Margie Krebsbach is contacted by Marie Gennaro from Italy who desperately wants to visit in Lake Wobegon. Marie tells the story of her mother who had fallen in love with a GI back after the US landing at Anzio right before the liberation of Italy from Nazi occupation and the end of World War II. Marie is the daughter from that short love affair. Gus Norlander was the young GI.
Of course Margie knew of Gus Norlander. He was a very famous WWII war hero who had been nominated for a medal of honor for his heroic sacrifice of his own life in attacking a fortified Nazi hillside position. He marched right up the hill dressed as a Catholic Bishop swinging his smoking incense on a chain. When he got close enough he threw the incense container up the hill. It really contained a grenade. The explosion killed a bunch of Nazis and Gus drew a machine gun from beneath his vestments and began mowing down the rest. The Nazis returned fire and riddled Gus spreading his crimson blood all over his vestments. But Gus succeeded in taking the position and saving his regiment.
Gus had impregnated Marie’s mother just before that and Marie had never met him. But her mother never stopped talking about Gus and Marie really wanted to meet the people in the town of Lake Wobegon that her mother constantly talked about.
Gus’s mother’s deathbed wish was that her other son travel to Italy and affix a picture of Gus to his gravestone. It was the custom of the Norwegians to put a picture of the deceased on the headstone to make sure everyone knows this was a real person who was loved.
Margie contacted Gus’s brother down in Oklahoma. The man lay dying in a hospice but he was a rich oil millionaire. He provided Margie with $500,000 to take a dozen of her friends on a trip to Italy to place the picture. Garrison Keillor had visited the reading club of the ladies of Lake Wobegon and was caught up in the heart-felt mission to go to Italy with a picture of Gus. Garrison rashly offered to pay the way for all who wanted to go to Italy. Fortunately Margie limited that to only a dozen but it was still a little more than Garrison really wanted to support. But the trip was on and they all flew off to Italy to vacation in Rome and visit Gus’s grave.
While in Rome Margie falls for a handsome young Italian and has an affair. She meets with Marie and succumbs to her charms agreeing to buy an apartment in Rome from her for $500,000. The group visited all the famous places in Rome and gradually got close to each other. They even unburden themselves of their dark secrets, some of which are a bit shameful, to each other.
After leaving Rome Margie begins to really regret her affair and her thoughtless plunge into buying real estate from someone she hardly knew. She makes a phone call from Amsterdam trying to contact Marie and call of the purchase but only gets a voice mail in Italian saying “American go home!” Margie is devastated having lost a small fortune which could have saved her husband’s floundering building business. But, when she gets home she finds that her local Lake Wobegon banker did not transfer the money. In the Minnesotan way he was waiting for confirmation from Margie for the date to actually make the transfer.
So things worked out ok. Margie sends $50,000 to Marie who had attempted to swindle her along with a note thanking Marie for the experience.
What a tale. Garrison is at his best in “Pilgrims”. It is funny and quick reading with a fine set of well developed characters. I give this one a 9 of 10 on the Weaver meter.
