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I Survived the Book Thing
Last Friday we had our once-a-month party, which is becoming quite the hit among our neighborhood friends. It started out years ago as a way for me to see a few friends every now and then, but now First Friday has evolved into a much larger social gathering where many of our friends have a place to see each other once a month. We lucked out once again with our fire; the all-day rain stopped right before our neighbor Joe brought over lots of good dry black locust wood. Our run of First Friday fires continues, we'll keep our fingers crossed for the next one... On Sunday Gina, Kory and I went to Baltimore to visit the Book Thing, a free book store. Right now you may be furrowing your brow and thinking, what does he mean by a free book store? Well, you go into the store and leave with free books. At this moment, perhaps your brow is furrowing further, as you suspiciously ask, what's the catch? No catch, really. It's an all volunteer organization. You can donate books if you like but you don't have to. We dropped off a bag of books and left with even more books.  First we had
to find the place. It's kind of in a seedy part of Baltimore (there
are, admittedly, a lot of seedy parts of that city). A painted placard
on the sidewalk says FREE BOOKS, with an arrow that points into an
alley. As we walked into the empty alley, I was a bit on the defensive,
I mean, that would be a great way to lure unsuspecting readers into
harm's way, huh? With thoughts of Wile E. Coyote's FREE BIRD SEED signs
in my head, I looked around for the bait. I noticed an old little door
down a small stairwell, with a small sign attached. It said THE BOOK
THING. Nobody was around, the alley was empty. We approached carefully.
I turned the doorknob, with strange thoughts of some book-thing-beast
lying in wait behind the door.But no, behind the door lay an old musty basement with stacks and stacks of books, and many people pushing past other people to explore the shelves. We dropped off our bag of book donations and dove in. The Sci-Fi section was very small (someone told us it was smaller than usual), but Kory managed to find a few gems, and I picked up a couple, too. A lot of the books were old and dated, of course, but we had a great time perusing. While I searched the Nature section, a man behind me politely asked if I'd like a bag. I gladly dumped my holdings into a bag he held for me, and he said if I needed any more bags, just ask. I looked around and saw some customers wandering through with big boxes. What a nice bookthing. Crowded, dusty, with stale smoky smells, but very pleasant. When we left we had to stamp our books on the inside covers. The stamp says: Not For Resale
I
guess there was a catch, but it's not that big. They just don't want
you to make money off their free books.THIS IS A FREE BOOK www.bookthing.org THE BOOK THING OF BALTIMORE, INC After the Book Thing, we went to lunch at Liquid Earth, a cozy little café in Fell's Point. I had a delicious vegan reuben, with fake corned beef and fake cheese and real everything else. I also had a mixed fruit juice, a vegan macaroni salad, and a bit of Gina's vegan cookie for dessert, with a vegan coffee. All very tasty, too. On Tuesday evening our friend Margit visited for a walk with Booda. I had a really long, entertaining conversation with her. I recommend conversations with Margit. G: When we got to The Book Thing, I stayed near the door at first, looking at the enormous pile of novels, ceiling high and three books deep. The guy at the desk was talking with two people. As I scanned the book titles, one of them, an old woman, sat down on a bucket next to me as she said to the men, "That's why I give you a hard time." At the moment she said "hard time," my eyes were resting on a book called Hard Time. Wow. I told them what just happened, and they said that I better take that book then. I agreed. Lessee, I went swing dancing at Glen Echo Saturday night, with Dorian and Amethyst. Susan met us there. We all had a great time! On the way back to the car, I found a twenty on the sidewalk! I put the whole thing toward our three dinners at Plato's. Sunday night I went dancing at The Conservatory (Alex and Renee's). I noted to myself how my circles of friends are beginning to blend there - Greenbelters, Wunderlanders, and Dance Nighters. On our walk today Booda and I came to an area in the woods that is often underwater. In the summer we call it mosquito lake, but this winter it's been frozen over, and Booda and I have walked on it when the ice was thick. Booda stepped out into it, and the thinning ice collapsed under him. He kept going - step, sink, step, sink, a few feet out, then it started to hold his weight. I laughed and clapped with delight to see him nonchalantly walk out onto the ice as it creaked and bowed under him. He got close to the other side when the ice gave way and he stood in water a bit over his chest. I thought this was hilarious at first, but he didn't. He never likes getting in past his legs, and he looked kind of sad and helpless. He tried pulling himself out onto the ice, which only broke again. He was trying to go in a direction that wouldn't get him to the edge for a while, so I ran around the water to the other side where he was close. By then he was looking really helpless, and whined a little. I called to him to come to me, but he just stood there. I kept telling him he could do it, and wondering how long he could safely stand in the cold water. Normally cold doesn't seem to bother him one bit, but he usually can get out whenever he wants. I didn't relish going in and getting soaked and freezing myself, but was getting ready to do it when he finally started struggling toward me. Pulling by his front legs onto the ice, then falling through, he finally got to the edge and saved himself. Once he got out he happily shook himself off, over and over and over. I think maybe he did get a bit cold and was trying to shake that off. He kept shaking himself every few seconds as he joyfully ran up the path, away from that nasty water. J: I just ate a piece of Gina's delicious banana bread. I think my earache is disappearing already! |
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