The End Is Ever Drawing Nigh

Hi Everyone,

I wasn't sure if I was going to do anymore posts, but then kpro and NadiyaM told such great stories that I thought I would do a few more.

I started writing about Forrest because after his passing it seemed like people were either staying silent (those that knew him) or saying bad things about him (those that didn't really know him). That made me mad. So I said to myself, "Well, at least I can tell the good stories that I know."

Kpro has a thread out there on secrets that Forrest may have shared, but didn't want released until after he had passed away. I don't have any of those. I have shared what I can of things that I knew (that weren't common knowledge and related to the Chase):

• My story on his autobiography. He never told me to keep that secret, but I felt like it was implicit since I knew it was supposed to be a surprise for his family.
• Confirming that he did pull scrapbooks out of conversations and emails that reminded him of topics.

We talked often about the famous people he knew, hunting for artifacts in the old days, what happened in Vietnam, and the art business. He told a lot of good stories from those conversations, but Forrest prefaced about 25% of those stories with "You can't tell anyone, but …." And I have taken that to mean forever. And my memory isn't good enough to recall which stories I was supposed to keep secret and which might be okay to share. So I feel like I need to honor a cone of silence across all stories that don't directly involve me. And I think that is probably how he would like it – I once pointed at that display in the office that has all the knives and hatchets and asked, "Do you know the stories behind all those things?"
"Yes."
"Have you written them down?"
"No. Sometimes it is good for history to forget." I may not have that last quote exactly right, but it was close to something like that.

But I can tell this story about the Loom of the Desert.

Oh, before I forget – Kpro mentioned a few of the things she learned from Forrest – one of the things I learned from Forrest is to try to be more social. I used to take Forrest to the Pecos Trail Café for cheese enchiladas with red chile as it wasn't far from his house and we could talk without people dropping in. Their menu description:
— Enchiladas —
Your choice of Chicken, Ground Beef, Vegetables or just cheese and your choice of Chile. Served with beans and rice $10.50

The first time I took him there, I grabbed the check as soon as it was dropped on the table and Forrest with a stunned look said, "No one ever buys me lunch." I explained that I could probably afford to buy him a few $10 cheese enchiladas. If you are in Santa Fe, let me know ([email protected]) and I'll do my best to buy you a cheese enchilada at the Pecos Trail Café. You can sit where Forrest used to sit – and if you put hot sauce all over the plate, then life will be really good.

This is Forrest's copy of the Loom of the Desert . He wrote a chapter about it in Once Upon a While and did a blog post on it.

What I thought was really interesting is this inside cover. I have never seen anyone put an elaborate note like that in the front of a book. Forrest didn't include this cover page in either of the write ups that he did so only the future owner of the book would ever see this. It is sort of like putting a note in a bottle and casting it adrift. I need to think up my own note to add to it – maybe I'll describe the day I got the book from him.

Here are just a few more interesting pages from the book.

Buying one of Forrest's cherished books was always a two-step process. First, I would ask whether he was willing to sell the book. I never had him say "No" to a request, but he always seemed to think about it for a few seconds. Then we had to agree on a price and he always made me make the first offer. In this case my offer was $500. A normal first edition copy of the book sells for round $200. So I doubled it knowing that his copy was worth more. He hesitated again, which meant he thought I was too low so I said "$1,000?"
"Okay. I made that book famous." As way of explanation for the price. But there is no real way of knowing its value – other than it is priceless for me to read it knowing how much he loved it.

And here is why I titled the post "The end is ever drawing nigh." This is NOT Forrest's copy – I would never mark that up – it is a cheap reprint. Isn't it interesting that one of Forrest's favorite books – a book that he wrote up twice so that people would pay attention to it – would contain a line from the poem?

Russ

The End Is Ever Drawing Nigh

Source: https://www.hintofriches.com/forum/the-hint-of-riches/225718-the-end-is-ever-drawing-nigh

Posted by: mickelsonwaaft1990.blogspot.com

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