A Small Slice of Summer - 1975

I'm giving warning upfront that my gut reaction to A Small Slice of Summer is "Gah" (pronounced with a glottal stop and a slight gagging sound). A Small Slice of Summer is a real Curate's Egg.

Letitia Marsden (almost exclusively referred to as "Tishy", yuk.) is a recovery room nurse. Perhaps the only recovery room nurse in Neeldom. She has had "an unfortunate experience" with a Medical Registrar. Which sounds waaaay worse than it was. He invited her to go to Brighton for a weekend and she turned him down. He got back at her by shocking her with the news that she is "old-fashioned" and not even very pretty. Ouch. Yeah, that's pretty much the whole "unfortunate experience". Because of this, Tishy doesn't trust any man under the age of 50 years of age. That's quite the sweeping indictment of an entire sex, based on one weasel. Right off the bat I don't have much sympathy for her.

As a recently certified nurse, Tishy is not exactly rolling in the dough. She spends a fair amount of time calculating how much money she can spend in the cafeteria. All the girls are "protective" of poor little Tishy. Maybe if they weren't she could grow a spine. As it is, she is an invertebrate jellyfish. Squishy, yet occasionally poison. Deadly poison. Her version of poison is to scowl at men who have the temerity to smile at her. Which is precisely what happens when Doctor Jason Mourik van Nie smiles at our gal. Dr. Jason is good friends with cross-over character Julius van den Berg Effert (from the much more delightful Damsel in Green). Jason knows all about "the unfortunate incident"...seems like everyone knows about it. Move along, people, move along.

Evil Medical Registrar stops by the recovery room for a spot of dumping on our gal...and who should walk in, it's Doctor Jason! Who is Tishy riled up at? Doctor Jason. Why? Exactly.

Time to head off to Aunt Maud's to cool off. Disregard Aunt Maud, she never makes an appearance. On the way to said mythical aunt, Tishy falls off a curb, into the path of a grey Jensen Interceptor. The car belongs to Jason, and never fear, he manages to brake nearly in time to avoid hitting her. Nearly. Her ankle is sprained due to her lame-o attempt to fall in a way that won't hurt her new outfit. Her tights are ruined...when Jason cuts them off of her, neatly, just above the ankle. Instead of taking her to Aunt Maud's, he kidnaps her...and takes her to Dalmer's Place. Yes, THAT Dalmer's Place...the part-time home of Julius and Georgie van den Berg Effert. It's okay, she's been there a couple of times before...her older sister Margo is a great friend of Georgie. Georgie immediately puts her matchmaking cap on and sees hearts and flowers where there are none. Yet.

Jason has a few things to tell Tishy:

1. Not all men are villains.

2. Tishy is almost pretty when she smiles.

3. Tishy is a very touchy girl.

Jason drives Tishy home - it's sort of on his way to Plymouth. Thus begins the Typhoid Infected Gypsy Interlude. Tishy and Jason bond over feeding the scruffy dog, boiling water, and burning their clothes. After wasting some perfectly good Rich Tea Biscuits on the hungry dog, Tishy gets her knickers in a twist because...well, really for no good reason. Tishy does not take well to some implied criticism of her old clothes...and the implied hint that they should have been burnt months ago...and this leads naturally to the realization that she is in love with Jason. Right. In typical Neels style, Tishy will now have to hide her love away. She knows it's a bad idea...she's more sensible than that. "Common sense at times could be a dead bore."
Jason and Reverend Marsden bond over a mutual love of porcelain figurines, such as Shepherd Boy with Dog. Men and their hobbies...

Back at the hospital Tishy pines a bit. She is looking plainer than usual. Her modest looks are suffering. Margo (remember the older sister?) shares a birthday party invitation to Georgie's birthday. Which is all well and good until she hears, I mean overhears Julius and Jason talking about her...and Jason damns her with faint praise. She's not that plain and she's a nice girl. She's mad...and she's not going to take it. Take what? Exactly.

