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five

The fair is in a street, small and cosy. A street that in any other day I wouldn’t pay attention to. It’s a residential street with just one small shop of fish and chips. But today the street is different, today is full of life and everyone is out. Well, not everyone because it’s not even crowded, but there are quite a few people outside, behind tables with towers of books. Every person has a stand and most of them are selling books, but some others sell craft jewellery or other things that already caught my attention. The whole street is decorated with ropes with little colourful flags from one streetlamp to the other. Some kids are running around, playing, and I assume they live in this street. Most of the people selling are young, some are actually old, but the majority look late twenty and they all look like hipsters. From the haircuts to the glasses, to the oversized jumpers and scarfs to the skinny trousers and the vintage boots. It actually gives a warm feeling to the whole fair and that makes me smile.

I keep approaching and I now hear there’s music playing from one of the stands with a young couple. It’s some song I haven’t heard before but it sounds indie and I kind of like it a lot. I keep walking and only stop in front of the first stand. There are loads of books, all with leather covers and they look old, really old, like dozen of people have read them before.

I love new books. They are so shiny and perfect and the smell is amazing. I could fall asleep with my nose buried in the pages of a new book. It’s like they are ready to start to bring all the adventures to people and it’s just beautiful. But I also love old books, books that seem they are falling apart because they have make happy so many other people. Books that have been read over and over again because they are just fantastic.

I reach out to touch one of the books, running my fingers over the golden letters craved on the spine and I swear I can feel all the lives it has touched, all the people it has entertained over the years. I feel its age. It’s a wonderful feeling and the corner of my lips curl up in a warm smile.

I read the title and I chuckle. The Canterbury Tales. A classic that I particularly hated when we saw it in class. Although I think I hated it because of the professor that gave that course in Medieval and Classical Literature. One of the classes I hated the most, although it was a literature course and those tend to be my favourites. I think what I remember the most was a horse I tried to draw and which was an epic fail. When Moni saw my try she laughed out loud and she still remembers that today and laughs at me. In my defence, the horse in the picture was in an awkward angle.

Well, this is a book I certainly won’t buy. Or who knows? Maybe if I read it now because I want to and without having Miss Kase to test me about it I might enjoy it. But I think I won’t take the risk.

I keep looking at the other books that are on display and they are all classics. From the Odyssey —another one that I won’t buy— to some by Jane Austen like Emma.

“A book that you want? A pound each,” the woman behind the stand says and only then I look up to meet her eyes. She’s early thirty and smiles friendly, her eyes framed with big brown glasses.

A pound each? I have to buy at least one!

“Uh,” I murmur looking around, trying to decide which one I will buy. I spot Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and remember how much I liked that one. I read the ebook version because it’s free but I would like to have it in paper. “This one,” I tell her grabbing Frankenstein and looking for a pound in my purse to give her.

“Great. That’s a classic you’ll like.”

“Oh, I’ve read it. I just want to have it physical, you know?” I say and she nods, smiling widely. I give her the pound. “This fair is amazing. How is that it happened?” I ask and she looks around.