{"id":1966,"date":"2011-11-27T20:55:36","date_gmt":"2011-11-28T04:55:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.streamdoubletrouble.com\/?p=1966"},"modified":"2011-11-27T20:55:36","modified_gmt":"2011-11-28T04:55:36","slug":"book-review-company%e2%80%99s-coming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/book-review-company%e2%80%99s-coming\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Company\u2019s Coming"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>Christmas is coming. The goose is getting fat. Thanksgiving has come and gone so I shall acquiesce the start of the nativity scenes featuring St. Nick and soda pop polar bears. This likely involves a lot of relatives and acquaintances descending upon us.<\/span><\/p>\n Company\u2019s coming.<\/p>\n Since Jon and I couldn\u2019t take a honeymoon right after our wedding, we decided to see the world in a weekend instead. Welcome to fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada. I had never been. I was amazed at this Disneyland like playground for adults. Look at all the pretty lights!<\/p>\n (Not terribly dissimilar to all the brightly lit decorated candy cane lane houses I love to check out on my commute. Work with me here, I\u2019m going somewhere with this.)<\/p>\n Purely by chance, Paul and Stephanie had made plans to hit the town that very same weekend. So we decided to meet up. Us newlyweds had a room at the Bellagio. (I\u2019m the kind of women who needs to be wooed by things like dancing water shows so I can feel Ocean\u2019s 11 cool. I\u2019m crazy like that.)<\/p>\n The four of us hit the pool for sun, splashing and fizzy adult pink lemonade drinks. (Ok, that last one may have just been Steph and me.)<\/p>\n Paul smiled. \u201cThat was a great wedding, sis. Congrats bro,\u201d he high-fived my new husband. \u201cDid you like your wedding present?\u201d he asked knowingly. I grinned broadly, remembering one of our favorite childhood books.<\/p>\n Laughing and in unison, we shouted, \u201cIT\u2019S A BLENDER!\u201d<\/p>\n Stephanie and Jon shared their own knowing look. \u201cYeah, they do that\u2026\u201d they murmured. \u201cI don\u2019t get it either.\u201d<\/p>\n It starts with the flying saucer. Two space alien tourists arrive exhausted at Shirley and Moe\u2019s house \u2013 simply in need of the little Martian\u2019s room. Shirley is the epitome of etiquette and decorum, inviting them to join her dinner party. Moe is a mite more hysterical.<\/p>\n When the aliens return for their dinner date, the FBI, Pentagon, Army, Air Force, and Marines are on high alert standby \u2013 guns, tanks and bombs at the ready \u2013 with extreme concern about the housewarming gift presented to the hostess. The clear message about perceived threats from those different from ourselves remains timely 23 years after the initial publication. Luckily, as Shirley exclaims, she and Moe don\u2019t even have one!<\/p>\n Company’s Coming, by Arthur Yorinks, no longer appears to be in print. This is travesty. ALERT PUBLISHERS! Seriously \u2013 every child needs this book. Extolling the kindness of strangers (this may explain my love of Casablanca later in life) and acceptance, Company\u2019s Coming a classic (if slightly off-beat) tale about trust and hospitality. It\u2019s a children\u2019s story of the absurd \u2013 with a lesson most of us could use these days, especially those prone to exaggeration and paranoia. (What? I don\u2019t know anyone like that \u2013 do you?)<\/p>\n <\/a>Aunt Joanne gave our growing family a copy of this book during my hospital lockdown. I read it to the muppets before birth. It is my hope that they enjoy it as much as my brother and I always have.<\/p>\n Guess what I got this year\u2019s newlyweds for Christmas? (Hint. Read the book. Or at least pay closer attention to what I\u2019ve written in this blog post.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Christmas is coming. The goose is getting fat. Thanksgiving has come and gone so I shall acquiesce the start of the nativity scenes featuring St. Nick and soda pop polar bears. This likely involves a lot of relatives and acquaintances … Continue reading