First off, the day started with a scare for me. I
went to Atria at 11:15 to have lunch with my mother. I had brought my iPad so I
could shoe her a video. But when I got there, her newspaper was still in the box,
which means she had not gotten up (or had forgotten to get her paper). I didn't know
what I was going to find when I went inside. She was in bed and I couldn't tell if
she was breathing or not. I shook her shoulder gently and she pursed her lips and
moved a bit on the bed, but didn't open her eyes.
Knowing that she would be quite disoriented when she
finally did wake up, I just left her a note and came home. I called back in about 2
hours and she was awake, the TV was on and she sounded more chipper than I've heard her in
awhile. I guess she really needed the extra sleep!
Now to Logos...It was only 90° outside when Walt drove me
to the store, but it was humid and sweat was already dripping off of me by the time I
reached the door. Thank god for air conditioning...and the desk fan. Peter
jumped right up as I came in the door. I could hear Susan in the back.
I was still settling in when a guy gave me a book on
Statistics to purchase. I didn't even look at him, so don't know if he was young,
old, fat, skinny, or whatever!
A couple came in. I was drawn to the guy's big grey
trainers with shocking pink accents and laces. (Aside: I used to call them
"tennis shoes" but athletic shoes come in so many different styles and uses --
running shoes, walking shoes, whatever shoes -- that I like the Australian
"trainers" as a good all purpose term!). He bought a copy of "Atlas
Shrugged."
A woman was looking through the bargain books and brought
in two to buy. She was carrying a white canvas bag covered with pictures of ants.
She purchased the two books from outside and looked through one of them, which was a book
of poetry. She noted that someone had already left notes in it and we talked about
how much fun it was to find someone else's notes in a used book you just bought.
A very tall, very skinny guy with very hairy legs was
wandering around the store. I didn't know if he was with a woman, who looked very
fragile, very pale, in an old-fashioned white lace dress. Her hair had a braid crown
that joined together at the back and went down her back in a long heavy braid. But
they weren't together. She bought 3 books from the literature section, a Zola, a
Yeats and one other.
There was a man in black from head to toe, including a very
heavy looking back pack.
Two women came in looking for "Love in the time of
Cholera" -- and found it!
A grey haired man with a black shirt and jeans was checking
out science fiction, even including removing books from the shelf to see if there
was anything hiding behind them. He then spent some time going over the sheet music
and bought two pieces.
Another couple came in. He was holding a water bottle
under one arm. She looked like one of the ubiquitous blonde TV stars without make up
-- like Kim Raver, who played Jack's ex-girlfriend in 24. They wandered around
for awhile but didn't make a purchase.
A guy wearing a red "Fly Emirates" came in but
things got kind of busy, so l I didn't notice when he left, but he didn't buy anything.
This was around 3-4 and was the busiest time (4-5 was
dead!) A guy with a pot belly, drinking some beverage bought a novel about the war
in Vietnam.
A woman with a sleeveless top which showed the beautiful
dragonfly tattoo on her left shoulder came in, earbuds hanging over her shoulders.
As she entered the store, she pushed her sunglasses up to the top of her head, gave
a wave and said "hello." (nobody I knew personally, just a friendly woman)
She was followed by a perky business-type woman in brown
slacks, a crisp white shirt and carrying a red bag. She bought 3 books from the
literature section and asked for information about volunteering at Logos.
An older guy wearing cargo pants and trainers with white
socks spent a lot of time at the Fantasy section. When he came to buy two books, I
took his credit card and, when I looked at the name, realized this was a long-time friend
of ours. I hadn't seen him in years. He is greyer, more wrinkled, and looks
like he has lost a significant amount of weight. I might have recognized him anyway,
but I don't focus well on people coming in the door, and by the time he was looking at the
fantasy shelf, the sun was coming in the door and it made focusing on details of his
appearance difficult. ("In the dusk with the light behind him" sort of
thing) But it was nice to see him, to briefly hear about his kids, and to send
greetings back to his wife.
