My Purim was really wonderful and joyous--leibedig (lively) as anything, and it is always such a spiritual highlight for me as well. There was just one blip on the radar and I guess it's really just one of many. Gotta back up here for a little preface. With Purim coming, I was SO excited to release a Purim version of Green Fences, something totally off-beat, hilarious, and zany, to give the readers a little break from the usual intensity of the serial.

Well, as it turns out, my readers are a mostly intense lot. There has been wholesale disappointment, grumbling, and a complete lack of interest regarding my Purimshpiel version of the story which, in my humble opinion, was HYSTERICAL!! I mean, come on, we had a reference to the readers who wrote in about how Kaplan's lack of waiting-room privacy should never happen in real-life therapy; we had every character in his/her element with a whacky turnaround in the Zev/Ari department. It was brill--okay, I think I'm getting carried away here :-).

Well, tonight, at the seudah (festive meal), one irate, I-rant reader, made particularly vociferous due to inebriation (estimated age 19, vocation: yeshivah student, last seen wearing: pajama pants, a shirt sporting the words "Rock and Roll", and a black clown wig) told me that "Purple Gates" (that was an editor's doing, not mine!) was an insult, a disappointment, in fact he said that it "cheapened" the story. Whew! That's a lot to chew on while you've already got brisket and salad on your plate!

So what's up with this widespread discontent? Do my readers really lack a sense of humor? That's a scary thought. C'mon, guys, help me out here, will ya?

Pappy Hurim to Thou and Thours!

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