Sandy and I chatted for 30 minutes again today. We've
discovered we have so much in common it's amazing we never met before Logos. We
compared child birth stories, San Francisco stories (she lived there too, but after I
left), medical office stories, and psychologists and psychiatrists we have both known.
We might have talked longer but a "talky guy" (not one I'd met before,
but Sandy had) was asking about a psychologist and we started brainstorming about who it
could be (he didn't have his name). Paul somebody possibly married to Linda
somebody, but that's as far as we got.
Anyway, Sandy left and I took over. She had done very
little business, most of which was bargain books. But she still outsold me by about
twice as many customers. I dealt with more customers this week than last (about 5; I
had 3 last week..."my friend" didn't even come in today!) but almost all of
those were bargain books, so I don't think I broke a $20 total for the afternoon. I
bought a book, too, but even I bought a bargain book!
But I did have a few interesting customers. An old
guy (older than me!) bought a bargain book on poetry about mythical beasts. He said
"They say I'm too old for mythical beasts, but you're never too old for mythical
beasts." Then when he left he wished me a good day and a good life.
As he was going out, a woman in a grey June Allison type
page boy haircut came in clutching a bargain book. She dug deep in her purse, but
found the $1 to purchase it with.
A guy with one of the ubiquitous messenger bags hanging
across his chest came in to ask how business was. He says his father has a book
store on the Peninsula somewhere. He was very impressed to learn that Susan and
Peter donate proceeds to Doctors without Borders and Save the Children and that they had
donated $40,000 last year. But he didn't buy anything to help raise the proceeds!
After awhile, a couple came in and bought a Calvin and
Hobbes book and one about Genetics (presumably not Calvin and Hobbes genetics)
Things were so dull, I snuck off to the back to use the
bathroom and was shocked to discover three customer in the store when I returned
a couple of minutes later. None of them bought anything.
But then my favorite customers of the day arrived.
Even they didn't buy anything. I encouraged Jeri to
check the bargain books because she had $2, but she didn't find anything.
A very thin woman was looking for books about horses, but didn't find
what she was looking for.
At 5 p.m., my friend had not come in and one of my last two
customers of the day bought "the Kite Runner" and we very briefly discussed
Afghanistan and the two books by Khaled Hosseini, and the last customer bought
"Monuments Men" and we talked about the film and the men who saved the art work.
Susan relieved me early because we had made plans to have dinner at
Atria with Jeri & Phil and Ned, so we rushed right over there and met the kids there.
It was a very nice dinner and I was one again touched by how seeing her
grandchildren perks her right up.
They get her laughing and that's what she needs more of. When
the evening was over, Ned drove home to Sacramento, Phil rode his borrowed bike across
town to spend the night with some different friends, and Jeri came back here so she could
show us the DVD of a concert of excerpts from A Chorus Line that she conducted
recently.
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| Day 53: How could this NOT make me happy? |
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