2000-05-24 - 01:22:23

May 23, 2000

LIBER ATED

In my town among the bitter and blase, is an island of tranquillity and comfort. It used to be on one of the off avenues. Small but well stocked with shelves of books, some comfortable chairs and wonderful staff who were alert to someone's need for assistance and quick to oblige. Checks were accepted, no ID's were required and my custom was appreciated. I felt honored while there.

I would go to that sweet place whenever I could route my self to that neighborhood and spend as much time as possible browsing among the bookshelves, lolling in a chair reading poetry in dreamlike peace while children would bring books and sit on the floor by me and make their final choices. No misbehavior, ever. That shop was such a rarity I would have probably frequented it if they handled ladies needlework supplies.

For my association with that shop there was a hiatus. For almost two years in the late 1970's I was unable to even pass by the shop because my workload was much too heavy. When I was finally able to make a visit there, it was gone. Asking a clerk in a nearby shop what had happened to the book store. She answered, "They moved over on the avenue." I went over there and the sign was evident on a multi-storied building. That worn, tattered and torn little shop had moved into a wonderous place.

There were more shelves loaded with books, more comfortable chairs, more staff but the ambience and polite cheerfulness of all the people working there was the same, now the staff was much larger but just as well trained as the old staff had been.

As I browsed I noticed this old man reading a newspaper held in his wide spread arms, passing that chair again later I looked to see if he was awake, didn't look as if he had moved a muscle but was still comfortable.

That establishment soon became my second home, my spare money spent there happily.

After I retired from my job I went down and put in an application for christmas work. I was called and told they had accepted me and to be at such and such a place for training and that it would take pretty much the full day. The training session was the imprinting of the fabulous method that the owner worked by. Honesty, friendliness, discretion and the diplomacy of an ambassador. I have great respect for that lady who owns the store. It truly is the "Golden Rule" champion of the bookworld.

Work there for the Christmas season was the most pleasant time I had ever spent earning wages. The staff was an unbelievable mix of ethnicities, philosophies and education, from people barely literate to college professors. In our break times and lunch times we visited, I learned so much about how people of good will enjoyed working and visiting together. I should have payed her for the privilege.

When I go back and browse, that same old dude is sitting in one of the chairs engrossed in reading that paper. He sure has a good job.

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