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Thursday, October 22, 2009

国会山旧书店

今天下午去打敏感针,完了之后溜过去拜访上次去过的旧书店。店主老头儿仍然窝在书堆中间的那个小坑里,不过今天多了个女孩子,黄头发,瘦瘦的,年纪很轻,坐在那里整理乱七八糟满坑满谷的旧书。两个人嘀嘀咕咕地讨论什么作者目录之类,名字全是没听说过的,老头倒罢了,小女孩流利对答,显然是个 bookworm in the making。真是两个外星人,我好想加入他们的物种,除了书,什么都不干,什么都不想,吃喝住行全在书堆里, breathe the musty air and eat the crumpling pages。

老头说,那个谁谁的几本儿书,完全卖不出去,没人要买。Nevertheless,我得找个角落把它们塞进去,让人找不到,因为他的书我得至少留一套给自己。

书架上到处贴了歪歪扭扭手写的纸片儿,除了按名索引,ABCDE 的字母以外,还有些 "Lot 'a Melville", "Millers all on top", 和 "Maupassant to the right"之类的小标签。居然被我找到一本Sarah Waters的近期小说 The Night Watch,顺手拎了下楼付钱。他的收据都是手写的,包括书名,潦草的手笔。书桌上当然堆满了书,不过上面还竖着几本儿疑似招牌的书。赫然看见 Ann Coulter 一张脸占领的封面,心里还有点奇怪,凑上去看她脸下贴的纸片儿,上书: Watch out! Her (his) Adam's Apple was airbrushed out. 逗得我咯咯傻笑。跟老头套近乎:

I: Have you been here for a long time?
He: 15 years! We have been here 15 years. Where have YOU been?
I: I ... uh, I've been around. But I don't live in this neighborhood.
He: Yes! I've had the store for 15 years here, waiting for you to come in.

说着冲我笑笑,挤挤眼。我对这种俏皮的小老头很没有抵抗力,但是又没有急智答词,只好顾左右而言他。

I: You've got a lot of books here.
He: Yeah, they've been waiting for you to buy them. (another wink)
I: Hehe ... I'd need to buy a store for myself just to house all these books then.
He: Why not? We need more bookstores.

我笑着跟他道别。出门时赫然看见门上边贴一张横幅: "Book Thieves Will Be Deconstructed!"

15 年,想必是他退休之后拿起来的第二职业。

6 comments:

Unknown said...

我喜欢纸书,书店和图书馆,个性非连锁的书店更好。所以对电子阅读器暂时没什么兴趣。

Little Meatball said...

An electronic book would be useful if I'm going on a long trip and may finish a whole book before coming home. Carrying 2 books would take up too much room in the carryon. Otherwise, I prefer paper too. Bookstores, especially old book stores, are my natural habitat.

Little Meatball said...

It would be so sad if real bookstores were to disappear and be replaced by online bookstores! A bookstore is a place where members of the same species form a community even though they do not talk to each other. It's my favorite place in the world and always makes me feel warm, calm, safe, and happy.

Unknown said...

嗯,我最喜欢图书馆,无数免费的宝贝等待慢慢发掘。其次喜欢书店,自己看不了那么多,买给别人当礼物也好,尤其是小朋友。

Unknown said...

在MP3里多放几本有声书也是个办法,更加轻便。

elysee said...

嗷,这老头好可爱,真的好可爱。哎~
你可以俏皮的回答说,如果你决定一本一分钱卖出,我就可以买很多很多了。
汗,貌似有点儿象flirting了、、、受了电影毒害。

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