THOSE People...

I did something the other night that I've never ever done before.  I've heard of others who frequently engage in this activity, but I'd never before understood the need for it.  Honestly, I felt that those other people, the ones who participated in this sneaky-ness were...well, less than noble, of impatient nature, lacking self-control even. 

Having committed this offense to my own sense of right and wrong, however, I no longer have the right to judge these other people.  I am now one of them, one of those people who skip to the last page of a book to see how it ends.

One would think that I was reading a mystery or a suspenseful thriller.  Surely nothing less than a captivating page turner would tempt a person of such high standards as I.  Not so.  I was reading a book by one of my favorite authors, Madeleine L'Engle who wrote the famous, Newbery Award winning children's book A Wrinkle in Time . 

This is the book that lured me to its final page...

Two-Part Invention: The Story of a Marriage

by Madeleine L'Engle

Largely written from the journals of Mrs. L'Engle.  The description on the back of the book is perfect...

Early in the book, the illness of L'Engle's husband Hugh, is introduced and she writes so beautifully its affects upon their forty-year-old marriage.  Woven throughout are tales of Madeleine and Hugh's early married life.  I was captivated from the first page.  This author of my youth (A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels are some my all time favs.)  writes memoir as well as she pens fiction.  I was so drawn in to the life of her marriage that I couldn't bear waiting until the end of the book to discover the result of the illness that marked it.

So...I turned a few pages, then I turned a few more, and then just a couple more until...

...there I was at the end of the book.  My eyes raced to the last sentence.

Ahem...my eyes raced to the last sentence...

...anybody see the end of that last sentence? 

I'm not confident that page 200 is even part of the last chapter, yet that was the last page in the book.  This particular book is a library copy.  I went on to discover that chapters 9 and 10 are included twice in this copy to the unfortunate absence of the final one or two (I still don't know...) chapters. 

This discovery meant two things to me.  First, I would have to locate another copy of the book to finish this beautiful love story written in such easy prose.  This is great because a new printing of the book and the set from which it comes, The Crosswicks Journals, is beautiful both in cover and content.  Amazon, here I come!! 

Second, and by far most important, I no longer have to consider myself one of those people who cheat on their stories by skipping to the end of the book to see what happens!  I tried, oh yes I did, but I failed.  That, according to my own high standards, is enough to place me squarely back in the "Holier than Those" column.