Wednesdays with Freddy

When Pete, my schwester, partner in crime, and well respected boss-lady, asked me to write for our shops blog, I of course said yes. I do love to write, though not as much as the talented Pete, but I do find enjoyment in it especially when it’s presented as an assignment. I love having deadlines and due dates, nothing gets my creative juices flowing like the fear of running out of time.



Book lover by Alephunky

I have the assignment, so now what? No ideas are coming to me and Pete’s going to proof read this anyway so I’m just going to write some random who-ha about my day at the shop. Wednesday is my day at the shop; you see how I underlined the word “my”? That’s because I’m rather possessive of it. It’s my special day in one of my favorite places and I cherish it. I’m supposed to open the shop at ten, but I’m usually running late. My snooze button has quite a hold on me. (winky face) Once I am in fact at the bookstore I’m wrestling with my “keep-busy-bag”, purse, shop bag, all of which while trying to unlock the door to the shop. Inside the shop I rush to deposit my supplies before they cause me to crash to the floor. Then it’s the registers time to wake up and the lights are next. In my opinion the shop could use more lights, romantic lighting isn’t so great when you’re squinting at titles, but I guess the shop is not that bad.         

After the lights comes the siren sign for outside. I call it that because it is meant to tempt unsuspecting customers inside to dangerous and thrilling adventures only found in our lovely books. I also have to call it something nice because the thing weighs a ton and you can get pretty tired of hefting it even if it’s just once a week. When the sign is outside I do a once over of the shop, making sure everything is in its proper place and the toys in the back are not planning a hostile takeover of the store.

 I love straightening shelves and finding spaces for new books. Picking out what should go on display and what should be deleted from the shop so it can stay with me forever! Oh um well maybe don’t tell Pete that last bit. Moving along, after all the books are where they need to be and there are no customers needing me, I turn to my “keep-busy-bag”, a term coined by our Mum for handmade totes filled with treasures, made for long car rides and trips. Inside are my tools for the day, a journal for ideas and thoughts, a sketchbook for when inspiration strikes, writing and coloring utensils, and whatever I happen to be reading at the moment. Of course it’s never just one book, right now I am in the midst of one audio book, one classic novel, one book of poetry/short stories, one book of juvenile historical fiction, and one actor autobiography that my brother reads to me while I do the dishes. However, I don’t bring all of these with me to the store, usually just two; and I’d be a liar if I didn’t tell you that Netflix steals a lot of my day. Yes, I’m ashamed of this fact but I’m working on my self-control. I try to only watch something when I’m on my lunch break, if that break happens to lengthen at least you can say I tried!

Hopefully by this time I will have seen and spoken to a few customers, but honestly I still have a good day even when we don’t make a dime. After lunch I have a cup of coffee, which I’ve been told is the equivalent of three cups considering how strong I make it. But hey that means I’m saving the time and effort it takes to make and drink the three cups. Afterword there is more reading, maybe another customer, maybe an accidental nap. Interspersed throughout my day are phone calls or texts from Mum, Da, or Pete; greetings of love and curiosity to see if I’ve met my prince charming or had a million dollar day or both. When closing time draws near I back everything up and put all the books to bed.

"And I asked myself about the present: how wide it was, how deep it was, how much was mine to keep."

~Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughter House-Five