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。