Caught in the Web Cam

            On Friday morning I finished translating all but the final verse of “Barcelone” by Boris Vian.

            I memorized the second verse of “Baby Lou” by Serge Gainsbourg and made some more adjustments in my translation based on a better understanding of the rhyme scheme.

            Around midday I called the U of T Bookstore to find out if the textbook for Introduction to British Literature had arrived. The course material manager recognized my voice and told me the book was in. I immediately got ready and headed out. On my way I stopped at Modcom at College and Spadina to ask if they had webcams. The owner said he did but they were in his car and so I would have to leave the store while he went to get them. Malik assured me that this cam would work on a 32 bit computer and that it was a plug and play device. He told me that if I wanted a receipt I would have to pay tax but without a receipt he’d charge me $40. He wrote “Thirty day warranty” on his business card and gave it to me. He said he’d just taken over the company that day but that he’d started working there in July.

            I got home in time for lunch. I noticed there was a small puddle on the floor under my kitchen table and I’d thought I’d spilled a bit of water. It turned out a couple of the tomatoes that were sitting in the basket on the table had gone bad and were leaking juice. I had a salad for lunch made from three tomatoes, mayonnaise, peanut butter and soy sauce. Maybe I’m pregnant.

            In the afternoon I did my exercises while listening to Amos and Andy. In this story Sapphire kicks Kingfish out. A woman comes to sell Kingfish and Andy tickets to a charity masquerade ball. Her husband sells Sapphire and her mother tickets to the same ball. Sapphire and Kingfish recognize each other at the ball and each thinks the other is with a date. Amos tries to patch things up by getting the female ticket seller to explain things to Sapphire and the male to explain it to Kingfish. But Sapphire thinks the woman had been Kingfish’s date and Kingfish thinks her husband was Sapphire’s date. This was a pretty lame story except when Andy told Amos, “You’re as smart as I am dumb!”

            I set up my new webcam after finding some instructions online. I discovered that it wouldn’t set up until I’d removed the other webcam from the devices menu and replugged it. Then I could access the “camera” from my start menu.

            I finished editing the video of my July 1 performance of my song Calendar Girl, then published it and uploaded it to YouTube. Hopefully more than two people will look at this one.

            While I was uploading the video I forgot to grill the chicken legs I’d thawed at 19:00 as I normally would have. They needed to be in the oven for at least half an hour for each side, but I started boiling my potato at 20:00 and so it and the gravy were ready by 20:40 but the chicken needed another half an hour. I watched an episode of The Count of Monte Cristo but the chicken wasn’t done until there were five minutes left in the show. The ideal would have been to eat dinner and have dessert with coffee during the show, but I had to have dessert after it was over.

            Lieutenant Dodge of the British Royal Navy is travelling inland on horseback to get married and stops at an inn for a drink. He sees a man sitting alone and offers to buy him an ale. Cuevos accepts but when he sees a policeman in the window he hurries to his room. The officer enters and orders Dodge to leave and so he does. Meanwhile Cuevos cuts open the lining of one of his boots and slips a folded paper inside. He calls from his window to a cobbler leaving the cabin and throws down his boots and asks him to sew the lining. The officer bursts in and demands the list. They struggle and the officer stabs Cuevos to death. Later Dodge arrives for his marriage to Teresa, with the Count of Monte Cristo there to give away the bride. Suddenly the police arrive led by the same officer. He arrests Dodge and takes him away. The count goes to Cavalho the minister of justice but learns there is no record of Dodge’s arrest. On the count’s way out, Branza, Cavalho's secretary reveals to the count that Cuevos was one of their best secret agents. They had expected him in Lisbon with a document containing the name of the traitor who is helping Don Pedro who claims the throne of Portugal and plans to become dictator. Meanwhile Dodge is being held in an abandoned mine and tortured because the officers believe that Cuevo gave him his list. But Jacopo and Rico have followed the officers to the mine. Rico stands watch from the bushes while Jacopo goes back to the count to inform him. But Rico makes a noise and one of the guards shoots at him. The bullet grazes Rico’s skull, rendering him unconscious but the officers leave him for dead. The count and Teresa go to the inn and learn from the landlord that there are at that moment two men searching Cuevos’s room. The men are Cavalho and Branza. The landlord tells the count that the cobbler is now wearing Cuevos’s boots. Jacopo arrives to tell the count about the mine. Cavalho says he will send troops but the count goes ahead. They find Rico and he’s all right. The count approaches the guard in front of the mine by pretending to be holding Jacopo prisoner. Jacopo knocks out the guard and they go inside. The count holds back Ruiz, the officer in charge with his sword while Jacopo frees Dodge. But when Dodge faints it distracts the count long enough for Ruiz to grab a gun. Jacopo struggles with Ruiz and the gun goes off. Everyone escapes as the mine caves in, except for Ruiz. Cavalho and his soldiers arrive to take out the rest of Ruiz’s men. Later Branza goes to the cobbler’s room and sneaks past the sleeping figure to get to Cuevos’s boots but finds nothing. He draws a knife and pulls back the bed covers to wake the cobbler but finds Jacopo and a punch in the face. The count reveals that he has found the list and that it contains not only the names of the traitors that support Don Pedro, but also that of their leader, Branza.

            Teresa was played by Mercy Haystead, who began acting at the age of 18. She played Gloria in “Sing Along with Me”, Dolly Trull in “The Beggar’s Opera”, and Mrs Figg in “Dentist on the Job”. She gave up acting in 1966 when she married rich.