10:52:43","date_gmt":"2014-06-18T18:52:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/?p=974"},"modified":"2016-09-28T12:58:22","modified_gmt":"2016-09-28T20:58:22","slug":"the-heinz-ketchup-american-an-ophelia-perhaps-mystery-part-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/2014\/06\/the-heinz-ketchup-american-an-ophelia-perhaps-mystery-part-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Murder at the B&B. An Ophelia Perhaps Mystery."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why would I not<\/em> order\u00c2\u00a0fish and chips here?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Eagle and Child, when you hit it right and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not too crowded, is the best pub on the planet. A literary pedigree, low ceilings, a bright and helpful staff, and fabulous cooks. Even featured in the\u00c2\u00a0Inspector Morse<\/em> TV series. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m early, so I watch Dad as he enters ten minutes late. He seems to know the waitress, says something that makes her laugh, then orders fish and chips and a pint of lager at the bar.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hey, Pumpkin. You look nice.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Dad always notices clothes. Sometimes that drives me crazy. Especially when I dress in a hurry, and then he notices that<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153So, Dad, why are you ordering fish and chips? They make a lot of other \u00e2\u20ac\u201c \u00e2\u20ac\u0153<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Why would I not<\/em> order fish and chips here? They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re great. And I get to sit where C.S. Lewis sat, and I like to think he<\/em> would have ordered fish and chips as he was holding forth about whatever.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Tolkien maybe. I think Lewis would more likely be having a bowl of soup. More Presbyterian.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well, whoever. I like their fish and chips. I come here whenever I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m in Oxford. Are you going to come to my talk tonight?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still not sure. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m working on a case.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Really? Well, how about I throw in some psychological bits about Diggory Venn?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He knows I adore Diggory Venn, the patient, heroic reddleman in Return of the Native<\/em>. If I could somehow conjure Diggory Venn from thin Dorset air, I would. A\u00c2\u00a0 farmer, someone sure of himself, a man of the earth. If I could find somebody in any<\/em> way close to being Diggory Venn, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d melt into his arms.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh, Dad. You know I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m such a sucker.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well, try to come. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s at that lecture hall they always book me in at Christchurch at 6:30.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll try.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

As I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m leaving the Eagle and Child, I spot a tall man in a checked shirt leaving Blackwell Books with a package under his arm. White hair, cap, coat over his arm. This is it. This is the man who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been following me. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure of it. I get into my car and with great purpose start the ignition. I follow him a few blocks till I see him stop, look in the window of The Albion Beatnik Caf\u00c3\u00a9, test the locked door, give up, and walk around the corner. I’m suddenly hungry for Dennis’s famous lemon cake. I decide to go to The Beatnik the next morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why would I not order\u00c2\u00a0fish and chips here? The Eagle and Child, when you hit it right and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not too crowded, is the best pub on the planet. A literary pedigree, low ceilings, a bright and helpful staff, and fabulous cooks. Even featured in the\u00c2\u00a0Inspector Morse TV series. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m early, so I watch Dad […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ophelia-perhaps-mystery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=974"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1129,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/974\/revisions\/1129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kathygrossman.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}