House party at Dalmer's Place...Tishy saves the Day! There is an episode involving a bull in a field...she not only saves Georgie and her daughter Polly, she also distracts the bull so that she can save Jason too. During the house party, Tishy spends a fair amount of time with Cousin Karel...who is pretty close to her in age. They laugh and joke and have fun...almost like he's a brother. Let's keep that term "brother" in mind.

I could go through the play by play, but let's not. Suffice it to say, Tishy is in love, and spends a lot of time being snippy, cold, sour, uneasy...all traits that seem to endear her to Jason. Yes, Jason is in love (why, oh why?) but thinks that Tishy might really like the younger man, Karel. Jason finally proposes, but neglects to say the three magic words - I love you - so Tishy declines. Jason discovers that Karel really loves Mary, Tishy is rude and icy to him - which must be quite the attraction, because he tracks her down at work where Tishy shows her true colors, again, and is shrill, cross and furious. I predict a ton of make-up implied conjugal relations in their future.

Verdict: Gah. A Small Slice of Summer is the pathetic Side B. A few good moments, but overall, not so much. Tishy is even more unpleasant than the less than enchanting, Samantha. Jason is not unpleasant, but he just doesn't really register that much. There seems to be no good reason for him to fall for Tishy...maybe it's a gratitude thing for saving him from a charging bull? Kidding. The Great Betty was not on the top of her game with this one. The quote I used (from Pirates of Penzance) for yesterday's trifle would work just as well for this book, so here it is again."Individually, I love you all with affection unspeakable; but, collectively, I look upon you with a disgust that amounts to absolute detestation." I'm going to be super generous and give this a beans on toast.

Food: A slab of treacle tart because starch was filling. cold roast beef, rhubarb pie with clotted cream, bread and butter, scones, Rich Tea Biscuits mixed with canned corned beef (for the gypsy dog).

Fashion: Tan jersey cardigan with a shell pink blouse that she had bought instead of eating properly, old slacks and a cotton shirt that have to be burned, last year's blue and white striped dress, green voile.

Triple-Berry Trifle

It's time for an easy summerish dessert. In order to qualify for a summerish dessert at my house, the stove and oven MUST remain off. No extra heat added to our air-conditionless house.

Here's what I came up with. It's a variation on trifle that required no stove top/oven work at all. At least not for me. The microwave was employed, but in a fairly minimal capacity.

This trifle also qualifies as a "dessert by the numbers". Easy as 1-2-3. Let's get started.

1. Make one package vanilla pudding (I used the microwave directions). Allow to cool in refrigerator, then mix about half and half with whipped cream (or Cool Whip?).
2. Thaw out a cup or two of frozen strawberries, then puree in the blender with a spoonful or two of sugar, to taste.
3. Slice a pound cake into about 1/2 inch thick slices.
4. Spread marionberry jam between slices - like you're making sandwiches. Cut sandwiches into 1 inch cubes.
5. Let's start layering!
6. I covered the bottom of my container with pound cake sandwich cubes.
7. Sprinkle with blueberries.
8. Drizzle a little of the strawberry puree.
9. Spoon on some pudding/whipped cream.
10. Add some sliced strawberries.
11. Repeat.

There's nothing magical about the recipe. Change any step you'd like. Substitute different fruit. Make your own pound cake...instead of pudding, make custard...or use lemon curd. Go wild.

Verdict: 19 year-old Alex liked it in a general way - in a sort of "chunky chicken soup" way. Dr. van der Stevejinck declared it delicious. I am not a huge trifle fan - there's a great quote from The Pirates of Penzance that sums up my feeling: "Individually, I love you all with affection unspeakable; but, collectively, I look upon you with a disgust that amounts to absolute detestation." Yeah...I like all of the components, I just find the finished dish a bit too busy for my taste. I don't actually find it disgusting, it just doesn't work for me as a complete dish.

Question of the Week

In Uncertain Summer, when Serena is at home she is asked to describe this Adonis on Gutter Crutches--the one what smashed up the E-Type Jaguar. She says,
"About twenty-six."
"Good looking?" asked Susan, who had been sitting silent all this time, not saying a word.
"Yes, very. Fair and tall."
"What a rotten description," Susan sounded faintly bored...

