If you call up the library, and the folllowing transpires...
Carol: "Delisle Library, Carol speaking."
Me: "Hi Carol. are you busy at the moment?"
Carol: "What do you mean by busy?"
Me: "Do you have a big line-up of people or something" *stifle giggle*
Carol: "Oh, no.. I'm alone here."
Me: "Great. Could you do me a favour? Could you look to see if you have a copy of Frank Herbert's Dune?
Carol: "Boon?"
Me: "No, Dune, D-U-N-E"
Carol: "Dune... oh... and the title is?"
Me: "The title is Dune. Frank Herbert is the author."
Carol: "Just Dune?"
Me: "Just Dune - like a sand dune."
Carol: "I have Heretics of Dune"
Me: "No, just Dune. It's the first of a series."
Carol: " Dune Messiah ...Children of Dune ...The Machine Crusade "
Me: "Those are others in the series. It has to be Dune. I'm looking for a passage."
Carol: "Only in Dune? He wouldn't repeat himself.... no, probably not."
Me: "Probably not"
Carol: "Well I can look on the internet for you"
Me: "I'm pretty good at that. It's not there."
Carol: "Well we have a thing called Infotrack, but I don't that that would work. It's more for magazines and .... what's the word.."
Me: "Periodicals"
Carol: "Yes, periodicals"
Me: "Probably not. I need a paragraph".
Carol: "But for some reason, we can't get on it anymore."
Me: "Well, that's ok"
Carol: "I'll look in the back. We have some old books there"
Me: "Thanks"
Carol: "I'll call you back if I find it".
Me: "Thanks."
... You might be in Saskatchewan.
Now - in what is surely to be the strangest question I've ever asked here... if anyone surfing in with time on their hands and a copy of Dune handy would be so kind as to send me an email as soon as you possibly can, I need a copy of the passage from the dinner party, where Jessica relates the story of a man drowning.... (check the time stamp to be sure this post isn't 3 years old before you rush to answer). Or type it in the comments. Or if you do know of a url where I can cut and paste it, better yet. Google came up dry.
I'm desperate here.
UPDATE: Thanks to commentor Trodwell, I have it.
Blog as research tool.... makes me nostalgic for Usenet, in a way.
Got Dune in hand. What's yer question?
Paul Atreides:
Paul glanced at Halleck, took in the defensive positions of his guards, looked at the banker until the man lowered the water flagon. He said: "Once, on Caladan, I saw the body of a drowned fisherman recovered. He--"
"Drowned?" It was the stillsuit manufacturer's daughter.
Paul hesitated, then: "Yes. Immersed in water until dead. Drowned."
"What an interesting way to die," she murmured.
Paul's smile became brittle. He returned his attention to the banker. "The interesting thing about this man was the wounds on his shoulders--made by another fisherman's claw-boots. This fisherman was one of several in a boat--a craft for traveling on water--that foundered . . . sank beneath the water. Another fisherman helping recover the body said he'd seen marks like this man's wounds several times. They meant another drowning fisherman had tried to stand on this poor fellow's shoulders in the attempt to reach up to the surface--to reach air."
"Why is this interesting?" the banker asked.
"Because of an observation made by my father at the time. He said the drowning man who climbs on your shoulders to save himself is understandable--except when you see it happen in the drawing room." Paul hesitated just long enough for the banker to see the point coming, then: "And, I should add, except when you see it at the dinner table."
http://membres.lycos.fr/bibliolectio/DuneB.htm
Hmm my copy is missing. If it helps anyone in finding it the comment in question should concern the wounding of one drowned fisherman's shoulders. The wounds came from the cleated boots of another fisherman who climbed on the first's shoulders attempting to reach air.
Hehe you have a nasty mind:) I think I can imagine what you're going to use the quote for.
Oops sorry for useless post. Comments were showing zero when I started typing.
Kate, I have a .PDF of it. What chapter? I will post it here...
Yeah. Trodwell nailed it. Thanks.
Happy to oblige. Lest you think me a net-wit, however, I have to admit that I first ran to grab one of my two copies of Dune (yeah, yeah, I know - pathetic SF geek), checked out the passage, and googled the weirdest phrase I could find ("fisherman's claw-boots"). Et le voila!
By the way, loved your account of the phone call; it put me in mind of Monty Python's infamous Bookshop Sketch. "That's Charles Dikkens with two k's, the well-known Dutch author."
Haw! Well done.
Old Crone: "Got some wonnerfull filth down eyah. Ohhh-who are you?"
Arthur: "I am Arthur- King of the Britons. Who is your lord?"
Peasant: " We don't have a lord- we take it in turns to be Executive Officer of the Week.But you have to speak French and come from Quebec!"
You have fine taste in fiction, Kate.
You have fine taste in fiction, Kate.
Ummmm...they have a library in Delisle??? Gee, I must've missed it. All that time hanging out at the antique store listening to gossip, when I could have been reading "Children of Dune" Who knew?