I don't know if any of you have been fans of Kurt Vonnegut over the years, but if you have, you might enjoy this little tale.

A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I attended a Vonnegut lecture near Chicago. Kurt is 82 now, but he did a masterful presentation, filled with insights and lots of good laughs.

Anyway, afterward, as we were leaving, we saw him standing on the sidewalk outside the autitorium, where a number of folks had gathered to have their picture taken with him. We wanted to express our appreciation to him, but he seemed pretty busy, so we just said thanks and went to our car.

When we got home, my wife looked him up on the Internet and found out where a letter could be sent, so we sent him one. In the letter, I mentioned that years ago I had actually met a WWII vet who had participated in the fire bombing of Dresden, which is at the center of Vonnegut's novel Slaughterhouse-Five. I told him the story of this kid who had bailed out over Dresden, at age 19, and landed, alone, on the outskirts of the city. I told him how the young man, tired and hungry and scared, had happened upon a German patrol bivouacked in a small village, and of the comical scene that there ensued--with this American trying to surrender to the Germans, who, he slowly figured out, were desperately trying to surrender to him! (After all, the Russians were coming).

Anyway, we mailed the letter, and I assumed we'd never hear back. Today, we got a delightful postcard with a charming note, in which Vonnegut mentioned the story I had told and made a comment about it that showed he had read it and enjoyed it.

It was in his own scraggly hand, with a nifty little profile he had drawn on it by his signature. If you had ever read Breakfast of Champions, you'd remember his little art work.

Anyway, just a delightful surprise.

Joe B.

Thank is cool. Kurt Vonnegut is near the top of my favorite author list.
Mark

Cool story. Did you know Freeman Dyson, the physicist, was a planner of those firebombings of Dresden?

I keep a personal letter that Chomsky sent me in my office drawer.

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Posted by kerry edwards: Cool story. Did you know Freeman Dyson, the physicist, was a planner of those firebombings of Dresden?

I keep a personal letter that Chomsky sent me in my office drawer.

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No, didn't know that. Thanks for sharing it. We plan on keeping Vonnegut's postcard--it won't be showing up on Ebay!

Joe B.