OUR OF PRINT

An older woman came to the counter and gave me a quizzical look… She smiled then said, “Excuse me…I’m looking for one particular book.” “It’s a book I read to my granddaughter…who usually fell asleep before we were done… I’d like to send it to her for her birthday…this year she turns 21.” She said her granddaughter called her up…out of the blue…unexpectedly… and asked, “Do you remember this book Grandma…and all the times you read it to me?” “Of course I remember.” She said. (As she was telling the story she gave her heart a pat. “Of course I remember.” She repeated. “You don’t forget something like that!” She said her plan was to send her granddaughter a copy of this book with a note saying how nothing compared to the moments we spent reading it together… to those moments that we shared. She hoped to find that book in our store…she asked if we had it…we didn’t. I told her it’s a very old and obscure book…and I believe it’s out of print. I smiled and said, “I don’t think you need a physical book…it is plain for me to see… How that book…after all the times you read it…is printed in your memory.” “And I”m sure it the same for your granddaughter…in her memory that book is installed. It’s definitely a memory she was thinking about…why else would she have called?” Then the lady tapped my hand…”You’re right.” She said to me. “We have the gift this book left both of us…we have its memory.” As she left the store I thought how a memory doesn’t fade…it’s condition is alway mint… and how a memory…unlike a book…will never go out of print. Working in a bookstore I’m surrounded by books with stories of joy and sorrow…and more but some of the best stories are not in print… they come walking through our front door.