I read a lot of news, for obvious reasons: I’m whelmed (if not overwhelmed) by the dreadful times the Trump administration has shoved us into.
The impetus, I suspect, is to learn everything I can about it because what I know gives me power. Which, in this case, doesn’t really.
But one thing I have gotten from all my reading is sort of the opposite of full knowledge and power. I have found mysteries. Strange things that have happened, stories that capture my imagination — an imagination, I must confess, bent since the age of 10 toward mysteries, the ones in books, the ones the reader can potentially solve before the last pages.
The mysteries I’m reading about now, though, can’t be solved by a thorough read. They can only be wondered at. And wonder, I do.
Since these mysteries act as little vacations from the Horror of It All, I’ve decided to share them with you. Just as I like to tell you about things that make me laugh, in the hope that you too will get a kick out of them, I’m going to tell you about the mysteries I’ve read, just so that you too can get a teeny vacation.
Today in the Times is this daring, in-front-of-cameras-and-guards jewel theft from the Doge’s Palace in Venice. It sounds a bit like the old caper film, Topkapi, doesn’t it? (If you haven’t seen Topkapi, do; it’s a lot of fun.)
Meanwhile, you can ponder how the thieves got into the jewel case, got the jewels out and escaped without any obstruction. I can’t figure it out.