Odd business combinations

I spent the evening at the Latchis Hotel in Brattleboro, Vermont, for a writing and booksellers’ conference. My publicist arranged the accommodations, so I was unfamiliar with the hotel when I arrived. According to its website, the Latchis, an art deco hotel, is actually a combination hotel and movie theater, and this unique redesign afforded some interesting architectural features.

For example, a square support beam, about two feet wide on each side, ran through my bathroom from the floor to the ceiling, nearly adjacent to the edge of the bathtub, which required me to walk around the beam to turn on the water for my shower, then turn and go back around the beam to get into the bathtub.

An odd but memorable feature.

I also had the pleasure of catching the final minutes of The Hangover, a film I very much want to see. Sadly, I only caught the muffled sounds of the film’s audio track emanating through the wall, so following the plot was difficult.

Please don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining. The hotel was clean, comfortable, and equipped with wifi. And it was just a block from the conference site, in the center of Brattleboro, close to many restaurants and bookstores.

What more could a guy want?

I wondered if my publicist arranged this room on purpose, perhaps aware that my current manuscript centers on an equally odd combination of funeral home and chicken shack.