There’s a point in some people’s lives where an important question has to be asked: do I duplicate? Certainly there are some fortunate souls who are not vexed by this existential query, but for many of us, the question will arise. It is not the ultimate question, either, as some might suggest. That question is, as Douglas Adams writes, “What do I have for lunch?” and the answer is 42.
But the question (“Do I duplicate?”) is one of consequence, as duplicating has some severe responsibilities attached. One must go into it prepared for a radical shift in lifestyle.
Do we duplicate?
Are we enough as we are? We find each other to be ridiculous and lovely. Do we need MORE OF THIS? Do we create something together that, by its very nature, will mark its own blazing trail into the future, keeping us warm and, most likely, burning the metaphorical forest down completely with its own independent reality. Well, we said yes. And that reality is named Lenore Grace. And we’re going to be her parents.
We haven’t had our baby yet. But she very well might look like this given our characters.
But enough about us. What does this have to do with you, our dear customer? Well, given that we’re deep in Baby Brain, as well as lodged a voluptuous, ecstatic emotional state, our instinct is to celebrate by having an 50% Off Sale in the shop. If you type BOOKBABY into the discount field at checkout you will get your discount!
It’s also January, which often feels like the darkest month of the year. Do you need some distracting bibliotherapy after the holidays? Did your interactions with “loved ones” leave you with a niggling twitch behind your eye? Would you give anything to find a door at the back of your wardrobe, open it, and find a cabal of cigarette-smoking beat poets sitting around a table in a dark lounge arguing with Stanley Tucci and William F. Buckley? (Why these two?). Is your urge to flee unaccompanied by tickets to Brazil, and your desire for hygge overcoming your need to accomplish day to day tasks?
Come into the warm womb of our bookshop and celebrate our reproduction with our 50% off sale. Make a stack of books, indulge yourself, put memories of Uncle Herb behind you, and make sure to stop at the desk and remark upon how REALLY WEIRD it is that we can DUPLICATE OURSELVES and make a BRAND NEW PERSON???
A bookselling colleague of ours, after hearing about our baby-making nuisance, said to us on a phone call, “You know, I grew up under the desk I’m working at now. It was a marvelous childhood.” Though we didn’t imagine her LIVING under the desk, like with a bed and food and stuff, our hearts were filled by this idea. Picture a burgeoning prairie bookseller of five-years-old leaning against her father’s shins reading book after book on Saturday afternoons. Who knows? Maybe one day you’ll be greeted by a terrifyingly smart little girl when you come in to see us, like Wednesday Addams with a well-trained pombeagle named Cooper who can fetch books on command, affecting the world with her nerdy, youthful, courage. We can’t predict the future. We are, though, betting on it being very cute.
Much love,
Jason and Vanessa
