Sunday, August 1, 2010

An Exciting Book

My friend Tyler came barging in the other day with excitement written all over his face ... "Perfessor , Perfessor" he cried .. I found a real old book!" "What did you find, Tyler?" I asked. He carefully extracted the object shown below from a shopping bag. "Lookie here! Ain't she a beaut?! It ain't got it cover onto it, but lookie she ain't got no date so I know its the first one!" You can imagine my reaction. No manner of explanation would move Tyler from his conviction that he had found an ancient, rare and valuable book. No amount of argument could budge him. I pointed out the execrable condition ... proof of its age ... I pointed out the lack of covers .... proof of its rarity! "Must be one of them gallery examinations! I pointed out the general flaky condition of the paper ... more proof of venerable age! "Lookie there - it still has the printing on the paper." "I'm leaving it with you Perfessor, cause I know that you know jest what do to with it." I tried one last time ... to no avail as Tyler bounced out the door - his parting words have settled in and remain a haunting refrain in my mind. The blasted thing lays there on my desk. Yes, indeed, it does indeed still have print on its pages .... I know just what I'm going to do with it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Please, do go on....what are you going to do with it?

Unknown said...

A treasure! Remember to lock in the glass-fronted cabinet!

Just teasing. I don't think I was ever that naive, but I do remember when I didn't know much about books. The key is being able and willing to learn.