Friday's Final Jeopardy clue came under the general heading of Literary Terminology. You immediately feel there's trouble ahead. Time to trim the bet?
And then there's the reveal. And it is a doozie. "17th Century Critic Thomas Rymer Coined This 2-Word Term, Instructing That A Work Should Uphold Moral Principles And See Vice Punished." Surely it is a heavily freighted 2-word term to be able to do all that. Did the framers of the Declaration of Independence borrow the term?
One contestant answered: "what is a morality play;" the other: "what is virtuous text." No to both.
The current champ, Chris D'Angelo, answered correctly with: "what is poetic justice." That propelled him to being a 3-day champion, with a total of $53,600. Nice work. Enough about Chris. He'll be back on Monday.
I love Carl Hiaasen books. I even read the books for young adults. Florida might have hurricanes and oppressive heat, but Carl seems to have fun. I bet his air conditioning works just fine.
His protagonists are always fighting the rapacious developers and polluters who are spoiling and fouling Carl's beloved native state. The latest Hiaasen book I just finished reading is "Flush," a YA book about the hard working Underwood family living on one of the Keys, who in their own ways are fighting the fight against a casino boat operator who pumps raw sewage into the bay every night rather than dispose of it legally into a designated holding tank, which of course will cost Dusty Muleman money. And when you're making money hand over fist, the last thing you want to do is make less of it by adhering to the law.
Paine Underwood become so incensed at the dumping and the subsequent spoiling of a local beach his kids use that he gets on board the Coral Queen one night and literally pulls the plug, sinking the boat into several feet of water.
Paine is arrested and starts doing jail time. He won't even consent to being bailed out by his wife Donna, and his kids Noah and Abbey, leaving them to have to visit him in the detention center. Paine is one stubborn, proud Floridian.
The casino boat can be raised, cleaned up, and is soon back in business while Paine fumes in jail. Along the way to the finale, Paine's father, Granpa Bobby, appears after disappearing in South America for 10 years evading some unsavory characters who have stolen his boat. Until now he's been presumed dead by the family. If there's one thing everyone in Florida has other than a tan, it is a boat, big or small. Something that floats. Most of the time.
The story is not crowded with so many characters that you can't follow along. There is of course the unmarried couple who live in a trailer, Shelly Muleman and Lice Peeking. If you're in Florida, everyone knows someone who lives in a trailer.
Shelly emerges as a bit of a heroine in the effort to bring Dusty and his law-breaking habit to justice. Noah and Abbey are two kids on bikes who manage to evade getting shot by a thug on the casino boat with a flare gun, who are later rescued by dad and Grandpa Bobby.
I finished reading the book on Friday night, after of course hearing the answer to the Final Jeopardy clue, "poetic justice."
"Flush" of course has a satisfying ending. Dusty Muleman's intelligently challenged son, Jasper, accidently causes a fire on the boat and the boat is totaled, a blackened hulk lying in three sections in 22 feet of water. Goodbye Coral Queen, this time for good.
On the next to last page of the book, Paine says, "it's poetry."
"More like poetic justice," says Mom, who of course knows best.
Oh, the prediction bet I could have made.
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