Today at Logos

This was the third week with no Sandy.  Peter says she is on vacation.  I miss her!

My first customer was a tall old guy who bought a history of the Jaguar (auto), "The Grand Tour" and "Sweden the Middle Way on Trial."  It as a soundless transaction, as he came to the desk, handed me the books, then silently handed me the money and turned to go, but on the way out he saw a book about the Wright Brothers and returned to buy that.  It was $7.60 and he gave me $7 and then dug in his pockets for change and only found $7.59.  I told him that was close enough.

A guy in a Bob Marley shirt bought a books with works by Aristotle and Plato.  He told me he likd the guitar music that was playing over the speaker and that he and his father play "a little Flamenco."  His companion bought "The Ant Farm," (That may not be the right title--I can't find it on Amazon.)  It's a humor book and had "Hilarious -- Jon Stewart" on it.  She and the guy talked about Jon Stewart and I asked her what she was doing with herself at 11 p.m. now.  "I KNOW!" she answered, as we shared a moment of sadness over the loss of Stewart to the late night TV watching community.

A woman bought a bargain book by Pat Conroy, "The River is Wide."  I love Conroy and that was one I had not read.  She had not read any of is books before and I raved about "Prince of Tides."

A man in a Clear Lake t-shirt and puka beads bought a bargain book and I asked if he was from Clear Lake.  He said that he was not, but that he was there last summer.  We  talked about the terrible fire burning up there right now.  Then he said something surprising, that a lot of the people in the area where he had been were "unsavory" and wondered if this was Nature's way of "taking care of things."

A man brought in a couple of armloads of books for donation.  Several were good books I was interested in.  I "borrowed" one ("The Art of Racing in the Rain") which we will be reading for book club.  I read it back in 2010 and I want to read it again to remember the story.

A woman came in with three thick books from the Bargain books.  She said she's about to go on vacation and wants to bring things to read that she can leave behind when she finishes with them.

A woman who reminded me of Walt's mother in the days before she got so bad came in.  She was wearing trainers that must have been two sizes too big for her as they looked like clown shoes on her.  She asked for art books, and then asked if we had books that would teach her about how to paint.  She left without buying anything.

A guy wearing a moonshine t-shirt bought "The Alchemist."

A doddering physician and his wife brought in four very heavy bags of medical books to donate.  I was afraid he was going to collapse under the weight of them.  She didn't carry any.

Two businessmen types who reminded me very much of how Tom and his friends look on the golf course.  One of them pulled a carry-on type suitcase behind him.  They looked around for awhile, mostly chatting, before they left without buying.  I was struck by how different their whole demeanor was from the customers we usually get.

A short strawberry blonde guy in a shirt that said "Arkansas Flotation" came in and spent a lot of time browsing through the self improvement section before leaving without buying anything.

A big man looked over the bookcase where misc. books that aren't plentiful enough to warrant their own section are and bought a book called "Playing Winning Chess."

Two woman were browsing bargain books outside.  I watched them through the window and they both reminded me of Kaley Cuoco, from Big Bang Theory, until one of them came in and was considerably older than the young actress and didn't look like her at all.  Both women were dressed all in purple.  The woman who came in asked if we were connected with the Logos Books in Santa Cruz (we are not).  She bought a book by Virginia Woolf and gave me a $2 donation as well.

I had been reading a Ruth Rendell book and came across a quote that made me smile:  "He's a couple of dips short of a limbo."

Two girls with very long dark hair carrying drinks asked if they should put their drinks down.  I told them it wasn't necessary.  They bought 2 contemporary fiction books and a book of Grimm's fairy tails.

A middle aged man with white hair, who reminded me of the guy who writes a local column about beer came in (I knew it was not that man because he didn't have a British accent).  He bought "Beyond Freedom and Dignity" by B.F. Skinner and "Genome: the Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters."  I had problems with his credit card which was very old and the new machine didn't want to read it, but when I manually entered the numbers it went through just fine.

A woman named Cindy, who knows me (she looked familiar, but I can't place her) was looking for "Boys in the Boat," "Being Mortal" and "Can't We Discuss Something More Pleasant?"  We had none of them, but I did give high marks for the last book, which is by New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast and is about what to do with Mom and Dad as they get older and more demented!  I made Jeri read it.

She was with David, who had about 20 bargain books he wanted to buy and asked if he could leave them while he goes back to get his car.

A very thin woman wearing pink and blue trainers spent a lot of time in the cookbook section, rejecting a book on making dog biscuits when she discovered the price was $6.  She didn't buy anything.

This was the second week without a visit from "my friend" who told me he would be gone on vacation for two weeks, since I was worried about him the last time he didn't show up for awhile.

Susan always emails volunteers after their day to let them know how much we made in the day, and apparently this was a good day.  That never has anything to do with me, of course, but it's still nice to know that we made enough money today.