TEN PAST NINE, after our night coffee break, Annie and I headed to Shakespeare & Co. for a late-night reading. Well, I wanted to read and Annie just followed me aimlessly.
Shakespeare & Co. is open till 23.00 during weekdays and let people read till then. In other words, it’s heaven on Earth for bookworms who want to hide in a place full of books which is not their home.
I picked The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum and sat comfortably upstairs. Annie and I began to read our own books as different people came and left.
A pair of Korean tourists, non-book people, began to squeal noisily to impress the French lad who accompanied them. They almost ran into my knife. Ten times. But Annie gave me a stern don’t-you-dare look. Had it happened, they had it coming.
Eventually the unpleasant people left and we were left in peace for some quiet reading. A discussion was held in the room next door, regarding smoking. As an occasional smoker, I felt uncomfortable.
Then a man came up and sat next to Annie – I can’t remember the details since I was engrossed in discovering whether Dorothy and her friends would escape the Wicked Witch or not.
John Smith – yay for anonymity – recounted his life story and I eventually found out he was a student in Biology, who ended up as a high school teacher for physics and chemistry. Ha, the irony. He eventually proposed to buy us drinks when Annie and I decided to leave.
He was a nice guy, really. He even offered to pay for the copy of The Wizard of Oz I wanted to buy. I was immensely tempted to get a nice, free book but it wouldn’t have been appropriate since I was not interested in John Smith, just like Annie wasn’t.
Annie got his number since he insisted but I doubt we’ll be calling him anytime soon.
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