04-03-2022, 07:32 AM
How about an update on this a little under 8 year old zombie thread? I know you've been dying to know buy were just too polite to ask. Here goes. I did finish typing out the whole book. Then I think life got in the way and I move onto other things. Whenever I would get together with my cousins, one cousin particular, Chris would always ask about Papa's Book. I would always have no answer for him. There is a file somewhere it lives.
A little backstory. My father and my father's brother, Uncle Jimmy always would talk about Papa's Book. The best thing about the book were the pictures. As I said when I started this thread, my grandfather was the company censor. He confiscated everyone's pictures. Which he kept. Supposedly the book was full of great historical pictures. Unfortunately at some point all the pictures were lost. They still had the text of the book, but the supporting photos went missing. My father at one point believed the whole package, pictures and text, went to a publisher and the pictures never came back. The Case of the Missing Pictures is the big Lynch family mystery. A mystery I've been hearing about for almost fifty years. Probably one of the key photos I heard about was a picture of Mussolini. After the partisans hung and killed him, they put him in a coffin. An older woman came up to the coffin and put five bullets into Mussolini's head. The woman said five bullets for her five dead sons.. My grandfather had a picture of Mussolini from the immediate aftermath of that event. I've been hearing about that picture since my age was in single digits.
Last year, the wife of my Uncle Jimmy, Aunt Eileen passed away. My cousin Chris has been living in the Lynch family house for the last year while the rest of the kids determine what to do with the house. They've decided to sell. Chris and the rest of the family are clearing out the house. Chris, in case you remember my stories, is the cousin with the eight daughters. About a month ago, my cousin Linda mentioned she found some old WWII photos in a mislabeled envelope. Not the missing book, but still some photos from that time. Unfortunately, I'm still waiting on that set of photos.
Which brings us to yesterday's text message. Cousin Chris, cleaning out the basement, found Papa's pictures. Yes, I was shocked. I thought that shipped had long sailed. Especially since that basement was completely flooded out ten years ago. But no. He has the book. He said he's going to send it to me. The unspoken condition is I have to finish Papa's book. Fine.
One of the photos he sent me was the Mussolini Coffin Photo.
The only tinge of sadness to this find was that the person who would be ecstatic about this and the person I would most like to talk about with would be my father.
A little backstory. My father and my father's brother, Uncle Jimmy always would talk about Papa's Book. The best thing about the book were the pictures. As I said when I started this thread, my grandfather was the company censor. He confiscated everyone's pictures. Which he kept. Supposedly the book was full of great historical pictures. Unfortunately at some point all the pictures were lost. They still had the text of the book, but the supporting photos went missing. My father at one point believed the whole package, pictures and text, went to a publisher and the pictures never came back. The Case of the Missing Pictures is the big Lynch family mystery. A mystery I've been hearing about for almost fifty years. Probably one of the key photos I heard about was a picture of Mussolini. After the partisans hung and killed him, they put him in a coffin. An older woman came up to the coffin and put five bullets into Mussolini's head. The woman said five bullets for her five dead sons.. My grandfather had a picture of Mussolini from the immediate aftermath of that event. I've been hearing about that picture since my age was in single digits.
Last year, the wife of my Uncle Jimmy, Aunt Eileen passed away. My cousin Chris has been living in the Lynch family house for the last year while the rest of the kids determine what to do with the house. They've decided to sell. Chris and the rest of the family are clearing out the house. Chris, in case you remember my stories, is the cousin with the eight daughters. About a month ago, my cousin Linda mentioned she found some old WWII photos in a mislabeled envelope. Not the missing book, but still some photos from that time. Unfortunately, I'm still waiting on that set of photos.
Which brings us to yesterday's text message. Cousin Chris, cleaning out the basement, found Papa's pictures. Yes, I was shocked. I thought that shipped had long sailed. Especially since that basement was completely flooded out ten years ago. But no. He has the book. He said he's going to send it to me. The unspoken condition is I have to finish Papa's book. Fine.
One of the photos he sent me was the Mussolini Coffin Photo.
The only tinge of sadness to this find was that the person who would be ecstatic about this and the person I would most like to talk about with would be my father.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm