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Books Are Like the American Flag?
My pernicious pathology
I don’t travel much anymore but back when I was younger I traveled a lot. Whenever I arrived in a new city or town one of the first things I would do was check out the local independent bookstores. I couldn’t help it. I’m a book freak.
Once, I visited a city that had an independent bookstore that had a stellar reputation for its extensive inventory. I had heard about this bookstore and I had read about it and I couldn’t wait to visit it.
But once inside this bookstore I was overcome with horrible vibes. It was a huge store but I didn’t get very far into it when I was forced to stop. Looking around I saw that everything was in utter disarray. Books were stuffed sideways atop books that were upright on the shelves. But even worse than that, everywhere I looked there were piles of books on the floor!
On the floor!
And the floors were filthy, covered with dust and dirt and mud and everything else tracked in by customers. It looked like the floors had not been swept or mopped in years. How could they be? They were covered with stacks of books.
I looked at the employee sitting at the cash register. He was reading a book while eating Cheetos. If you have ever bought a used book and, once home, you opened that book only to find…
