Friday, April 17, 2015

Good bye, Katie...at Logos

Yesterday I got a new book.  "Kisses from Katie" is the sort-of autobiography of Katie Davis who, as a high school graduate decided to postpone college because she felt that God wanted her to work with orphans in Uganda.  In time, she formed her own mission Amazima Ministries, where she cares for hundreds of poor children and has adopted 13 of them.  She has also been keeping a blog of her work since 2007.

I ordered her book because of wanting to learn more about Uganda, where my Compassion "daughter," Shallon lives, and I was finding it a fascinating read, so I took it to Logos with me to read.  Toward the end of the afternoon, I had read about half of it, to the part where she had just returned to the U.S. to get the mission officially finalized and do some fund-raising for her kids.

I put the book down to ring up one of my last customers, Jayne B, and her companion, who bought a stack of mysteries, including a Ruth Rendell I had not yet read.  As they left, I got up and went to look at the cookbooks.  I was looking for a specific recipe.  When I finished , I went back to the desk to spend the last half hour with Katie's book...and it was gone.  The only explanation is that Jayne accidentally picked it up with the rest of her stack of books.  I copied her name down from her credit card and tried to find her, but there is nobody by that name in the Davis phone book, or on the campus student directory.  My only hope is that when she gets home and finds the book, she'll bring it back...but if she lives out of town, which I fear she might, it might be too much effort to return it.  I may have to continue Katie's story by reading her blog over the last 7 years!

It was great to arrive at Logos today and find Sandy back in her old place at the desk.  She and her wife had been on a fabulous vacation to VietNam, Cambodia, and Nepal.  They had sent regular updates with wonderful photos until they got to Nepal, where they had no wifi (and sometimes no electricity).  I was eager to find out more about her trip, and as she started talking to me, Ann, who had filled in for her in her absence, arrived too, also eager to hear about her trip.

The three of us chatted for nearly an hour before Sandy finally had to leave and I took over for her.  It was nearly an hour (3:45!) before I had my first sale, to an older man who bought 2 bargain books and two books from the literature section.

A stylish woman wearing a long black and white striped skirt, a straw hat and a lovely scarf around her neck had saved a stack of bargain books to be picked up later.  She ended up spending a total of $41 on the bargain books plus books she picked up in the store--an eclectic collection which included "The Intelligence of Dogs," "Third World Navies," a book on Spinoza, Woody Allen's "Without Feathers," and Dr. Seuss's "The Tough Coughs as he Ploughs the Dough." She had to edit herself and put several books back, saying she would return to get them when she had more money.

A woman asked me for the name of the author of "The Boat that Wouldn't Float."  I wasn't familiar with it, but checked Amazon and found out it was Farley Mowat, but we didn't have that specific book, so she left.

An older woman bought two bargain books and two coffee table art books.

A woman with a little dog on a leash bought 4 bargain books and a book of Irish literature.  I would like to have talked with her about her dog, but I was still dealing with the woman with the $41 sale.
Two older women came in looking for a Thomas Guide.  I directed them to the travel section, where they found "a" Thomas guide, but not the one they wanted, so they left.

A colorful woman came in with her friend.  She was wearing pants that were royal blue in the back and pastel blu in front, a tie dyed shirt, dark shoes with electric pink socks and a bright pink backpack.  Her friend was a study in brown from his beard to his clothes to the baseball cap he wore backwards on his head and the heavy backpack.  He was carrying a skateboard.  They checked out science fiction for awhile and then left.

A nice looking young woman with a full navy skirt with polka dots, earbuds in her ears and a small nose ring bought a book of the lyrics of Edna St. Vincent Millay.

Another woman who reminded me very much of our Lamplighter friend Willa, but taller, was checking the music and show biz section, but left soon after, turning to wave at me and say "so long!"

My friend arrived at 4:50 but didn't stay long.  He bought a book of Islamic art.

And then came Jayne and her friend.  Jayne had pink hair and was wearing either very short shorts, or a bathing suit.  She had a denim shirt with a plaid shirt tied around her waist.  She had tattoos over her arms.  They bought 7 mysteries, including a Ruth Rendell I had not read yet....and took my book with her (accidentally, I assume)

A woman with a thick accent asked me something about some business on campus and when they closed their doors, but I couldn't understand her and don't know anything about campus buildings anyway.

The very last customer bought acopy of "King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine" about, Amazon tells me, "men's abusive behaviors, passivity and inability to act creatively." After he bought the book and started to leave, his friend noticed that I had forgotten to give him back his credit card.

As always we were home in time for Jeopardy!

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