It was April first, and it sounded like an April Fool’s joke.
Had anyone by that name ever lived in Moose County, 400 miles north of everywhere?
Yet, there it was, in black and white—in the newsbite column of the Moose County Something:
Thelma Thackeray, 82, a native of Moose County, has retired after a 55-year career in Hollywood, CA, and is returning to her native soil. “I’m coming home to die,” she said cheerfully, “but not right away. First I want to have some fun.”
It was followed by less startling items: The sheriff had purchased a stop-stick to aid deputies in high-speed car chases… The Downtown Beautiful committee had decided on hot-pink petunias for the flower boxes on Main Street… The sow that escaped from a truck on Sandpit Road had been discovered in the basement of the Black Creek Elementary School.
Immediately the lead item was being discussed all over town, via the grapevine. In coffeehouses, on street corners, and over backyard fences the news was spread: “A Hollywood star is coming to live in Pickax!”
Jim Qwilleran, columnist for the newspaper, was working at home when his phone started ringing. “Who was Thelma Thackeray?… Was she really a movie star?… Did the press know more than they were telling?”
