Other Dimensions: A Bookstore by Bolton JM

Author:Bolton, JM
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-12-21T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Christmas Spirit

“Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring…”

That’s just not true. I was up and definitely stirring. The old hot water heating system was on the fritz again. The banging in the pipes woke me, and now I was in my office trying to find the phone number for a plumber. Or anyone at the crack of dawn who could fix it.

And just for the record, it wasn’t quite the night before Christmas either. That holiday was still four shopping days away. Still, for some reason, the rhyme seemed to be stuck in my head.

“When out in the…” well, not lawn, but out in the bookstore, “there arose such a clatter.”

I dropped the phone and went to the door to see what was the matter.

“Hello,” I called, assuming that what I heard was my assistant, Mr. Lin, coming in early. “Lin, is that you?”

No reply.

I walked through the store, heading for the counter. “Lin?” I called again.

But the man I saw definitely wasn’t my assistant, even though he was hard at work unpacking books from a carton and stacking them carefully on a small table. He was shorter than average, dark-skinned, and middle-aged. Neatly dressed in tan slacks and a pastel-colored shirt, he wore wire-rimmed glasses and had an impressive mane of white hair in elegant dreads.

“Hello. Can I help you?” I asked, wanting to know what the hell was going on in my bookstore at this hour of the morning. And before coffee.

He started and dropped a couple of the books. “Oh. Hello. Sorry. I didn’t hear you,” he said. “I know it’s a little early, but Mr. Lin told me to just come in and start setting up.”

“He did? Exactly what are you doing here?”

“Getting ready for my book signing, of course.”

“Book signing?”

“Yes. Book signing.” He stared at me for a moment as if not sure why I didn’t understand him. “You know. Book. Signing? Or maybe you didn’t know?”

“No, I guess Mr. Lin forgot to tell me.”

“Oh, but I come every year around the holiday season. For my book signing,” he added at my look of surprise.

“Well, I guess that explains it.” I told him. But I didn't know we had a book signing scheduled for this weekend. In fact, I couldn't imagine why any author would want a signing in my store. It's out of the way and gets light traffic at the best of times.

I leave the running of the store to my very able assistant, Mr. Lin, who has an almost magical way with the customers as long as I’m not watching. He thinks I don’t know, but if a little goblin magic is what it takes to keep us afloat, then so be it.

“I don’t remember you being here last year,” I told him. “Or the year before.”

“Really?” His brow wrinkled in thought. “Now that you mention it, I don’t remember you either.”

“Are you sure you’re in the right bookstore?”

“Other Dimensions?”

“Yes, this is Other Dimensions.

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