by Moe Zilla

Created on: October 04, 2010

Just three years before her death at age 49, Pam Conrad wrote a sequel to one of her most popular books. "The Tub People" had created an entire civilization from plastic children's bath toys (shaped like little people), and it received a positive write-up from Publisher's Weekly. "The Tub People like to go for rides on the washcloth raft and the floating soap," they wrote, noting its drama revolves around the day "the Tub Child is lost, washed down the drain…" That book eventually founds its way to a happy ending, with the child reunited with its parents. And "The Tub Grandfather" starts with a premise that seems like a matter of life and death.

 
There's a plastic figure of old man, who "didn't move or make a sound," lying face down under the radiator. "The Tub People did not see him at all," writes Conrad, even a character she identifies as Grandmother. Richard Egielski contributed a depressing drawing of the plastic old man, covered with cobwebs in the shadows of the radiator's metal legs. He's wearing a derby hat and white moustache, and next to him is a little lost button.
 
It's the Tub Child who discovered the dusty old man, and then the Tub Dog sniffs him and barks. "Shall I arrest him?" asks the Tub Policeman, and the Tub Doctor offers to bring him a bandage. But it's the Tub Grandmother who shushes the dog, and then whispers a poignant question.
 
"Walter, dear, is that you?"
 
I found the book's premise kind of creepy, though that's always a danger with stories about dolls. At some point they've got to become stiff and lifeless, and that's got an obvious symbolism for humans: they're dead. The Tub Grandfather "did not move," even after he's propped up onto his feet, and he doesn't even open his eyes. The entire community watches over him overnight, and then decides to try one more thing.
 
"Tomorrow, we'll take him to the tub."
 
It's the sound of the radiator that eventually wakes him up, and then he dances with the Tub Grandmother. All the other smiling tub people "smile and quietly watched them. And the tune went on and on." There's a beautiful illustration of the couple, surrounded by the rings of the flower-covered rug on the bathroom floor. But I had to wonder if author Pam Conrad was thinking about mortality, and sending a message that love lasts forever.

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