Susanne Cramer

            On Thursday morning I worked out the chords for the third and fourth verses of “Amour puissance six” (Love to the Power of Six) by Serge Gainsbourg. 

            I did a very shortened song practice playing my Martin acoustic guitar because I had to leave at about 7:45 for the U of T periodontal clinic.

            It was a cold ride and the first time I’d ridden my bike downtown in the morning since before covid when I was still working. I was a few minutes late and then I had trouble finding how to get to the third floor. I asked at the front desk but the person told me she was with a patient. He was also asking for directions. Finally I found I had to go through the door that said “X-Rays” and then go left and around the corner through the maze to the elevator. Then I just had to follow the signs through several more twists and turns to get to the room I had been directed to for the appointment. 

            It didn’t seem to matter that I was late. I think I was asked to come at 8:20 because of all the forms I needed to fill out. I had to pay $141 before the examination. After doing that I didn’t have to wait long. I had only just taken off my scarves when my name was called. 

            Dr. Max, the student periodontist who examined me was very professional and if I hadn’t known he was a student I wouldn’t have been able to tell. He gave my teeth and gums a thorough examination and some x-rays were taken. There are several of my teeth that have bone loss but only three of them are of crucial concern. He outlined a treatment plan of deep cleaning under anaesthetic and after that some possible surgery to save my teeth. 

            He had another student lead me to two different locations to make two different appointments, one for the cleaning and the other for more complete x-rays. As I walked with the guy to the first place, he asked me if I was a musician. I said I was and he said, “It shows”. The cleaning appointment, called “root planing” is for April 30 and It’ll cost $313. Then I think about six weeks later I’ll come back to see how much healing has taken place. The guy who guessed I was a musician then took me to the x-ray department to make another appointment. But it turned out they had an opening right then and there and so I got the x-rays done in the next hour. I was out of there at around 11:15. 

            I stopped at Freshco on the way home where I bought four bags of green grapes, a pack of strawberries, a pack of raspberries, bananas, a large pack of mushrooms, a jug of orange juice, a jar of salsa, a bag of lentil snaps, and a bag of frozen lima beans. 

            When I got home I finished my amended song practice and finished my exercises. 

            I weighed 83.7 kilos before lunch, which is the lightest I’ve been at midday in exactly eleven months. 

            I took a late siesta.

            I weighed 83.2 kilos at 17:45. It’s been about a year since I’ve weighed that little in the evening.

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:51. 

            I worked on my last Critical Summary and had dinner while writing. I had steamed broccoli in my last salad with scallion, mushrooms, my last tomato, three avocados, roasted seaweed and basil balsamic dressing. I finished my Critical Summary at 22:45: 

                                         The Mythological History of The Hobbit 

            In the chapter “Rhymes and Riddles” from Mark Atherton’s book There and Back Again: JRR Tolkien and the Origins of The Hobbit, Atherton tells us that Tolkien’s theory was that what has survived of ancient folklore did so through the oral tradition of children’s stories. Tolkien’s own children’s stories such as The Hobbit were his way of connecting the incomplete Medieval texts by starting again with new stories. He uses the trolls, goblins and elves of British mythology in his stories , but hobbits seem to be more from Tolkien’s own imagination than from myth. Hobbits are an entire race of meek underdogs who prefer comfort over adventure.

            Atherton shows that some solutions to problems that occur in The Hobbit take their sources from Norse mythology. For example, the situation in chapter 2 when Bilbo and his companions are captured by trolls and Gandalf plays the roll of trickster by throwing his voice and causing the trolls to argue until the sun touches them so that they “go back to the stuff of the mountains they are made of”. This solution has its origin in the old Norse poem “The Words of the All Wise” from The Elder Edda collection, in which the god Thor plays the trickster against the dwarf Alvis and stalls him by having him recite a long list until he is doomed by the touch of sunrise and “turned back into the mountain stone out of which he was made”. 

            The riddle contest in chapter 5 of The Hobbit also borrows from ancient riddles, some of which are inspired by those found in The Exeter Book. One interesting difference between the Exeter riddles and those presented by Tolkien in the novel is that in the Exeter riddles the animal, object or concept that is the answer to the riddle is charmingly also the first person questioner who is posing the riddle. As Atherton observes, this use of personification allows the solver of the puzzle to arrive at a new perspective and to achieve a deeper understanding of the familiar thing that is embodied in the answer. By contrast, in Tolkien’s The Hobbit riddles are delivered in the third person and not given a life of their own. Another thing the ancient riddles reveal is that those who wrote and solved them were a complex and highly intelligent people. 

            Atherton points out that “Riddle 84” from The Exeter Book: “My hall is not silent, nor am I myself loud about the splendid hall; the Lord shaped us both, together our venture. I am swifter than him, at times stronger too, he is more enduring. Sometimes I rest; he shall run forth. I abide in him always while I live; if we were parted, then death would certainly be mine” has a similar solution to the riddle that Gollum poses to Bilbo in The Hobbit (74): “Alive without breath / as cold as death / never thirsty, ever drinking / all in mail never clinking”. The answer to both is a fish but the Exeter riddle is more specifically a fish in a river. 

