Harry Night

Dara had purchased a "magic ticket" a month ago, so she and Garrett could reserve a copy of the latest Harry Potter book for pickup at midnight last night. Kepler's, the Harris bookstore of choice, was planning a big party. Aside from it being a great independent bookstore, we like Kepler's because it is next door to a cafe that serves great food and occasionally has live entertainment. Turns out they had a bluegrass band playing that evening, so all four of us went down there to eat, listen, and party -- depending on our inclination. This never seems like a small town, but we met all kinds of people we knew. It started with the more booky restaurant types and moved on to the Harry Potter types as it progressed toward midnight. One person we met and spent the evening with was Frank Smithson. Frank and Jane Smithson were very close friends of ours when our kids were growing up. Dara and Jane met at Gymboree, and Kyla and Meg were great buds nearly to high school. Around 10PM, the Stanford band came roaring in to the party, drowning out the bluegrass and generally doing what the Stanford band is famous for: raising good natured hell. Garrett said they were in the middle of doing some big, loud drum number when they stopped and all yelled out, "We read the book. Ron Weasley dies!!!" I have no idea if this is true, and far be it from me to spoil things for all you Harry fans. But if you're not in on the joke, one of the cliffhangers dangled out by JK Rowling in the leadup to this book was that one of the key characters was going to die. Pretty funny. Garrett is almost done reading the book as I'm typing this!