In a message dated 98-01-06 23:58:07 EST, you write: << > mrs. fedder was worried & insisted her daughter carry it for protection > > >>it was muriel's gun > > > >Why would Muriel have a gun??? Neither Muriel nor her mother strike me as pistol-packing mamas [that's from an old song, in case anyone should feel compelled to object to the phrase!], and anyhow, it appears that Seymour retrieves the gun "from under a pile of shorts and undershirts," which suggests to me that since it was in his luggage, it may well have been his gun. And as Will said, good detective work on this, SGallagher! I've wondered for a long time whether that gun was akin to the writer L. Manning Vines, one of *my* personal favorites, and someone whose work I'm sure many of us appreciate more than we can possibly say. --tim >> yeah, I thought the gun post was pretty cool too. :) It was a German weapon, if I remember, and Muriel asks her mother on the phone where the book of poetry is--and it is exclusively in German--poems written by "the only great poet of the century." Rilke? Died in 1926...so maybe.... anyway, put it together...Seymour...in the service....maybe stationed in Germany at some time? Not too uncommon for servicemen to pick up weapons as contraband, know a few who did that myself... Jim