I don’t like crowds, but for some reason, I wanted to go to the “Rooms to Go” Showroom Grand Opening in Dunn, NC the first time I saw the commercial on TV.  I know it is an important event for the area.

Although the main parking areas were already filled by the time I arrived (about 30 minutes after the 10 am opening), I saw an opening along the side of the road, just about in front of the main entrance.  It was about 1.5 car lengths and was easy to slip into the parking space.  Short walk and then the crowds.  Relatively painless though, because I wasn’t going to wait in line for the crystal glasses they were giving away.

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[NOTE 04/21/24]: It’s amazing to me that the grand opening of the Rooms to Go Supercenter was back in October of 2015. I had gone to the grand opening and braved to crowds, not because I thought there might be something that I wanted to purchase, (not how Michael Connelly uses the word ‘purchase’) but because I realized this business was a major boon to the local economy, and NC in general, along I95. Just as the opening of a Walmart Market in a “black” neighborhood had also been supportive of the local economy. (I think the Walmart Market only lasted about 2 years. Two years exactly before closing, but it had been a positive effort by Walmart.)

So, I’ve passed the R2G Supercenter many times since the grand opening, but never had a desire or need to stop in again. And, really didn’t have a good reason last Friday, April 19th, but just had the time & energy to stop in to see if there had been any changes. I think it was Andre (who said he also lived near Goodyear in Fayetteville) who came up shortly after I entered the front door and I told him I was “just looking.” Andre was a young black man, maybe late 20s or early 30s, and well spoken and friendly. I mentioned to him that I had come in the first hour the Supercenter had been opened. He looked a little surprised, but at the time I didn’t realize that the difference between that time and my current visit had been almost 9 years.

After talking with Andre, I walked around the floor, took a few pictures, and saw a few things that were of interest (Although at my age, what do I really need to buy?). Played with some lights that might be good for reading. Looked at an interesting bookcase, a large multi-screened video display on a wall, and a couple of chairs, and an outdoor dining set. After a comfortable visit, I left.

[end NOTE]

Connelly uses the word “purchase” several times, and in several novels to mean, “find footing,” I think. As when Harry is chasing a bad guy in an underground tunnel and there is wet flooring, and he tries to find purchase (footing). *Some time ago, I was reformatting an Agatha Christie story, “And Then There Were None,” that I had found online in a simple text format and putting it in what naturally was almost like a TV script. I wouldn’t be surprised if Christie hadn’t actually written the story with radio or as a play in mind.

But, as I reformatted the Christie story, she repeatedly used hyphenated words that I have never seen as being hyphenated, or probably never should be. That was irritating, and I think in my reformatting, I actually un-hyphenated (unhyphenated) them. So, now in reading some of Connelly’s novels, he uses several abbreviations that I know should not be abbreviated “in that way” or actually not abbreviated AT ALL.

**The funny thing is that as I have read more and more, and now most of the Bosch novels, I have come to really dislike Harry Bosch, and in some ways would find myself like Irvin S. Irving, in his feelings toward Bosch. Harry thinks nothing about pulling out his “lock pick” kit and breaking into anything, being it a bosses locked door, or a file cabinet, or a possible “perps” residence. “No Warrant Harry” And Harry will rag on a fellow detective who has released case info to a newspaper reporter, but thinks nothing about promising to keep autopsy findings private, but then immediately calling a journalist friend and suggesting they take a look at those autopsy findings. That is what Harry did to an “interim” medical examiner he was screwing, and she hadn’t even had time to wash his stink off before he made the call. That’s when I began to think of Harry Bosch as “that lying sack of dog shit.” If I had been a co-worker that he did that to (made a promise and then blatantly broke it), I would have never trusted Harry Bosch again. And that Harry Bosch, that “whore spawn,” could go about making judgements on the efforts of his fellow LAPD detectives, like Chu or Edgar and judging their level of commitment “to the mission.” Oh, “whore spawn” and by a father who never wanted anything to do with this son of his, because he had a new life with a wife and Harry’s half-brother, Mickey Haller, who would eventually become “the Lincoln Lawyer.” Or how about in the “Black Box”? If Connelly hadn’t stepped in and killed off the remaining bad guys (except for the actual murderer), Harry would have never been able to make the “shit stick” because of all the laws he had broken in getting “the confession” and other illegally obtained evidence. The Lincoln Lawyer would have easily gotten those bad guys off because Harry Bosch doesn’t even fake believing in or adhering to the law.