Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Lunch break and a disappointed JIm

Jimmy saw the picture of that wonderful Shakespeare Sonnet edition and so wished to see it. At first I didn't recall where I took the photo but then it came to my mind that it must have been the second hand book shop I bought his original edition of Yeats' poems.
Of course I promised him to go there and as soon as they announced the lunch break we were off.
"Unbelievable how fast that grumpy cripple can limp when it gets to the breaks", someone behind me said and I flipped him the bird.
Isn't that impossible? Must be someone I offended this morning.
James made the impression of wanting to slap his face but I grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the door.
"C'mon, he's a lousy bastard. I don't care", I said and grinned at him. "And besides that I'm used to it."
He muttered something and I'm damn sure that guy will receive Jim's revenge later.

We entered the bookshop and the bookseller almost fell to my feet. "Hello! There you are again! How are things going? May I offer you a coffee? Or tea?"
James looked blank and I just grinned. "Coffee would be nice. Right, James?"
Jim nodded and smiled. "Awfully nice."
The bookseller hurried and got us two mugs.
"How may I help you?", he asked then.
I secretly winked at him. "Oh...I saw the copy of Shakespeare's Sonnets yesterday. And my husband would love to have a look at it...."
He stared a few seconds, then nodded and smiled regretfully. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I sold it yesterday."
"Oh", James said disappointed and looked down to his shoes.
I put my arm around his shoulder. "Oh what a pity...it was such a beautiful book. I think it was a 1640-edition."
James blinked. "Oh nooooo, don't tell me that now!"
The bookseller nodded. "Yes. London. 'Printed by Thomas Cates, and are to be sold by Iohn Benson 1640'..."
James eyes widened. "Wow...that must have cost a fortune!"
I waved it aside when the bookseller opened his mouth and wanted to answer. "Aw, we don't want to know that. It's sold anyway, right?"
Cuddly-wuddly sighed, we emptied our cups and went to have some lunch.
It was heartbreaking to see him so disappointed but I was good at cheering him up.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Really a pity. But it must have cost a fortune. Who would spent so much money for a book?

December 13, 2006  
Blogger Dr. Gregory House said...

Don't know...really...

December 13, 2006  

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