He comes in most days after school. And in the summer, one or two days a week. I think his mom sets a limit. He's a quiet boy and would follow her rules.
Sometimes he comes alone, but often he brings friends and shows them where the comics are. And the free books. And the gum. They stick their hands in the gum bowl and shyly back away, around the corner, toward the door. He stops them and tells them they have to say, "Thank you." It's our rule.
The last day of school he brought in a rolled up piece of poster board that he got to bring home. I found it later, forgotten near the comics. A half empty bag of skittles was stuck inside. I was tempted to eat the skittles, but saved the poster board for him, skittles intact.
He's never bought anything in the year that I've known him, but he's never brought trouble either. I sometimes find wrapping papers from gum in odd places, but I think that's not him. It seems unlikely that a boy who tries to straighten the comics before he leaves would hide his wrappers. I think his go in his pockets.
A few days ago, he came in holding a five dollar bill.
"Was it your birthday?" I asked.
It was. He had turned ten. An uncle gave him the money.
"I'm buying books today, " he told me.
He brought a few books up and asked how much they were. I showed him how to find prices and he went back to looking. He settled on two that added up to four dollars.
"Four dollars," I said, paying his tax so he could get a dollar back.
He handed back the dollar. "It's a tip," he said.
I told him that was very nice, but he didn't need to tip me.
"It's a tip," he said again, pausing, and then adding, "for having a good bookstore."
Another successful day.
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
kitd
Ardee
Daniel Rigney
caroline marie
Foolish Monkey
Raymond Roske
Salon.com
Comments
is this a true story, or are you confabulating just a bit, here?
i hope it is true.
little man is gonna grow up to be an interesting fellow, no doubt.
i would kill to know
what books he bought..
Lezlie
James--He's still into superheroes and comics, but I have high hopes.
Mary--Agreed
Con--Might as well throw that 15% cheater card away.
jmac--smiles are always good.
Damon--I'm not sure I knew what a tip was at that age....or, from watching my mom, thought it was always 25 cents.
Brazen--What good kids you were.
lschmoopie--He is.
Lezlie--I've found you get a pretty good group of people going into bookstores.
Rated!!
(Though I thought this was going to be one of those articles deemed NSFW!! Teehee!! ~blush~ What? :D)
R♥
Gerald--Ah, yes, adolescence. And it comes so early these days.
James--A good place to start, although I have to watch out for the racy ones.
scanner--It keeps me going, for sure.
Tink--Tricked you!
john--You used to be able to find them just about everywhere. Malls, Main streets, storefronts. They were full of books, sometimes had a store cat....
Fusun--It was a first for me.
And we have bookstores all around here, they opened one just last Christmas.
They even have magazines, and ones you can read in public!! What?
I'M AN IT CAT WHO HATES COMPUTERS!!! I WANNA BOOK I CAN HOLD IN MY PAWS AND FOLD THE PAGES OVER AS A BOOKMARK!!
TRY DOING THAT WITH A KINDLE!!!!
OOPS!! NO MORE KINDLE!! :D
Stim--Maybe we could try a little Twain before going to Proust.
Tink--I kind of liked that 6 month late EP. It gave me all kinds of hope for old posts.
l'Heure--Wipe those tears. This was a good thing.
A beautiful story, a lovely kid, and a lovely you, for saving him the taxes... A magical bookstore, the one you have!!! Rated, such a good kid!!!
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fuck. i feel verklempt and i really dont want to feel verklempt today!!
strong work you do, there at that bookstore.
What a great story!