The Friday 56 for 2/4/22: MASH by Richard Hooker

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it.

When I started doing these, I imposed a rule on myself that I would only use a book that I was reading that week, but between ARCs and page 56s that didn’t work without context, I didn’t have anything this week (or, likely, next), and I like doing these. Rules are meant to be broken, right? So I started grabbing random books off my shelf—it took me three tries, apparently, page 56 is a popular one to leave blank.

A blast from the past this week.
from Page 56 of:

MASH by Richard Hooker

Dear Hawkeye:

As Dean of the College, I naturally remember you very well. In my job one has to take the bitter as well as the sweet, and I’ve had my share of both.

My natural expectation is that, if I accede to your request, I will soon have on my hands some illiterate seventy-year-old refugee from a leper colony. Despite the possibility of your having matured slightly in the last nine years, that is really what I expect.

However, this sort of thing is popular these days. If you feel your boy can do college work and if you can get him over here and supply him with a thousand dollars a year, we will give him a chance. Enclosed is an application for Ho-Jon to complete.

Sincerely,
James Lodge
Dean, Androscoggin College