I spent the last two days at the bookstore. A lot of the time it can be quiet, which gives me the time to write drafts of articles I have to write, and do sketches and doodles describing the day which I throw out, but when I return, I see that the boss has taped it to the wall (blush). When I saw last week's it seemed to me to be out of someone's art journal and I thought, See? you can do it too!
Three people of note came in. A famous Canadian author, whom I recognized only because he had been my boss as editor of
Macleans Magazine back in the days when I was a young thing transcribing foreign correspondents' reports (Julie and I were there at the same time).
Then a film and TV actress (with two Genie Awards to her name) whom I first met when I interviewed her for a profile for a New York magazine and, later, for an article in
Chatelaine. I would bump into her around the neighborhood but hadn't see her in a few years. She came in looking for a biography for background work for a new role. We had a nice visit (I've always liked her a lot, and her work is formidable) and got all caught up with our news.
To cap it all off, as I was closing, I noticed a young man in profile looking through some books and did a double take -- it could have been my nephew, Sam. Same build, same age, same colouring, same profile, and when he turned around and asked me about some author or another, I was struck again by the resemblance. I had to tell him about Sam. He said he was doing TV commercials, and all the while I was struck by his utter sweetness. Really, he moved me. He asked my name and shook my hand. His name was John.
Today is all mine. I have to do laundry.
[Photo credits: unknown -- please forgive me.]