The chatty guy from the last few weeks came in and I
groaned as he waved a cheery hello, but instead of settling in to talk, he got a book and
sat down to read for about an hour. When he finished, he put the book back and waved
goodbye without saying more than "hello" to me.
A nicely coordinated guy came in, wearing blue slacks, a
blue and red plaid shirt, a red ball cap with blue accents, and wide blue and red striped
socks. He brought a stack of books from outside and said he was going to "start
a stack," and ultimately bought those plus four more from inside the store as well.
A couple from Sacramento returned. Apparently they
had spoken with Susan earlier in the day about books by an author the woman was looking
for. Susan had told her to come back after 6, but she showed up at 3:30 instead.
I had no information for her. But she also wanted information on local movie
theaters. They had found two, but didn't know about the third, so I gave them
directions. The husband wandered around the store while the woman and I chatted
about Vermont (where she is from) and California (where I and her husband are from).
A grizzled farmer-type with a wide-brimmed tan hat, rumpled
pants and a shirt hanging out started wandering around the store. Suddenly he
started sneezing very loudly, over and over again. He was blowing his nose in a big
purple handkerchief. I asked, jokingly, if he were allergic to books. He said
if he were allergic to books he'd be dead, but he took his sneezes outside without buying
anything.
A person of questionable gender arrived. The hair was
masculine, there was a lip ring and the voice seemed feminine. The customer
purchased a book by Spinoza and was tickled to find it because apparently the only other
books had been about Spinoza, but none by Spinoza.
Bruce came in. I hadn't seen him in weeks. He
seems to have a new-ish hat. No sweater today and his white pants were, as always,
dragging on the ground. He carried a newspaper and a big paper bag. People in
Davis are often carrying bags these days, now that there is a ban on bags and stores have
to charge if you want your items put in a bag. He didn't buy anything this time,
though.
A short man who looked like a character from a sit com came
in. He had a blue ball cap, pulled low over his eyes, oversized black glasses hiding
his bushy eyebrows. He had a thick moustache atop a mouth that seemed to be
permanently pursed, and long side burns. He had a stooped, loping gait with his head
thrust forward, giving him the look of a character from a cartoon. Too bad he didn't
buy anything.
It was now 5 p.m. and my friend had not showed up, nor did
he in the last hour either.
A woman bought some books from the bargain table, but then
went into the children's room and came out thrilled that we had "Caps for
Sale," her favorite book as a child, which she bought for her 3 year old niece.
The day ended when Susan started lugging in box after box
after box of books, from her car. I offered to help, but she said "I'm not
insured for you," so I sat there and watched her make about a dozen trips, and I felt
guilty.
Walt arrived and we said our good-byes to Susan and headed
on home to find the messages from Char and from Linda, of Linda and Bob, folks we made
friends with on the Ukraine trip last year.
Now we are re-thinking the Alaska-for-our-50th plan.
I maybe giving up on the lifelong desire to do the inland passage after all.
Linda and Bob say they are taking a Viking ocean cruise in October of
2015. Char and Mike talked about it and they are ready to sign up now (you have to).
Walt and I talked about it and decided we want to go too and will consider that
our 50th anniversary celebration. It's 6 countries in 13 days (yeah...yeah...If
this is Tuesday...etc. I hate that idea, but realize that at our age and level
of activity, it's the best way for us to travel). Ports of call are Barcelona,
Spain; Toulon, France; Monte Carlo, Monaco; Florence/Pisa, Italy; Rome, Italy; Naples,
Italy; Corfu, Greece; Dubrovnik, Croatia; Split, Croatia; and ending in Venice. I
read the itinerary and they had me at "Sagrada Familia" in Barcelona, which I've
wanted to see since I watched a PBS special on it.
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| Day 39: Happiness is thinking of swimming in this pool next year! |
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