Buffalo Books

I took a short walk down Buffalo road, before my train was to leave the city and noticed this shop across from the gas station filled with burly bikers.
On the porch, the owner sat listening to Zeppelin and other rock and roll tunes. I popped in and casually strolled around the store. For a book store, it’s in pretty good shape, though the shelves are a bit sparse. After talking with him, I understand this is because he fills the shelves with those reads he finds are truly conducive to changing ones outlook.
Upstairs and all around the bookshelves were local artworks, furniture made with soft lake-​polished stones under glass, dyed silk scarves and photography. Yes, the artwork is mostly bad, but I’m critical.
As I was perusing, the owner popped in with a rag on his face. He looked at me and my heart skipped a beat. He was bleeding, the skin torn on the right side of his nose and an increasingly swelling upper right cheek. Blood came from the wounds.
He said «Hello dear. Listen, I am usually the most attentive of owners and on any other day I would treat you like a goddess. Today however, I have just fallen off my motor bike. How’s it look?»
I said «OH my god! Are you ok? Are you going to the hospital?»
He said «I think it’s getting better. I’m not going to the hospital! I’ll be outside in the sun listening to the radio, drinking whiskey.»
Wow.
If this piques your curiosity, it should.
I wish I had caught his name, but the conversation that ensued was enthralling to the point where I forgot.
He told me about the $ 100 expenditure on roses he’d bought someone he loves the day before, resulting in foregoing an added hospital bill. He talked of the house they were to live in together, and shared her reasons for leaving him just a week earlier. Vulnerable and wounded on the inside and out, this man shared much more than a bookstore.
He pulled a book from the shelf titled «Cutting for Stone,» by Abraham Verghese. He said, «Read this. It doesn’t look like anything one would just pick up off the shelf, but believe me. It will change your life. At the end, you will slow down, just so you don’t lose the characters.»
Beneath the tan worn skin from Michigan beach, and now gashed face, he had piercing sky blue eyes. «Please let me know what you think when you’re done.»
I bought the book.
Though the shop wasn’t the best of book shops I’ve been to, local shops like these are WORTH it. The stories you may run into are the experiences that make life worth living.