“See, I never grew up watching the show, so I probably have a completely different view on it,” Dania said.
“That’s fair,” Gwen shrugged. “Rugrats was slightly before my time, so I didn’t watch it that often. But this episode played every year, so I saw it a lot.”
“Sure,” Dania said. “I just don’t think I could handle an entire series with those voices at the center.”
“What, the babies?”
“What do you think he would say about Johnny Depp in The Lone Ranger?” Dania asked.
Rolling her eyes, Eleanor replied. “What do you think?”
“It might make an interesting discussion,” Dania said. “Compared to something like Iron Eyes Cody.”
“Well, Iron Eyes Cody is a problematic example,” Gwen said, as the credits for Reen Injun began to roll. “An extremely interesting one, but a more extensive issue than simply casting Johnny Depp as Tonto.”
The cover image, with the two photographed children standing at the steps of a pen drawing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, was too iconic to be mistaken for any other. Dania’s heart skipped to see it in Gwen’s hands.
“The Mixed-Up Files” had been a formative book for Dania –– a testament to the power of art and history, the need to let facts affect you rather than simply accumulate in your mind. Since first reading Konigsburg’s book as a child, Dania had returned to it periodically. Each pass through Claudia and Jamie’s tale provided more details, including humor at the comparatively cheap prices in the New York of the 1960s.
Normally, Gwen’s parents would hire a babysitter to take care of Hazel when they wanted to go out. But things had come up suddenly, and they knew that Gwen would be home at her apartment that evening. Besides, Eleanor and Dania had always expressed a fondness for Gwen’s younger sister –– “more than Gwen, sometimes,” her mother had joked.
It was for this reason that Hazel found herself standing in the living room of Gwen’s apartment, wrapped up in her thermal coat and scarf, with a backpack full of activities.
“Hey Hazel!” Dania said, jumping up from the couch. “How have you been!”
“Doin’ good,” Hazel said. She shuffled into the room, with Gwen close behind her.
The Hanslick Girls 