Ginger and I Watched Another Sherlock Holmes Mystery
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Between dealing with jetlag from nearly a day in a plane returning from Burma and trying to get caught up with teaching and writing, I am running around acting like the proverbial chicken with its head cut off. However, Ginger was delighted to see me again and wanted to get back into our daily cadence, which includes seeing a Sherlock Holmes film on our date night. Therefore, on January 20th, which was the day that I turned 75, I made my favorite quickie dinner of tortellini, asiago cheese, and bacon bits. It takes less than five minutes and most of the preparation time is waiting for the microwave to heat the tortellini and then waiting for it to melt the asiago cheese over the tortellini and bacon bits. During those waiting moments, much of Ginger’s dinner preparation is done. She got her regular two cups of puppy chow mixed with two tablespoons of cottage cheese. 
While we munched upon my culinary masterpieces, we watched Dressed to Kill. I hadn’t seen that film which came out in 1946. Interestingly, that was three years after I was born in 1943. Even though it was a new movie for me, it fit Arthur Conan Doyle’s pattern of mystery thrillers. Essentially, the storyline is about three music boxes. The boxes were made by an inmate at Dartmoor Prison. They were sent out of prison and were auctioned off apparently to make money for the prison. While they weren’t musical masterpieces, they did have great value to the person that possessed all three. 
One of the music boxes at auction The person that made the three boxes used the tune in each box as a code to the location where plates for printing the British 5-pound notes were hidden. If a person possessed all three boxes, that person could make real 5-pound notes. Ginger seemed more intrigued with the plot than I did. In fact, she asked, “Why aren’t you all excited about this film noir?” I merely said that I am still adjusting to jetlag and being out of the country for most of winter break from teaching. I had a lot on my plate. Ginger got my message of my lack of excitement and decided to discuss the film from several statements from the film that she remembered. The first and second quotes were both from Sherlock Holmes. Ginger said, “Sherlock Holmes was teaching Dr. Watson and the world that it is important to view the total picture. Sherlock Holmes said, ‘Elementary, my dear fellow, one of the first principles in solving crime is never to disregard anything no matter how trivial.’” I gave a tacit reply, which indicated that I agreed but wasn’t into discussing the matter any further. Interestingly, Ginger was on a roll and continued regardless where I was. “Sherlock Holmes also warned to avoid accepting things that seemed obvious. I think that this is close to what he said. ‘However, it's a mistake to accept something that's true merely because it's obvious.’ I think that you and I need to remember that.” Again, I nodded an approval. Since I was into discussing anything that Ginger mentioned, she continued. “The other quote that resonated with me was what Dr. Samuel Johnson said, ‘There is no problem the mind of man can set that the mind of man cannot solve.’ I think that Johnson wanted all people and I presume dogs not to give up attempting to resolve a host of problems in life. Don’t you think that is true? You wrote about your granddaughter, Ti Ti, and her always able to put her mind to resolving questions. She set up her email and Skype accounts and has discovered how to us her laptop.” I accepted Ginger’s comment, but told her that I needed to check on my online class and then head off to bed. I replied to a couple students and went to bed. The next day arrived in what seemed like a couple of minutes. I proofed some essays and taught for several hours. Later that afternoon, Ginger and I went for a walk in the snow at the end of the lake. Ginger loves to play in the snow. I am still fascinated that the cold and the snow doesn’t have any ill-effects upon her. She’d play in the snow for hours. Finally, I said to Ginger that I was dressed to kill. It was my attempt to bring a bit of humor to my getting cold. I wanted to go home and get warm. Instead of beginning our walk back, Ginger returned to her comments about the movie the night before. 
“You know that the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller, must have watched Dress to Kill. He is a lot like Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Johnson. He looks at everything without dismissing anything and doesn’t accept the obvious. We will benefit from his investigation of Donald the Dumb, our fake president. Interestingly, he will investigate the situation until he has solved the problem.” I responded to Ginger that I agreed. Having Donald the Dumb as our fake president is beyond the pale. With that, Ginger continued her enjoyment of the winter weather and snow. This is the video of Dress to Kill.
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Visit the Thus Spoke Ginger page to read more about this topic. 01/29/18 Follow @mountain_and_me |
