I went to hear him speak the other night. I have a lot of non-Florida followers. Carl is the ultimate Florida author. He makes fun of our fucked up politics, the small towns, as well as the ridiculous places (shout out to South Beach! Holla!) There were close to 400 people at this event. It was at the Florida Aquarium. Sidebar--that place could be so great. It is really sad. It is run down, the tanks are cloudy and it just...sucks.
Getting back to Carl Hiaasen. He was great. Funny and not afraid to say what he thinks. His latest book makes fun of celebrity. Let's just say if Lindsey Lohan was there she would have been pissed.
I told him a story while he was signing my book. My Dad could have been a character in one of his books. We had gone to pick up Granny (she lived in town) to take her to our house for dinner. Sulie and I went with my Dad to pick up Granny. We took my Mom's pale yellow Oldsmobile '98. One moment...Google, don't fail me. Okay, imagine this in pale yellow with yellow landau top:
Stylin. Profilin. Daddy driving. Granny in the passenger seat. Me and Sulie in the back. We lived ~ 15 miles out of town in the "woods." As we got closer to our house a HUGE rattlesnake was in the road. My Dad was all about killing rattlers. He saw them all as threat to his family. He opened the glove box. The pistol he liked to keep in there (you know in case my Mom need a piece at Publix) was not there. He looked in the back seat. There was my Mom's London Fog umbrella with a pointy tip in the back. He grabbed it and got out of the car. We all watched in horror as my Dad approached the rattler with the London Fog poised and ready. The snake was coiled with his rattle going. My Granny said, "Oh Rocky" over and over in her Daughters of the American Revolution accent (she was from Birmingham). My Dad went in for the kill. He stabbed the snake several times as it lunged towards him. The snake lost. So did the umbrella.
I told Mr. Hiaasen he could use it. He laughed and said he might. If you see that in one of his books you can say you know it is true.
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