We had a bit of a road trip last week, a 600-plus mile triangle through the Southland, and more than once along the drive, I thought far too much about Henry Bemis.
People are also reading… But at the root of it is driving, and these days, I wouldn’t get to Montgomery before I’d be ready to call it a day. I simply don’t have the patience for it, but I’m grateful that there are many who do.People of a certain age may remember an old Twilight Zone episode starring Burgess Meredith as a bank teller who loved to read.
One day he took his lunch break in the bank vault and while he was inside, reading a newspaper, he read a headline about the capability of the hydrogen bomb. Moments later, he heard a tremendous explosion, and emerged from the vault to discover a hydrogen bomb had destroyed everyone and most everything around him.
I saw this on television as a child, and the overarching theme – be careful what you wish for – has stuck with me ever since. I’m from a generation that should remember Burgess Meredith as The Penguin on the old campy Batman and Robin shows, but for me, he’ll always be Henry Bemis, the central figure of a cautionary tale.