Now, I'm not one to cast stones but The Great Betty was a lover of the words 'vast', 'lint-fair' and 'sleepy'. Still, Susan has a point. If Serena were really in love she would say more. To that end I ask, in one sentence how would you describe your significant other (even if it's a cat)?

Here's mine:
Mijnheer van Voorhees was a man of parts, all of which insisted on aging at their own pace.

Contest Reminder

Just a reminder....we've got a contest going on right now. You have until Saturday morning (on the west coast of North America....). What are we doing? Here's a link to the contest post. We're giving more memorable titles to some novels with less than brain sticking titles. And the candidates are:

The End of the Rainbow
A Small Slice of Summer
The Most Marvelous Summer

You can either post your submissions in the comment section here OR email us and I'll post it for you (see email button on sidebar).

I know, some of you are saying to yourselves:
"But Betty Debbie! I've never even commented on this blog before. It might be considered presumptuous of me." To that we say, "Nonsense! Join the party!"

"But Betty Debbie! I live in Reykjavik - how will I get my prize?" To that our response is, "Sure, it might take a while for you to get your prize, but we always make sure our carrier pigeons are well fed before any trans-oceanic flights. The cost of pigeon feed is no object."

Word of the Day

ducky, duckie [ˈdʌkɪ] Informal

n pl duckies

Brit darling or dear: used as a term of endearment among women

adj

delightful; fine

Uncertain Summer is littered with duckies.

And now that they mention...I don't hear males in Neelsdom employ 'ducky'--just the chain-smoking daily help or the sluice room maids or slightly ribald girlfriend.

In America there is only one definitive Duckie--he of Pretty In Pink fame. The un-getter of girls, his tombstone will read, "Dumped at Prom". When my Korean roommate watched this beloved classic with me in college she was mystified. Evidently the awesomeness of Molly Ringwald is not trans-national. Her red hair, awkward body and overbite were lost in translation.

So, duckie is taken. We don't use duckie. But, if I were a sluice room maid (and heaven help me, sometimes it feels that way), I might call my dishy nurse friend 'honey'. But it's not just a between-girlfriends thing. That's why my four-year-old can't wait until he's old enough to be a 'husband' so that he can have a 'hon'.

Upcoming Review

Monday, July 19th. Britannia All at Sea. The girl is a stalker! Sprained ankle, the mother of all misunderstandings.

Thursday, July 22nd. Chain of Destiny. Brain surgeon, delicate snoring, not one, but TWO worn out donkeys.

Uncertain Summer - Discussion Thread

Serena marries a cousin of the man she's in love with. Most people would marry anyone BUT a relative of a former jilt. Think of all those family dinners, family reunions, family holidays. They're all going to have to learn to laugh about it...or ship Laurens to the Antipodes...so much more imaginative, not to say farther, than Pittsburg.



The sexton's wife just had her 'sixth and surely the last?' baby. They arrived with almost 'monotonous regularity every eighteen months or so'. All were 'remarkably healthy'. This Betty has six...and the sixth was surely the last.

Laurens' E-Type Jag had pulling power...for girls. Hey Baby. Check out my fancy sports car that is in no way compensating for anything that I might be lacking. I was going to put a picture of one here - but whoever did the cover art must have had access to either a picture or the real deal.

Serena handed off to night staff nurse and a male nurse because "sometimes things got a little rough at night'. I love the thought that a male nurse gets night duty because a little muscle is needed at night. Muscles aren't needed during the day?

Betty has some grisly accidents involving children. This time it's a beaten baby. This will not be the last time Betty wrote about serious social issues. The Great Betty was well aware of the seamier side of life...drug addicts, neglected children, stabbings, riots, abandoned babies, muggings, bombings...whoever still thinks Betty Neels just wrote fluffy fiction, raise your hand.

Serena asks Gijs if he will wear a wedding band. This is not the only time this happens in Neeldom...and every single time it happens, I sigh. And then I wonder...who wouldn't? Oh yeah, it must be that MOC thing.

Serena gets a ruby ring. If there are no sapphires to be had....I guess rubies will do in a pinch. I'm not much of a ring wearer myself...these short stubby digits don't need anything shiny on them, drawing attention.