Haberdashery Dash

 

Ghostly Trees

I’ve been to two book launches in the last few months. Both were for first novels and both were written by authors who are younger than I am. That got me thinking and a few days ago I came upon a poem which softened my getting-older-ruminations.

                             “She makes no noise, but silly seizeth on

                              The flower or herb appointed for her food;

                              The which she quietly doth feed upon,

                              While others range, and glare, but find no good.

                              And although she doth but very softly go,

                              However slow her pace be, yet ’tis sure.

                              And certainly they that do travel so,

                              The prize that they do aim at, they procure.

Speaking of book launches, the novel Banjo Flats was written by Mona Knight. I love the title. The novel is a western, but the hero is a cowgirl, so we’re talking cutting edge. This book was a thoroughly enjoyable read with really bad bad guys and really good good guys.

The other book was launched by James F.W. Thompson and is called Rise of the Mud Men. It is a speculative novel and although I haven’t got around to reading it, Sue has, and she said it was gripping enough to make it easy for her to suspend her disbelief.

It also has an adorable dog character.
   
                                                                                           ***

So, it was like this. Despite fighting a cold, I did, because I am a dedicated writer, decide to attend a Friday night book launch at the Sydney Public Library.

I left really early, in a cats and dogs rainstorm, because I wanted to pick up a camera lens I’d had repaired. After I left the camera store I went to a pizza shop and stayed there as long as I could, because it was howling and pounding rain outside.

Fox resting in a field

However, I could only sip my bottle of water so long, so I left with an hour still to kill. I walked down the street to the bank and on the way back got caught in a deluge and was soaked. So I walked to the library. I told the security guard I was soaked, as if he couldn’t guess. He pointed me to the washroom where I did some paper towelling.

Now what to do? I thought of returning home, but I wanted to put in an appearance at the book launch. However, I didn’t want to sit for over an hour in wet clothes with my buddy Mr. Lingering Cold.  So, what I did was drive through Sydney's rush hour traffic to Value Village, where I turbo-bought some clothes.

I hate buying clothes. I take a long time buying clothes. I too often make the wrong decisions when buying clothes.   However, within a few minutes of desperate shopping, I’d bought a pair of blue jeans, a coat and a towel. The coat still had a musty smell.

Berries

I then drove back to the library, where I passed the guard who now took great interest in my comings and goings. In the washroom I dried myself off with my new towel and then put on the new clothes before I walked into the book-launch room. Carrying a big floppy bag of my soaked clothes.

  I told the Third Person Press publishers why I looked a little bit discombobulated and then I bought a book and had the author sign it. He wrote, "I like your new coat."

  At the end of the launch I asked the author if his signing that he liked my new coat was fiction or non-fiction? Ha, ha, ha.

  He explained it was non-fiction. He’d been looking for a coat, but couldn't find one and he really liked the coat I’d bought. Can you figure?

  Desperation breeds great shopping decisions.

Frozen Leaf