Has anybody seen the new book for sale at Electric Palace called Tales of a Small-Town Thug? Rusty Gordon, who used to be in Rodney's gang, wrote it. If you haven't seen it, skip to the next paragraph. If you have seen it, keep reading. My advice: Don't pick it up! If you have picked it up, please don't open it. Here's the important thing: DON'T READ IT! If you haven't read it, pat yourself on the back. You'll be a smarter and happier person. If you have read it, you're probably crying by now. So grab a Kleenex, and read the rest of my entry to cheer up.

OK, for all you lucky people who didn't pick up a copy of this book, the back cover says, “The secrets you never knew that went on in a small Midwestern town.” That sounds kind of interesting. The problem is Rusty's secrets aren't very nice. For example, he talks about this one guy, Alec Jefferton, who he says “is like a human vegetable, always planted somewhere, usually in front of a computer.” That's pretty mean. I feel sorry for that Alec guy.

Why should secrets have to be bad? Why can't we tell good secrets about people instead? I put together a list of some of the best secrets in Odyssey.

1. Connie Kendall was an extra in a Hollywood movie that filmed at her school in California.
2. Eugene Meltsner graduated from high school at age 9.
3. Tom Riley's father was a country doctor, who helped build the Fillmore Recreation Center - the building that's now Whit's End!
4. Bernard Walton has traveled the U.S. and has a collection of spoons from every state.
5. Mr. Whittaker is missing part of his right ear. He was injured saving a group of soldiers at the Battle of Guadalcanal in World War II!

It's easy to tell bad secrets about people, but we should be sharing good ones instead. That's all for now.