Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 7/21

It didn't feel like there was much relief  from the heat when I left the house, despite the cloud cover. The humidity was high. I decided to set up shop, anyway, even though I'd left a bottle of seltzer in the freezer. It seems I'm forgeting at least one thing every day. Scary.
I set up under the tree on Bay Parkway and 85th in case the sun eventually popped out, and I immediately sold Stephen King's Duma Key to a young man carrying a large pizza. There were sporadic sprinkles in the air, but not enough to have me pack up. Miguel showed, fresh from church, prayer book in hand. He posts a lot of Christian-oriented stuff on his Facebook page. A recent one concerned suicide. He got a message from a woman he did not remember befriending, who said the post saved her from doing something really stupid. He got all choked up telling me this. He truly believes God had had him intervene. I told him of the meeting I'd had with Louis Gelormino on that very spot two weeks ago. Crazy Louie, as he was known in his gang days, went on to become a successful lawyer and wrote a memoir, The Gent's Prayer. He also believes God, through certain people, has intervened on his behalf. It must be nice to have such faith. Thanks to Miguel for purchasing Alexander McCall Smith's Morality for Young Girls, a mystery set in Botswana.
The only disappointment of the day was Joann, who has donated so many books to me, not showing up. Lately, several people have asked if I had anything by Cynthia Freeman, who specialized in multi-generational stories about Jews, usually with a female character at the center. She died in 1988. Her books were translated into 33 languages and sold 20 million worldwide. I'd bet Joann has some.
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Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 5/9

Arlynn predicted the floating bookshop would have a good day, and she was right. My first customer, a middle aged woman, purchased a fantasy novel set thousands of years ago in what is now America. As she paid, she seemed at the point of laughter. I asked what was so funny. "Life," she said, and proceeded to get the giggles. Maybe she was laughing at me. A while later another middle aged woman spotted Jonathan Kellerman's Bad Love, which I was surprised hadn't gone much sooner, given his popularity. Then the last of the Sylvia Browne collection was scooped up by a woman who couldn't pass it up at the price of two dollars. And a young man in his early teens, to whom I'd refused to sell any modern books for fear his parents would disapprove, was drawn to the wonderful drawing of the beast on the cover of a large paperback edition of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle classic Sherlock Holmes mystery, The Hound of the Baskervilles. I saw no problem in letting him buy that. I just hope he is not turned off by denser prose that characterized nineteenth century British works. Thank you, all.
Alex, retired, stops by every time I'm at the corner of East 13th & Avenue Z. He lives in the building on whose grounds I set up. A few weeks ago he asked if I knew anything about getting poetry published. I suggested duotrope.com, which he has been perusing for the right venue to send his work. Today he stopped by with his lovely wife Nadine, and purchased A Hitch in Twilight for her. Arlynn would say I'd been repaid for a mitzvah. Thanks, folks. Later, as soon as I got home, I got a call from actor-singer Johnny Feets, who weeks ago asked if I knew of any apartment openings in the area. As luck would have it, a high school classmate of mine posted a note on her Facebook page on behalf of a friend - and John will be moving in on June 1st, not here but in the old neighborhood, Bensonhurst. I hope this too will also fall into the category of a mitzvah for which I will be rewarded with a book sale.
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