            Atherton claims that Gollum changes the rules of the riddle contest he has with Bilbo by urging him to, “Ask another question” (76), thus permitting him to ask, “What have I got in my pocket?”, but that is like saying that one can change a game from baseball to soccer by telling one’s opponent to “shoot the ball” instead of to “pitch the ball”. There is nothing in the narrative that indicates that Bilbo reasoned that Gollum had changed the game. They are in the middle of a competition in which they are posing riddles in the form of questions to one another. When Gollum demands that Bilbo ask another question he clearly means for him ask another question of the type that makes up this particular game. Bilbo sees his own mistake but in the moment that he pretends that his question is legitimately part of the riddle game they have been playing, Bilbo is without a doubt cheating Gollum. Gollum knows this to be true when he protests that, “It isn’t fair”. Bilbo should realize the unfairness of his question when it is stated that “He knew of course that the riddle game was sacred and of immense antiquity” (77). The game effectively ends at this juncture and Gollum tries to guess what is in Bilbo’s pocket more out of lonely curiosity than from responding in the spirit of the game. 

            It was already two hours later than the time when I’d normally view a show but I decided to watch the third and final season premier of Burke’s Law, which was no longer Burke’s Law but now Amos Burke: Secret Agent. I guess the producers aimed to cash in on the mid 60s popularity of spy films and shows and they figured a suave character like Amos Burke could pull it off. Gone however were all the famous guest stars that appeared in the first two seasons. Also the cloak and dagger story of this first episode at least was not as engaging as figuring out who a murderer is from a choice of four or five suspects.

            It seems that this is Burke’s first mission as a secret agent. He gets onto a private plane where his boss is sitting at a desk and assigning him his mission. Red Chines gold is being smuggled to Latin America. Burke is rendezvous with Interpol in Switzerland. A former airline pilot named Schreiner is the delivery boy for the enemy organization. We now learn that Burke has been trained as a pilot. 

            In Switzerland a helicopter lands to rendezvous with a car. Ilsa is the driver and her boyfriend Franz gets in the helicopter while Schreiner gets into the car. They drive until they are cut off by another car holding two Interpol agents. Schreiner pulls a gun but Burke comes from the bushes and disarms him. Burke gets in with Elsa and they drive to headquarters. Elsa is told that Franz has been captured and if she cooperates things may go easier on her and Franz. 

            Burke poses as Schreiner and Elsa continues to drive to the previously intended location. They change cars and another driver takes them both to a large estate protected by a private army. In the house there are for some reason a lot of beautiful women in revealing clothing. If they are agents of this organization it is never indicated. 

            General Baratta, the former dictator of a small Latin American country is the head of the organization and he asks to see Schreiner. Barrata asks him how he disposed of the British agent in Taiwan. Burke says he’ll never know and he likes the answer. He says there is one more person he wants him to kill. He introduces him to an agent named Hugo and tells him that is the one. 

            Elsa makes friends with Teresa and Bianca. Bianca is attracted to Burke. Elsa tells Burke he can get whatever information he wants from Bianca. 

            In his room Burke prepares a bath and closes the bathroom door. Hugo enters the room and locks the bathroom from the outside. The plumbing has been sabotaged and the steaming hot water will not shut off. If Burke stays in the room he will be cooked. The only way out is a skylight but it is too high to reach. Burke ties some curtains to a stool, swings it up through the skylight. It hooks on a pipe on the roof and Burke climbs out. He then swings down through his bedroom window before Hugo has left and they fight. Burke hits him and knocks him over the balcony to his death even though they are way too far from the balcony for that to happen. Burke’s arms are burned but he seems okay. Barrata says Hugo planned to kill him and take his place. 

            Burke learns from Bianca he’s leaving for Havana with Barrata tomorrow.

            Suddenly Franz arrives and so it seems they lied to Elsa about him being captured. He tells her he’s going to tell Barrata that Burke is not Schreiner but she says if he did that they would kill her too. Franz tells Burke he’ll help him for Elsa. Burke has a plan for the three of them to escape at dawn. They try to commandeer a jeep that is about to leave through the gates but Franz shoots him and sets off the alarm. The gates close and lock. The guards are on their way and so Burke says they have to get back to the house. Franz jumps out to draw the fire of the guards and is killed while Elsa and Burke return to the house. The guards don’t know that Burke and Elsa were involved. 

            Burke leaves with Barrata. They stop on the road and another car pulls up. It’s the real Schreiner, who takes his gun back from Burke. Two of Barrata’s men guard Burke as they take off in a plane piloted by Schreiner from Geneva. Burke points out to his guards that there is only one parachute on the plane. Schreiner has the plane on automatic pilot set to crash. He’d planned on using the one parachute. One of the guards stabs Schreiner. Burke offers to pilot the plane to save it from crashing but only if they go back to Geneva instead of Havana. They agree. 

            Back at the house Barrata arranges for Elsa to die by firing squad. Burke arrives with a ridiculously small number of soldiers taking on Barrata’s private army and winning. Barrata tries to escape and fires on Burke but Burke shoots him. Elsa’s charges are dropped. Burke takes care of Bianca. 

            Elsa was played by Susanne Cramer, who acted in German films and then spent six years making guest appearances on US television. They say tried to commit suicide twice during the year of her first marriage but she denied it. He next marriage lasted five months then she married him again, had a child and divorced again soon after. She died in 1969 at the age of 32 of the Hong Kong Flu.