The Tolkien Coming of Age Club

[mark12_30]

Thanks, Sam. Rae is right, you are a treasure.

She was such a lady; refined and sophisticated, gentle, kind. The last time I spoke with her, we were sitting on my garden bench. She surprised me with a gift shortly after that, and then she quietly moved away, and that winter she was gone.

Yes, she knew him. We prayed and worshipped together often, and studied the scriptures, which makes her despair all the harder to endure. Someday perhaps we'll laugh about it; at least we'll celebrate the King together.

If I ever meet Mr. Wood, I'll thank him for Barney Snow; watching that movie was like soul-surgery, or like focusing a lens on the whole story. Suddenly things snapped into place. Frodo was all well and good; but Barney Snow was, to me, his most gripping role. I guess it's all what a story connects to.

Then again, maybe when Frodo sails west next year, it'll all come crashing down. Ugh-- I dread it.