The Page 123 Test

[[G A M E S]] * Usually, I avoid things such as chain letters and inter-blogging escapades. But my old friend Charles Smyth, who introduced me to blogging and has built up his own interesting site called Spiraglio, coaxed me into participating in a meme he’d run across at Chekhov’s Mistress. The rules go like this:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Don’t search around for an impressive title. Just use the book that’s actually next to you.

Naturally, the first book I grabbed didn’t even have five sentences on page 123; it was the very end of a chapter. So I had to choose the next one down in my pile. Here’s my sentence:

In May 1347, as the plague was sailing west, Cola, who had been building a power base in Rome since his return from Avignon, launched a coup.

According to Chekhov’s Mistress’ Bud Parr, we’re not supposed to reveal the identity of our nearest book. So I’ll leave it at that. Try the game yourself, and post what you discover in the comments section. Or, if you have your own blog--and here I sound like one of those chain letters I despise so much--pass it on.