It was a slow day at Logos. I only made
2-1/2 of my normal 4 pages of notes.
Sandy and I had a nice, long chat before she
left. We discussed our respective mothers days, Alzheimers, and cDiff,
an infection of the colon, which can be not only painful, but in the extreme
life-threatening. However, she was telling me that, much like you can
try a bone marrow transplant for leukemia, replacing the bad bone marrow
with good bone marrow, some scientists who study cDiff are trying what
amounts to a "poop transplant," introducing a donor's good feces into the
patent's infected colon and hope that the good cells will take over. I
was unaware that there is a "poop bank" in Sacramento. You learn
something every day!
My first customer was an Asian man who
brought 4 books from the Literature section to buy. When I rang up the
total, he decided to put two of them back. He had not realized he
could find out the price by checking the first page of the book.
Then the first of two guys carrying
skateboards came in. He left his board and backpack at the desk while
he wandered around and eventually bought two heavy tomes on business...and a
25 cent bag to carry them in.
The next customer wanted to find our Chicano
section and I had to tell him we didn't have one.
A woman came in with a delightful dog named
Bib. He may have been a cockapoo, all black with a white bib around
his neck. He was very friendly and came up for lots of petting
whenever his owner got near the desk. At one point he was in the
stacks not really paying attention to me, when I took a bite of an energy
bar I had brought with me. Bib's ears went straight up and his tail
started wagging furiously. I finished the bite without offering any to
him and he went back to sitting with his owner until I took another bite and
then he came to life again. It was really kid of funny.
A stout Latino man in a suit and tie (very
strange on a day when the temps were going to get into the low 90s) bought a
copy of "True Grit."
A group of 4 came in, including one very tall
middle aged man in shorts and a Panama hat, flip flops and sunglasses.
All four wandered around for a long time, but only the hatted one bought 2
bargain books before they left.
A woman bought a book I recognized as one I
donated last week ("Stones from the River") and a book on bicycle repair.
My friend arrived at 4:15 and bought a book
on Kabuki, but he ran into a friend, so they stood and talked for awhile
before he left. His friend was a grizzle-faced man with a baseball acp
wearing wrinkled long tan-colored cargo pants that had been patched in front
with a large blue denim patch. He didn't buy anything.
A woman with rough, leathery dark tan skin,
like someone who spends most of her time outdoors came in carrying a tall
glass of what looked like ice water. She checked cookbooks, but didn't
buy anything.
The Antiquarian popped in. He was in
and out so quickly, I barely had time to say hello. He just checked
the old book section, saw nothing interesting, and left.
A guy came in thinking we were more than just
a used book store. He wanted to buy a package of envelopes. I
sent him elsewhere.
A guy bought 3 old-time sci fiction books.
Their covers reminded me of early David Gerrold books, though I didn't
recognize the name of the author.
A couple came in. The woman was wearing
a raiders t-shirt. She bought a book on Indian basket weaving.
The last customer of the day was a large
women with a gorgeous salmon-colored lace skirt who commented that it was
"nice and cool" in the store. She bought four kids books, 3 of which
were Wimpy Kid books.
Walt arrived at 6 and we headed on home.
We did not go dancing.
That's what my mother asks almost every time
I visit her--if Walt and I are going out dancing. I'm not sure where
she gets that, except that she loved to dance and her husband (not my
father) was a wonderful dancer and I guess they did go out dancing.
The idea of Walt and I going out to dance is laughable, but she can't seem
to understand that.
I had lunch with her before I went to Logos.
She was in great spirits and very giddy, though she couldn't remember
anything or comprehend most things. I like it when she's happy like
that, but it can be embarrassing to be out in public with her because she
has complaints about everybody.
That woman shouldn't be sitting where she is
sitting because it's my mother's usual chair--and her butt is too big
anyway.
That woman is talking too loudly and what is
she talking about?
Another woman has a very nice looking blouse,
but an ugly husband.
She pointed out her "boyfriend" who ignored
her, which isn't surprising because he's 98, profoundly deaf and has macular
degeneration, so he neither saw her nor heard her. But I watch her
when he sits at the table with us and she fusses over him like she used to
fuss over her husband (whom she doesn't talk about much any more). She simply needs a man to fuss over. When
we went for our mothers day dinner, it was Ned she fussed over, so the age
of the man doesn't seem to matter. Just any good looking man who
strikes her fancy.
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