'Sale'

I walked out of Popular Books the other day empty-handed. I looked back and it was literally chaos.

I believe that I was the only person who went in, browsed for some time, turned books over to look at the rebates which were offered and went out without a single purchase. The line to the counter stretched to almost a third of the store, however even this did not deter the shoppers (A serpentine shrewd and seemingly smug in their collective moment of satisfaction; short of devouring its own tail).

All the other neighboring shops were closed or closing; similar to the levels below.

I went back a few days later (after scrutinizing the titles which were available there and 'personally grading' them via internet reviews) and to my surprise found a copy of Michael Ondaatje's 'Anil's Ghost' (which was still in good condition, thankfully). I turned it over, saw the 70% rebate tag, calculated what I had to fork out over the phone and took it along as I went browsing from table to table (again). Finding nothing else which was of value, I endured an estimated two-minute wait at the cashier's before leaving almost smiling; almost smug.

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