Confessions of a Curious Bookseller(9)
I would love to give you the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps you can try to earn back my trust this year and we can, in fact, someday be friends.
Best wishes,
Fawn Birchill, Owner, The Curious Cat Book Emporium (a Mark Twain specialist store)
From: Florence Eakins
Sent: Sun, Nov 18, 2018 at 5:16 PM
To: Fawn Birchill
Subject: Pics
Fawn,
Sharing these cute pics we took when visiting Dad the other day. I think number two is particularly funny because Charles is crying in it. He was getting tired, as kids do. Dad looks good in it, doesn’t he? It was a good day for him cognitively. He remembered their names and asked me where Joseph was, which he never does. Most of the time he ignores him when he’s there, so Mom and I were a bit shocked.
Little Joe sang for him. He seemed to like it. Wish you were there to be in the pictures!
Flo
From: Fawn Birchill
Sent: Mon, Nov 19, 2018 at 8:12 AM
To: Jacob Whitney
Subject: Black Friday?
Mr. Whitney,
I have been patient and have given you four days to reply to my email regarding the delivery of the books. Black Friday is November 23, if you aren’t aware, and therefore I have very little time to spare if we are to have a decent inventory of this exciting new stock for our Black Friday customers. This is not a joke, nor a hobby, nor do I ask for these things to happen on a whim. This is strategy. Let us set up a time. Please email me ASAP or give me your phone number, and I will call you.
Many thanks,
Fawn Birchill, Owner, The Curious Cat Book Emporium (a Mark Twain specialist store)
November 19, 2018
I must defend myself here. I’ve run this store for twenty years, and I’ve dealt with my share of questionable characters in my time. Therefore, I know better than to just send a check to someone I’ve never met who claims to have a thousand books for me. You might ask, What exactly were you thinking? Honestly, I shouldn’t have been so trigger-happy. I was so wrapped up in the fantasy of actually having something unique to offer that it clouded all judgment. Perhaps he is just disorganized and busy? I will have to believe this, because to think otherwise would inflict me with insomnia for the next few months.
I should call Florence and see what she thinks. Or perhaps I should call her husband, who is in retail. But I can’t! I can’t possibly ask them. If this turns out disastrously, understand that I didn’t have a good feeling about this, but my desperation got the better of me. Like that time I got asked to a sleepover by the popular girls only to discover that I had been invited so they could make fun of me and send me on errands the entire night. I should know better than this. I should know better.
The toilet continues to leak, so I’ve closed off the bathroom to customers and employees. I let Sam, Kyle, and Angela use my personal bathroom, which works for now. Kyle tried to fix the bookstore bathroom, but the leak only became worse. I drained the tank, and when trying to unhook the connection I managed to break one of the pieces. After the store closed, I spent a good hour on the floor, despite my bad back, and taped the broken connection with so much duct tape that I was sure it would work. Well, I turned the water back on, flushed the toilet, and discovered firsthand just how much water is used to flush. Now soaked, I grabbed what towels I could find and laid them out on the floor. I don’t know what to do. I can’t afford a plumber right now.
From: Fawn Birchill
Sent: Mon, Nov 19, 2018 at 3:09 PM
To: Staff
Subject: Thanksgiving, Black Friday
Dear Staff,
I’m sure it is rather unnecessary to announce this, but the store will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 22. Equally obvious, the store will be open on Friday, November 23. Unlike last year when I spent exorbitant amounts of money on advertisements for doorbuster sales that amounted to a piddling show of about ten people at 7 a.m.—most of whom bought nothing but drank all my free coffee (Kyle and Sam, this was before your time)—this year we shall do something a little differently. We shall be open during our usual Black Friday hours of 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and since it is a fairly popular day without the need for advertisement, we will simply let people know when they come in that the entire store is 40 percent off. Meanwhile, I am trying very hard to get Mr. Whitney to deliver the books prior to Black Friday, but he is being extremely unresponsive and irresponsible. If we end up getting this inventory early (fingers crossed), I will require all of you to help shelve the books.
Black Friday is a mandatory, all-hands-on-deck day. Come to me if you have an issue with this, but unless you are bleeding from your neck or any necessary appendage, you are REQUIRED to show.
Many thanks and enjoy your Thanksgivings!!
Fawn, Owner
From: Sam Asimov
Sent: Mon, Nov 19, 2018 at 8:07 PM
To: Fawn Birchill
Re: Thanksgiving, Black Friday
Hi Fawn,
Would it be all right with you if I took off Black Friday? My grandpa is very old, and it might be his last Thanksgiving. He lives in Pittsburgh, so it’s a haul to get there and would be impossible to get back in time for Black Friday. My grandpa and I are pretty close, so it would mean a lot if I could do this.
Thank you,
Sam
From: Fawn Birchill
Sent: Mon, Nov 19, 2018 at 9:18 PM
To: Sam Asimov
Re: Thanksgiving, Black Friday