Yesterday I got a new book. "Kisses
from Katie" is the sort-of autobiography of Katie Davis who, as a high
school graduate decided to postpone college because she felt that God wanted
her to work with orphans in Uganda. In time, she formed her own
mission Amazima Ministries, where she
cares for hundreds of poor children and has adopted 13 of them. She
has also been keeping a blog of
her work since 2007.
I ordered her book because of wanting to
learn more about Uganda, where my Compassion "daughter," Shallon lives, and
I was finding it a fascinating read, so I took it to Logos with me to read.
Toward the end of the afternoon, I had read about half of it, to the part
where she had just returned to the U.S. to get the mission officially
finalized and do some fund-raising for her kids.
I put the book down to ring up one of my last
customers, Jayne B, and her companion, who bought a stack of mysteries,
including a Ruth Rendell I had not yet read. As they left, I got up
and went to look at the cookbooks. I was looking for a specific
recipe. When I finished , I went back to the desk to spend the last
half hour with Katie's book...and it was gone. The only explanation is
that Jayne accidentally picked it up with the rest of her stack of books.
I copied her name down from her credit card and tried to find her, but there
is nobody by that name in the Davis phone book, or on the campus student directory.
My only hope is that when she gets home and finds the book, she'll bring it
back...but if she lives out of town, which I fear she might, it might be too
much effort to return it. I may have to continue Katie's story by
reading her blog over the last 7 years!
It was great to arrive at Logos today and
find Sandy back in her old place at the desk. She and her wife had
been on a fabulous vacation to VietNam, Cambodia, and Nepal. They had
sent regular updates with wonderful photos until they got to Nepal, where
they had no wifi (and sometimes no electricity). I was eager to find
out more about her trip, and as she started talking to me, Ann, who had
filled in for her in her absence, arrived too, also eager to hear about her
trip.
The three of us chatted for nearly an hour
before Sandy finally had to leave and I took over for her. It was
nearly an hour (3:45!) before I had my first sale, to an older man who
bought 2 bargain books and two books from the literature section.
A stylish woman wearing a long black and
white striped skirt, a straw hat and a lovely scarf around her neck had
saved a stack of bargain books to be picked up later. She ended up
spending a total of $41 on the bargain books plus books she picked up in the
store--an eclectic collection which included "The Intelligence of Dogs,"
"Third World Navies," a book on Spinoza, Woody Allen's "Without Feathers,"
and Dr. Seuss's "The Tough Coughs as he Ploughs the Dough." She had to edit
herself and put several books back, saying she would return to get them when
she had more money.
A woman asked me for the name of the author
of "The Boat that Wouldn't Float." I wasn't familiar with it, but
checked Amazon and found out it was Farley Mowat, but we didn't have that
specific book, so she left.
An older woman bought two bargain books and
two coffee table art books.
A woman with a little dog on a leash bought 4
bargain books and a book of Irish literature. I would like to have
talked with her about her dog, but I was still dealing with the woman with
the $41 sale.
Two older women came in looking for a Thomas
Guide. I directed them to the travel section, where they found "a"
Thomas guide, but not the one they wanted, so they left.
A colorful woman came in with her friend.
She was wearing pants that were royal blue in the back and pastel blu in
front, a tie dyed shirt, dark shoes with electric pink socks and a bright
pink backpack. Her friend was a study in brown from his beard to his
clothes to the baseball cap he wore backwards on his head and the heavy
backpack. He was carrying a skateboard. They checked out science
fiction for awhile and then left.
A nice looking young woman with a full navy
skirt with polka dots, earbuds in her ears and a small nose ring bought a
book of the lyrics of Edna St. Vincent Millay.
Another woman who reminded me very much of
our Lamplighter friend Willa, but taller, was checking the music and show
biz section, but left soon after, turning to wave at me and say "so long!"
My friend arrived at 4:50 but didn't stay
long. He bought a book of Islamic art.
And then came Jayne and her friend.
Jayne had pink hair and was wearing either very short shorts, or a bathing
suit. She had a denim shirt with a plaid shirt tied around her waist.
She had tattoos over her arms. They bought 7 mysteries, including a
Ruth Rendell I had not read yet....and took my book with her (accidentally,
I assume)
A woman with a thick accent asked me
something about some business on campus and when they closed their doors,
but I couldn't understand her and don't know anything about campus buildings
anyway.
The very last customer bought acopy of "King,
Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature
Masculine" about, Amazon tells me, "men's abusive behaviors, passivity and
inability to act creatively." After he bought the book and started to leave,
his friend noticed that I had forgotten to give him back his credit card.
As always we were home in time for
Jeopardy!
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