Jack was in rare form today. He's still going to Zuccotti Park practically every day to join his comrades in protest, and to sell T-shirts and buttons to tourists. He was torqued off because a group dared to set up a tent under the banner of Occupy Judaism. He is a former Jew himself, and wants the movement to be completely secular. He said he told Jesse Jackson to take a hike when the Reverend and his entourage visited recently. Jackson put his finger to his lips to shush him. Jack has a problem with religion. He was letting the expletives fly. I was afraid he was scaring away potential customers. Fortunately, he soon tired and left. I doubt there are many protesters downtown presently, as I haven't seen any press coverage lately. I guess it's only the fringe of the fringe.
A local home attendant who has passed the floating bookshop hundreds of times stopped by on behalf of the 95-year-old woman she takes care of. Despite her age, the woman still reads, and she has tons of books she wants to get rid of. The younger woman had me write a list of the hardcover mysteries I had on display. She later returned with a bag of books and money. I wanted her to have the book, Lisa Scottoline's Lady Killer, for free, but she wouldn't hear of it. Thanks, ladies.
For the first hour and a half it looked like it was going to be a day of no sales. I consoled myself by enjoying the mild temperature. Eventually, a woman purchased a large dictionary designed for pre-teens. Then a guy stopped short and asked how much the Ultimate Sinatra CD was. I offered to prove its quality by popping it into the player in my car, which was nearby, but he trusted me. Soon a woman who reads and returns the books she buys from me bought a Barbara Taylor Bradford novel. And a gentleman purchased Crazies to the Left of Me, Wimps to the Right: How One Side Lost Its Mind and the Other Lost Its Nerve by Bernard Goldberg, which I'm sure would get a rise out of Jack.
Thanks, folks.
Now playing on Martini in the Morning: Louis Prima and Keeley Smith's version of Just a Gigolo, which I remember the adults listening to at family gatherings in the the '50's, and everybody laughing as Prima goes into his rant, which includes Italian terms, at the end: "...Nobody - noodu, noodu...Sta sera il vileno...." The final phrase translates to: "Tonight the poison." He was a character and a great entertainer.
Read Vic's stories, free:
http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
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