This week's book, Sadie, is an addition to The Roundabout Waltz book. It is expressed as a little cardboard car with pastepaper cover and a black paper rooftop luggage rack. Slipped into the straps of the luggage rack is a tiny accordion book in which is printed the story of Sadie in the roundabout.
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| Sadie's pastepaper blue car on The Roundabout Waltz |
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| the Sadie book as an unfolded accordion and its car carrier |
Sadie's little cardboard car can be affixed to any of the roundabout signs by a velcro button on its base. When the little book is removed from the luggage rack, the accordion pages fall open for easy reading.
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| Sadie's car on an interior page roundabout volvelle |
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| Sadie, open to title page |
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| Sadie, pages 1 and 2 |
This is the story of Sadie...
Sadie is 85 years old, has blue hair and blue eyes to match. She has driven her 1954 powder blue Studebaker all the way from Roxboro to visit her son, Bobby, his snooty wife Mildred, and her precious grandchildren, Abby and little Henry… who was a late-in-life child…
Sadie’s kept her two hands tightly gripped to the steering wheel at 10 and 2 the whole way, just like you’re supposed to; and never taken her steely blue eyes off the road. But Raleigh’s so much bigger than she remembered… Now, there’s this confounded Beltline which she's somehow got onto. The traffic is swarming around everywhere! Cars honk and swerve around her as she moves steadily down the highway at 45 miles per hour, looking for a familiar road sign.
Finally she’s off that Beltline and driving down Hillsboro Street. She’s just passed State College… and there ahead is the bell tower, so St. Mary’s Street can’t be too far away. Then, it’s one turn to get to Bobby’s. Oh my! What’s this ahead?
Its some busy circle of cars in the middle of Hillsboro Street! Sadie stares at it, hoping it will disappear and the street will appear again, opened wide and straight just like she remembered. She stops at the edge it and stares at the circle ahead. Cars are driving around and around in front of her. Through her thick, gold-rimmed glasses she can see Hillsboro Street on the other side of the circle. Behind her cars are starting to toot their horns again. She needs to get to the other side of Hillsboro Street, so she puts her sturdy brogan on the gas peddle and revs the engine while her other foot mashes on the brake pedal. She waits amid all the honking until there are no cars in the circle. Then lets off on the break and inches forward.
She drags the heavy steering wheel right to enter the circle, then pulls, hand-over-hand left…feeling herself moving around the circle like some backwards clock hand… then quickly, alert as ever! pulls hand-over-hand right as she slowly rolls onto the other part of Hillsboro Street. Her car has been moving around the circle at about 3 miles per hour, but her heart is racing. Sadie feels like she is flying! Whew! She made it out! Finally she breaths.
She straightens out the steering wheel and continues on to Bobby’s house, thinking of the grand time she’ll have playing with the grandchildren, Abby and little Henry…sitting in her chair of honor, safe and still.
The End
Sadie’s kept her two hands tightly gripped to the steering wheel at 10 and 2 the whole way, just like you’re supposed to; and never taken her steely blue eyes off the road. But Raleigh’s so much bigger than she remembered… Now, there’s this confounded Beltline which she's somehow got onto. The traffic is swarming around everywhere! Cars honk and swerve around her as she moves steadily down the highway at 45 miles per hour, looking for a familiar road sign.
Finally she’s off that Beltline and driving down Hillsboro Street. She’s just passed State College… and there ahead is the bell tower, so St. Mary’s Street can’t be too far away. Then, it’s one turn to get to Bobby’s. Oh my! What’s this ahead?
Its some busy circle of cars in the middle of Hillsboro Street! Sadie stares at it, hoping it will disappear and the street will appear again, opened wide and straight just like she remembered. She stops at the edge it and stares at the circle ahead. Cars are driving around and around in front of her. Through her thick, gold-rimmed glasses she can see Hillsboro Street on the other side of the circle. Behind her cars are starting to toot their horns again. She needs to get to the other side of Hillsboro Street, so she puts her sturdy brogan on the gas peddle and revs the engine while her other foot mashes on the brake pedal. She waits amid all the honking until there are no cars in the circle. Then lets off on the break and inches forward.
She drags the heavy steering wheel right to enter the circle, then pulls, hand-over-hand left…feeling herself moving around the circle like some backwards clock hand… then quickly, alert as ever! pulls hand-over-hand right as she slowly rolls onto the other part of Hillsboro Street. Her car has been moving around the circle at about 3 miles per hour, but her heart is racing. Sadie feels like she is flying! Whew! She made it out! Finally she breaths.
She straightens out the steering wheel and continues on to Bobby’s house, thinking of the grand time she’ll have playing with the grandchildren, Abby and little Henry…sitting in her chair of honor, safe and still.
The End
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| Sadie, more pages opened... |
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| Velcro on the bottom of the car and on the roundabout sign |
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| Sadie's car... going around the Roundabout and the story about it. |
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