I Never Read Fiction

I never read fiction, Persnickety told me. I urged her to read Harry Potter and she laughed. A kid’s book! I am twenty-six-years old! You would love it, I said. I would not, she replied. Five years later her cats were Hermione and Ron. Her parrot had been renamed Dumbledore. And she was making her husband call her Harry. Did you read the books? I asked her. Which books? Harry Potter? Oh, no, she said. I never read fiction. Her four-year-old son, Hagrid laughed.