Take a page from the coloring book Village Charm and a page from Complete the Story, and what might I get? The idea to finish this prompt:
along with the page I colored:
Here’s a tale for anyone who wants to read where imagination took me while I colored today.
Pauline felt empty and full at the same time. She was mentally and physically exhausted, but her spirit buzzed with energy it hadn’t felt in a long time. Finally she was ready to open the bookstore–as soon as the clock on the city hall tower struck ten.
She sat on a bench across the street from Little Village Books and realized that technically, the store was open. At least the front door was. Memphis the cat sat in the doorway, pausing his grooming ritual to watch her. He’d been her constant companion the last few weeks, and she’d grown to appreciate the company. She could understand why Grandpa let Memphis stay when he’d first walked into the store as a stray.
She smiled and pulled a rumpled letter from the pocket of her denim jacket and began to read it, as she had many times before.
“Sweet Pauline, I’ve always wished one of my grandchildren would want the bookstore. For years, your grandmother was my partner. She was the reasonable one of us, always reminding me, ‘Richard, remember that store doesn’t own you. You own the store.’ When our only child, your mother, married your father and moved away, we almost sold Little Village Books. We didn’t. Then Jenny died. As a widower, I again considered selling out and moving close to your parents and their growing family. I didn’t. When Calico Jane died three years ago, I knew I was too old to get another cat and probably too old to continue running the store. Two buyers offered good deals, a surprise in an era of declining independent bookstores. I worried that the property was more appealing than a bookstore. I didn’t accept either offer.
Your mother and I had a long conversation about all of you. I told her what qualities I thought the store needed in an owner and manager: intelligence, a sense of humor, a love of books, people skills, and financial acumen. She told me that all of you love books and reading, but also: Ricky’s brilliant but completely lacking a sense of humor. Elaine’s loaded with personality but has filed bankruptcy for the second time. Barry has people skills, but his sense of humor skews toward daredevil antics and frequent trips to the emergency room. ‘But Pauline,’ she said, ‘is smart, has a sense of humor, does great with people, and has burned out from pouring herself heart and soul into teaching. Little Village Books would be in capable hands with her, but I can’t imagine her leaving her students.’
I assume if you’re reading this letter, maybe you’re considering a career change. The shop is in the black and won’t be a financial burden to you. In addition, I sold the house and have lived in the apartment above the store for the last couple of years, where you could live. The money from the house sale would come to you with the store. The town’s small, the property taxes are manageable with the apartment and shop bundled together, and when Memphis walked in the front door last year, I somehow knew a future was going to work out for him, me, and a new owner. The cat was good luck. He can be good luck for you, too.
In the large locked drawer of my desk in the apartment, I’ve compiled years of stories about the store, its customers, and the townspeople. It’s a big advantage to know your customers’ tastes, but also who you can count on and who to be wary of. It’s not a perfect town. It’s a real one. Consider those journals the kind of education you got while earning your teaching degree.
Before I close, I advise that if you decide to take the store, even before it opens, do one outrageous thing to communicate to the world, or at least to one little village, there’s a new bookseller in town. After that, I hope, like me, you have the adventure of a lifetime in a store that you own–but honestly, it will own you, too.
Much love,
Grandpa
Pauline returned the letter to her pocket and looked again at Little Village Books. When she’d first seen it, the store signs, the door, and the signs that went to the sidewalk for bargain books and to advertise events, had all been painted a dignified blue and gold. She’d refreshed some of those with new colors, particularly the front door, now bright pink and green. The plaster on the lower exterior wall was the same bright green. Yesterday, she’d heard a child say to her mother, “But I want to go in the melon door store!” She couldn’t hear the mother’s answer as they kept walking, but she knew from that moment, her “outrageous” choice of color had fulfilled Grandpa’s directive.
The “Melon Door” Book Store now officially belonged to her. Or to her and Memphis.
First up was 1996’s One Fine Day with Michelle Pfeiffer and George Clooney. George was looking mighty young in this film. At one point, his newspaper reporter character Jack describes Michelle Pfeiffer’s architect character Melanie as “luminous,” which is how I’d still describe her. Movie cameras love her. The one scene I always remember from this movie is the first time (of several) Melanie’s son stains her shirt. She carries a leather bag (how Jack envies this bag) filled with things a mom-on-the-go needs, and grabs one of her son’s T-shirts, emblazoned with a dinosaur, switching it with her shirt. TINY woman! But enough about their looks. The movie is frantic with the pace of two busy New Yorkers trying to balance work with parenting. They meet; they bicker; they negotiate; they commiserate over children who are sometimes maddening, sometimes wonderful; they give each other some grace with a lot of sass; they fall in love–all in the same day. It would take me hundreds of pages…or many books…to write such a thing. =)
Then after dinner last night (and an episode of the funny TV show “Ghosts,”), I wanted to keep myself awake long enough not to go to bed too early and then be wide awake in the middle of the night. I chose the 1995 Sandra Bullock (playing Lucy)/Bill Pullman (playing another Jack) RomCom While You Were Sleeping, about a misunderstanding taken to an extreme. Can anyone play more likable characters in this genre than Sandra Bullock? Equally likable is Jack, and unlike in Sleepless In Seattle when Bill Pullman lost the girl, this time, he’s the lucky guy. The talented supporting cast is by turns funny, sweet, and ridiculous. It’s a good comfort movie to see before bedtime, and YES! I slept six hours, woke up for a while, then slept again off and on for at least another two hours. SO GRATEFUL to feel rested in the morning.
My hair is very short! Which is fine, but strange to see in the mirror. And since last night’s film got me in the mood for more Sandra Bullock, tonight’s DVD rewatch will be 2000’s Miss Congeniality, with Sandra Bullock as FBI Special Agent Gracie Hart, Benjamin Bratt, Michael Caine, Candice Bergen, William Shatner, Ernie Hudson, and John DiResta among the cast. After the movie, I’ll read a while before I get another hopefully good night’s sleep on this Labor Day Weekend. If so, tomorrow: WRITING!
Joe Nick Patoski’s Willie Nelson: An Epic Life. I very much look forward to reading this when I’m ready for another biography. (I think the most recent three I read are on loan to Lynne: one each on Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Mellencamp, and Bruce Springsteen.) Willie’s bookmark advertises the animal rescue group Scout’s Honor Rescue. This was the organization to whom Lynne turned over two dogs she found tied to a fire hydrant on her way home from work one night. The poodle mix, Curly, was adopted immediately. When she took the chihuahua, Paco, to an adoption event, she realized she couldn’t let him go and adopted him herself. He was part of her family for years before crossing the Rainbow Bridge. I adored that little guy.
From then on, my inscriptions from Mark in his books always included encouragement and best wishes for my writing. And then, in a most unexpected way, I did find a voice for telling those stories when I began doing a fun writing exercise with my friends Timothy, Timmy, and Jim. I could recognize the spirit, humor, and sadness of the friends I lost and their larger community in what I was writing with them. When we had a draft of a first novel that grew out of that exercise, I began sending it out and got dozens of rejections. I shared that information with Mark at a signing in 1999 for his memoir Firebird, telling him I was happy to be writing but sad that the writing wasn’t finding a home. This is what he wrote when he signed his book that night.
Recently, Tom and I were talking about the novel Bill Clinton cowrote with author James Patterson. I bought it, read it, liked it. (They wrote a second, but I don’t have it. Yet.) Tom asked me if I’d ever read the novel Hillary Clinton cowrote in 2021 with Louise Penny. And I said, “I’m pretty sure I got it from Murder By The Book, but I haven’t read it yet.”
