Friday, November 7, 2025. 4:07 AM.
Peanut Blutter [sic]
Peanut Blutter was a closet comedian
Afraid to come out of his closet.
He was so concerned that people would just laugh at him.
He just couldn’t understand that it’s okay if people laugh at a comedian.
He always wanted to be taken seriously.
But his thoughts were so funny he was in a conundrum about it.
It made him think of “the little drummer boy.”
And he also remembered Phyllis Diller and her hearty laugh.
She wasn’t afraid of laughter.
He could tell she wasn’t afraid of people laughing.
She had the courage to laugh right back at them.
He just didn’t have whatever it was that Phyllis Diller had.
Maybe that’s why he became a writer of his imaginings.
It’s so much safer to just write while being home alone –
Rather than standing before a live audience of many people ready to laugh at you.
Sometimes he wondered how Phyllis would react to his writing.
He didn’t know what she had.
He only could see that she wasn’t afraid.
And Nancy Drew wasn’t afraid, either.
Maybe it was . . .
No, it wasn’t that that Phyllis had.
Phyllis Diller and Nancy Drew were different personalities.
It was something else.
He couldn’t understand her.
Maybe she just had a lot of nerve –
Whatever that means.
He wondered what she was like when she wasn’t in front of an audience.
Maybe she was entirely different than the comedy anne she portrayed before others.
She was a mystery to him –
Like Nancy Drew was a mystery to him, also.
He read one of her mysteries:
The Mystery at Lilac Inn.
So many dreadful and terrible things happened to her . . .
More horrible than all the things that Frank and Joe Hardy suffered in their adventures doing detective work. The Hardy boys had 58 stories and Nancy Drew had 56 adventures in solving mysteries. I started first grade in 1958; and my sister Lesley started school in 1956. [Those same two numbers – 56 and 58]. I can still recall my sister inviting me to read a Nancy Drew story with her in the bedroom of where we lived in the 3rd-floor apartment at 76 Sweet Avenue in the late 1950s in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. Actually, I think Lesley was actually beginning to write a Nancy Drew story of her own. And we were in bed. And suddenly Lesley stabbed my thigh with her pencil. At almost 74 years old now, I can still see a dark mark on my left thigh just above my knee that might be the mark of Lesley’s pencil point. And I remember some other things that happened to me in that bedroom – with other family members. And many years later – when I wasn’t living on Sweet Avenue anymore – I wall-papered that bedroom. And I had never done wall-papering before – nor since.
Nancy Drew’s courage in “The Mystery of Lilac Inn” was invincible!
He wondered what it would be like to meet her.
He wondered if she could ever just enjoy being friends with someone like him.
Wouldn’t it be something if she found him mysterious –
And wanted to spend time with him trying to understand him –
As if he was a mystery she wanted to solve . . .
Nancy Drew’s Mysterious Mark
He wondered if he could be of some assistance to her in her detective work –
As Doctor Watson was with Sherlock Holmes.
And Frank and Joe Hardy were with their dad, Fenton Hardy, the famous detective.
Or, maybe, he could be something else entirely to Miss Drew –
Something that had nothing to do with detective work.
Could Nancy Drew appreciate anything else besides detective work ?
Nancy was a serious person.
She would likely find a closet comedian something silly –
And nothing worthy of being distracted by – or – attracted to . . .
Like “The Fool on the Hill” in The Beatles’ song.
Maybe Nancy was created for mysteries – and that was her calling in life.
That’s what she is all about.
And, maybe, a writer is created to write.
“Being Drawn to Nancy Drew”
What would Nancy Do —
if a mysterious man was attracted to her ?
“Please forgive me, sir; but the only thing I want to be engaged to is a mystery.”
“You see, I’m just not the romantic type.”
“I’m only interested in facts – not feelings.”
Mark: “Nancy, what about mysterious thoughts and secret feelings ? Would they interest you ?”
Nancy: “I suppose such things are beyond my bailiwick, Mark.”
Mark: “Your bailiwick?”
Nancy: “Yes, Mark. Don’t you recall Kathy Grankin using that mysterious word once upon a time in reply to something you said to her in The Assertiveness Group at the mental health center in the Viola Berard Building on Cumberland Street in Woonsocket, RI, Mark ?”
Mark: “Yes, Nancy. I do remember that time. It was the first time I ever heard that word in all my life.”
Nancy: “I can tell you’re a word person, Mark.”
Mark: “Well, I do like books and stories and thinking in words. My mother once remarked to me: “You’re so literal!” And that’s how I first met you, Nancy – [by doing something literal] — reading about the adventures you experienced in your detective work.”
Mark's Imaginings 