I spent an entire Saturday by myself at the bookstore (on account of the staff coming down with the flu). This was something I had not done in a long while. I am writing this because I have always intended to put down the experience of owning and running a small bookstore in our blog but also because I wanted to remember how much I enjoyed myself.

The day started with two young boys from the bakery across the parking lot coming in almost right after I unlocked the front door. I watched them for a while, making sure they were of the responsible sort. At least one of them was and the other (the younger one, I suppose) seemed to listen when he was told what to do by the taller boy so I left them to do what they wanted which was to read to each other and to play with the toys on the children’s table.

Throughout the day customers would come in looking for this and that item. Some we had (Dinna Revilla’s “Riches in Foreclosures“) and some we did not (birthday cards). Someone came in looking for a book by Ned Vizzini. I asked for the title of the book and he said, “It’s kind of a funny story.” It took me a beat to realize he was giving me the title of the book. I should remember to re-stock “Banker to the Poor,” the memoir of Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank which extends financing to the poorest of the poor in Bangladesh. Someone was looking for it.

When I was not attending to customers, I answered mail. They were mostly requests for books. I also read short stories from the internet. I read old favorites like Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery and W. W. Jacobs’s The Monkey’s Paw, some I had not read before like Flannery O’Connor’s Good Country People, and then The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell I am not sure if I have read or not.

I also answered a few calls; one was from a customer in Carmona. The strangest was from a customer of the Japanese restaurant upstairs (Omakase). She left her glasses on the table where she sat but she could not get in touch with the restaurant so she looked us up instead. I called the restaurant myself and told them what happened. I hope she and her spectacles have been reunited.

The grandmother of a six-year old boy who liked to read and had just won an award in school came in. She was looking for books to give as his reward. My last customers for the day were two ladies who bought magazines. They were talking about how they did not read books anymore, not like when they were younger, when they absolutely had to read. Now, one said, she reads magazines. The other said DVD’s have replaced books (they do enjoy their Korean DVD’s). Ah, how unfortunate and difficult for a bookseller to hear. But, they were very nice ladies and I imagined it was all said with a hint of regret.

Soon it was closing time and while I was fixing up I was thinking about how much I enjoyed manning the store and that our computer needed an upgrade. It was a good day.