Saturday, September 27, 2014

Yesterday at Logos

It seemed so soon to be back at Logos, when we had just returned from Boston, but it was Thursday, so there I was.  Sandy didn't stick around long and I moved into the chair behind the cash register to check out a dad and his two kids, a little boy who bought 2 books on trucks and trains, and a girl who also bought two books, one about the circus and another one.

As they were leaving a woman came in with a copy of the "Oracles of Nostradamus" from the bargain table outside.

A young man came in with a bargain book and asked if there was any chance of employment at Logos.  When I explained that we are all volunteers, he paid the $1 for the bargain book and gave $1 as a donation.  He also took information to talk with Susan about possibly volunteering.

I decided to read Eve Ensler's play "The Good Body" and was so engrossed in it I didn't pay much attention to the several people looking at the books until an older man in a floppy hat came up to buy three books by Ogden Nash.

A guy came in looking for a specific book about oil rigging, but said he didn't imagine that wasn't the sort of book that would find its way into a town like Davis.  I suggested he check the Avid Reader.

I thought I heard someone outside somewhere playing the flute and was appreciating the music floating overhead.  It was an hour or so before I realized it was the radio playing in the store.

A sad looking Asian woman bought a Contemporary Fiction book.  When she smiled, her whole face lit up.  I was entranced at the difference a smile made.

A Mom and daughter came in.  Mom was the kind of athletic, blonde, middle aged woman, in well matched shorts and t-shirt, with the perfect accessories that you see jogging and biking all over town.  The kind of woman who runs most of the most active committees and accomplishes many things for Davis.  She was looking for the "Divergent" series.  Her daughter, probably in her 20s, was a bit chunkier, dressed in short-shorts and a tight, low cut hot pink t-shirt.   She spent her time looking through the Fantasy section.

A man wearing a green "Ithaca is Gorges" t-shirt was looking for sports books, but ended up buying 3 philosophy books and Bill Bryson's "The History of Everything."  I commented on my love of Bill Bryson and he said that this was the first book of his that he had read.

A cheerful guy with a big envelope came in, held out his hand, and introduced himself saying "I work for the Davis Enterprise."   He was surprised when I said "I do too."  He was there to sell advertising, so I took his information to give to Susan and Peter.

A young woman with impossibly thin legs in skin-tight jeans came in.  She stayed roughly the length of time it took me to write that descriptive sentence and then left.

Then was the most fun experience of the day.  I looked up and was looking at this wall of different shades of green approaching, stretching across the distance the width of my desk.  Two women with five toddlers, all dressed in various patterns with green, and a baby in a green stroller came in.  I don't think any of the kids was over 5 but they were very well behaved and one of the women whispered to me that they were using their "library voices."   They stayed in the children's room for about 10 minutes and I heard barely a sound from them and I sat there making silly faces at the baby to keep him from crying.

The "library voices" ended when the group started to leave and one of the girls wanted a book that the women were not going to buy, then there was an impressive tantrum, but on the whole I was very impressed with how well behaved this group of children was.

A guy in dirty clothes, with dirty fingers, holding a dirty box and waving a piece of paper I couldn't read asked me if I could buy some of his candy to help an organization I didn't hear the name of.  The candy looked like it had been under his mattress.  I told him I didn't want to buy any of his candy.  He asked if I'd like to buy some of the candy for him.  I told him no.

"My friend" came in at 5 and bought 2 bargain books and a book about Japan that he was excited about.  He asked how our trip to Boston had gone and I told him all about the shows and the ball game.

Susan arrived hauling bags which I guess contained treats for the night's poetry reading event.  While we were talking some guys passed by the front of the store pushing another guy in a recliner down the street.
My last customer (and only the second charge of the day) bought a copy of "The Hobbit."  

Walt came and we went home to discover that we had no TV reception.  Apparently there was a wide ComCast outage that wasn't fixed until about 8, but we could still watch shows recorded on the DVD, so I was able to get caught up on some of the programs recorded while we were in Boston.

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