Why Play Pretend

I opened a bookstore in the hypothetical, deep in the mountain, and overlooking the sea. I have the books categorized according to feelings. Besides “Laughters”, I have “Warm and Fuzzy Feelings”. Besides “Loves for My Family”, I have “Vague Feelings of Inadequacy.”

When you first come into the bookstore, I’d help you take off your coat, and ask you to sit down in a corner very much your own. Then I’d come over with two cups of tea, and listen to your life’s story.

After knowing who you are, I’d know the perfect book for you. Maybe a leather bound tome from “Aspirations for the Divine”, or a handwritten notebook from “Hopes Too Far to be Feared”.

Once I had a young man visiting. He didn’t pay much attention to the book I brought him. He was looking at the girl sitting by the window. He twisted his neck every which way, to see what the girl was reading.

Finally, he closed the book he was not reading and came to me. He said, “I’d like the book she’s reading”, pointing to the girl by the window, “so I may feel exactly as she is feeling– her every smile and every sigh.”

I knew he’d never feel the same reading the same book. So I brought him a book completely different, but with the same cover.

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