I put a big dent in Joanne's donation today, as both shifts bore fruit. The afternoon was chilly, as the sun stayed behind clouds and the wind was stiff. Thanks to the lady who purchased the Nora Roberts thriller, and to Herbert, a regular customer whose name I finally learned, who selected, in the words of Squeeze's Pulling Muscles from a Shell, a Harold Robbins paperback.
I knew the evening shift would be good as soon as my man Johnny Feets showed. He recently taped a 25 minute teleplay that is running on a public access channel. I'm dying to see it. He kept me company for a while and marveled at the characters that visited the floating bookshop, especially the big bearded guy I think of as Teddy Bear, who bought four Ed McBain novels. McBain is the pseudonym of Evan Hunter, whose Blackboard Jungle was a best seller in the early 50's and was made into a fine film by director Richard Brooks. It worked even though Sidney Poitier and Vic Morrow were obviously way too old to be high-schoolers. Future director Paul Mazursky and Jaime Farr (Klinger in MASH) also were students. Glenn Ford was the first-year teacher, the beautiful Anne Francis his wife. The film made great use of Bill Haley and the Comets' Rock Around the Clock.
I also had some business from a black woman who had passed me several times. She took two Patricia Cornwell novels. And Feets himself bought an end of the world sci-fi story. Even Morty stopped by to regale us with the story of his lunch with the Iron Sheik of the WWF, now the WWE. "Helluva nice guy," he said, wincing at the pain in his shoulder, which will be evaluated tomorrow. "My lawyer says 'Send me the bill,'" he told us. He fell on the bus a month ago, and the bonehead driver left him at the curb and took off.
Believe it or not, snow is in the forecast for tomorrow.
Read Vic's stories, free: http://vicfortezza.homestead.com/
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