A STORY. 26. WHAT NEXT?

This time, turning the handle with its sign, OPEN, hanging from it, you feel how much you are stepping into another world. You hear the tinkle of the little bell above the door. You smile at the woman at the cash. You breathe in the slightly dusty air that smells of old books and lavender. The old floorboards creak, just a bit.

What is right for you? You don’t know yet. Maybe today you just want to look around. So you do that, lightly running your fingers, row after row, over the spines of the books. So many lives all around you.

For the first time, you feel the thousands of lives around you, book after book after book, each writer with something they want to share with you. And you notice there are a few other people in the bookstore, also browsing. Were they there before? You don’t know. You never noticed them. One is bringing half a dozen books to the cash.

So many books. But for now, you don’t want any of the other stories on shelf after shelf.

Soon you are back in your usual spot, reaching for your usual book, MOMENTS. But you put it aside. You go through the pile underneath. You stop at HEAVY BREEZES. It’s Book Four in the series . The series has the title, A LOVE STORY. You take the book, open it, go to the table of contents. You count. 11. 11 love poems. You close the book.

What kind of world is this? No worry about the end of the world as we know it. No mention of mind control, aliens out to destroy the planet, sky spraying and famines being created to starve untold millions.

Instead, moments and more moments, and even a book of 11 love poems.

You feel a spell is being broken, an evil spell where you did not think of love, of everyday living.

You pick up MOMENTS again. You notice Heavy Breezes in the Table of Contents.

To be continued . . .
A STORY. 27. HEAVY BREEZES
https://elsaiselsa.substack.com/p/a-story-27-heavy-breezes

A STORY. ALL THE CHAPTERS ... UP TO NOW
https://elsaiselsa.substack.com/p/a-story-table-of-contents-up-to-now_

Posted April 4, 2024