Good Guys and Bad Guys

I went to the bookstore the other day. But that isn’t the point of the story, merely a way to tell it.

I was on my way to Dancing with the Local Stars in Naples, and was early, decided to eat, was alone, and had no book. I cannot be alone without a great companion…a book. Otherwise, I will wander into the dangerous world of excess news and social media. Oh, I allow myself a peek or two, but never to linger.

You see, it took me many years to come to grips with the fragility of the human mind. It never goes away, we merely place it behind a barrier and close it off. Not me! I love to experience life in every way. Every way! I love to let my senses go free, to talk to everyone, and learn about them, especially people who are not like me. There might be a new experience in each day!

Anyway, that day I was only in the bookstore for a few moments and picked up a copy of The Berlin Girl, walked to a restaurant, opened my book and ordered. A waiter…not mine…came over and we had a chat. You see, people will often ask what you are reading, if you have a book made of paper, perhaps because it is a rare event these days. Those of us who read real books are different. We trust one another, feel comfortable asking, “What are you reading?” I love it, and love where it takes me.

A few days after I finished The Berlin Girl, I found myself wandering into Barnes and Noble once again. As I rarely do, I had time and no plan, just to find a book. I often go with a plan, an author or a book in mind. Not this time. I went to the History section. Nothing struck me. I went past Current Events and my fragile mind went where it did not belong. My mood was ruined. The Current Events books were frankly, trash. They were arranged alphabetically by author. They should have been arranged by Leftist Authors Who Hate the Right, and Those on the Right Who Hate the Left. The whole lot should be re-labeled and sent to the HATE Section.

Who can read this junk? None of it is Current Events. George Friedman writes a Current Events journal called Geopolitical Futures. It really is an in depth and fair look at the world that is thought provoking and leaves me thinking…not hating. And it only takes a page or two. It also gives me hope!

I went home without a book.

On my way, I recalled a conversation I had with Barbara many years ago. I had the TV on the History Channel. She asked, “What are you watching?” “World War 2,” I replied.

“Let me know who wins,” Barbara said.

I like books about the war in the Pacific and in Europe. There are good guys and bad guys. There are heroes, like the Berlin Girl, a young woman reporter who has to overcome the hurdles of being a woman while a reporter for an English paper. She befriends a Jewish couple and manages to get their children out, then a few months later, the parents to England in the face of evil Nazis. She also falls in love with the guy who treated her as “less than” because she was a woman reporter. Good guys win again!

I then bought The Last Bookshop in London, a story about a shy young woman who comes to London in 1938, and lands a job in a bookshop. She finds herself and her warrior spirit, saving a lives and the bookshop, as books and stories help her and the customers find an escape from the Blitz. Good guys win again!

Who are the good guys today? Are there any we have elected? I cannot allow myself to spend much time wandering through the muck of today. I fear for our country, and fear we have elected weak geriatric know-nothings who care only for themselves…on both sides.

Back to the bookstore. I finished the Last Bookshop in London. I have two new authors to read until July 19 when Daniel Silva releases Portrait of an Unknown Woman. I cannot wait!

Put your phone down. Buy a book! Read it in public and make new friends…real and imagined