The Istoriaphile’s Corner

Yes, it’s hearts and flowers day, the annual celebration of the “people in pairs” that make up a big segment of our civilization.  Hey, I’m all for marriage.  A good marriage becomes the third part of a romantic relationship and it nurtures the people in it as well as those around it.  It brings out the best in the partners.  But people are limited and, despite our prayers and best wishes, not every romance becomes a good marriage.  Listen, if you go by Stephen King’s volume of that name, you may rethink Valentine’s Day altogether.  If a good marriage is the base of the best of all worlds, you’ll find nothing but hell in the bad. The title tale is one of King’s famous “what if” thoughts that popped up during an article on BTK.  You remember him?  I do.  I, and later my mother, lived in Wichita during the years that serial killer was free.  His actions were terrible and one of the bad parts when they caught him was he looked so ordinary, which is part of King’s point.   If monsters look and talk and dress pretty much like everyone else, how can the sane person pick one…