Harmony? Coincidence?

About a week ago, I finished Stephen King's book "11/22/63". Whenever I read a paragraph of his writing it is as if I never left my small quiet teenage bedroom. I am transported back to my childhood home in Lowell whenever I lift the cover of one of his books. Maybe it is the fact that he was once a mill worker, and he (like I) comes from a family of mill workers and laborers. Maybe this book resonated with me because I also come from a family of teachers and this book was about a teacher. Who knows? What I do know is that it was entertaining from the moment I flopped into his rabbit hole of time travel.

Being from Massachusetts (the home state of JFK) and since it was the 50th anniversary of his assassination, I decided it was an opportune time to read this book. From the moment I opened the book there were a series of "harmonies".  I attended Zero Point's Theater production of "Killer Joe" and upstairs from their show New Repertory Theater's version of was "Camelot" was being performed. "Killer Joe" by Tracy Letts takes place in Dallas, where Kennedy was assassinated. "Camelot" just happened to be John F. Kennedy's favorite musical. I was wrapped in a vortex of the Kennedy assassination. There was no escaping it.

While out for a walk on a cold December day, I stopped in a Honey Dew Donuts in Wakefield and got myself a hot chocolate. I sat at the counter looking out onto Main Street and looked to my right to see this:

Pretty weird, right? I had to take a picture because I thought that there was no way anyone would believe me despite their being a number of people with the same name. As Jake Epping (Stephen King's main character) says, "the past harmonizes with itself." I was surprised because I didn't expect King's Jimla to come for me in a donut shop. I thought it would stay locked in between it's pages. There were other coincidences that happened through the month, like maybe some exhibit that I wished to see that wound up being at the JFK library (I can't remember what it was now).

Anyway, the book was fabulous. I couldn't put it down. I was satisfied that the book didn't end in a huge explosion of bombs or fire (which is typical of Stephen King novels). It was well researched. I would have finished the book sooner, except that I have a young beautiful child for whom I would do anything for, which includes haulting my reading to give her tons of love and kisses.

Now I am onto my next series of coincidences. John Irving's "In One Person". I'll write about those tomorrow.