Martinez Column

What have you done to Saturday morning? Saturday morning is rising perhaps a half-hour later than yesterday, then allowing oneself a slow stroll with old Blue; him on a longer leash. Saturday morning is a quick shower, old pants and a sweat shirt and an easy breakfast with Sarah and Mom; Sarah reading to us aloud the piece Al Martinez has written for us today. No telling if we’ll weep or laugh. The weekend has begun, and Martinez, with pungent wit and affecting prose, is enriching us with a small story about something or someone we hadn’t before noticed or thought about. Surprising. Pleasing. Like a kid handing you a flower.

You grant us the curt announcement that Martinez’s column will no longer appear on Saturday, obviously feeling no obligation to explain this decision to your readers. We’ll have him Tuesday and Thursday. Not at all enough.

Sarah’s mom, Sarah and I like The Times. We like the way it presents its news, its features and editorials. We read it clear through. Mom, 89, even reads the used car ads. We’ve grown used to Martinez at our breakfast table three mornings a week--warming us, cheering us. Our hearts need him.

SHELLEY BERMAN, Bell Canyon