bibliomania
1. excessive fondness for acquiring and possessing books.
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Molly knocked on the door.
She looked around the hallway while she waited for a response. The hall was well lit and clean, and the door
was attractively done up as well. The
building was nice and in a good location with lots of things around to do. All in all, this would make a fine place to
live. The only downside was the rent for
this area was a bit steep, but the fact that she would have a roommate would
help lessen the blow in that department.
Still expensive, but much more doable.
Some
noises from the other side of the door soon caught her attention. Shuffling feet running around what seemed
like several different obstacles. Molly
could only wonder what was on the other side of the door. She just hoped her prospective roommate
wasn’t a complete slob.
The
door opened just enough for the occupant to poke her head out. A frizzy mane of red hair and large
rectangular glasses greeted Molly. The
girl looked almost nervous about something.
“H-hello?” She asked.
“Uh,
yeah, hi. I’m Molly Green. We talked on the phone about the room?”
“Um…Oh! Oh yes, of course. I remember now. Hang on a second. Um, just, you know, try and ignore the mess.”
The
door was shut and the sound of it being unlatched could be heard. When it opened, Molly was immediately able to
see what her host had meant by mess.
Even from outside the doorway, Molly could see large stacks of books
laying around the entryway and living area of the apartment. There were dozens, or even hundreds of them
just in that fairly small area. She had
to wonder how many would be in the rest of the place.
“Come
in. Just, you know, watch your
step.” Said the owner of the collection.
“Yeah,
right.” Molly said as she entered the
apartment. “So, I never actually caught
your name.”
“Huh? Oh, right.
I guess I forgot to put that on the flier, didn’t I? I’m Liz.”
“Cool. So, uh, is there a couch or chairs, or should
I make one?” Molly asked, pointing at
the many, many books.
“Uh,
right. Um, follow me, there’s some spots
set up.” Liz replied.
Liz led
Molly through the increasingly maze-like piles of books. Molly had been right. As many books were visible from the entrance,
there were far more in the main part of the apartment. She swore Liz had as many books as her high
school library had. She wondered if Liz
actually read all of them, or just liked having them around.
“Here
we go.” Liz said. She was standing in front of a ring of three reading
chairs. Two of them were already
occupied by more books, and Liz had begun to remove the piles from one of
them. “You can sit here once I clean it
off a bit.”
“Cool? I guess?”
Molly wasn’t sure what else to say.
Once
she finally had the chance to sit, the chair was moderately comfortable. Not the best she had ever sat in, but not the
worst either.
“So,
um, I guess we should get started, right?” Liz asked.
“Mm hm.” Molly agreed.
“So,
tell me about yourself.”
The two
of them talked about their various lives.
Liz would ask a question about Molly, and she would answer. It was mainly things about her job, dietary
practices, hobbies, music preferences and the like. Molly was a bit surprised, really. It sounded like Liz had gotten a list of
questions to ask off some website or something.
Of course, it was also just as likely that she had gotten them out of a
book or some such.
“Okay,
I think that’s everything.” Liz
said. “Do you have any questions or
anything?”
“Yeah,
do you, uh, do you read all these?”
Molly asked, waving her hand around the room.
“Oh
yes, of course. Well, I try to
anyway. There’s so only so many hours in
a day you know.”
“Right. So, how many books do you have in here
anyway?”
“Hm,
let me think.” Liz’s face scrunched up
in thought. “What day is it?”
“Wednesday.”
“Okay,
what month?”
“May?” Molly was more than a little surprised Liz
didn’t even know the month. Day of the
week was acceptable, but the month? She
just hoped Liz wouldn’t end up asking about the year as well.
“I
think it’s around 3,280.”
“Whoa. Seriously?”
“Roughly. It’s a very rough estimate, so I could be wrong.”
“Dear
lord, girl. How do you keep track of
them all?”
“I have
a system. It’s not perfect, but it works
for me.”
“Uh
huh. You do know there’s such a thing as
an E-reader, right? You can get most of
these books digitally. You could get rid
of most of them that way, and just keep the ones that aren’t online.” Molly said, hoping to be helpful.
“But if
I did that, I wouldn’t have the books.”
Liz said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“It
would make it easier to get around this place you know.”
“But…but…books…” Liz almost looked sad when she said it. Molly figured another line of reasoning might
work.
“You’d
be able to get a lot more books digitally though.”
“But I
like having the actual book. It’s just
not the same when you’re reading it off a screen. I’ve tried you know. It just doesn’t feel
right.”
“If you
say so.” Molly said skeptically.
“You
sound like you don’t like to read.” Liz
said.
“It’s
not that. I read more than most others
our age. I just prefer to do in a more
compact format is all.” Molly
replied. She wished she had actually
brought her E-reader with her, just to show how loaded the thing was.
“Seems
kind of weird to me, looking at a book on a screen. I mean, books are supposed to be on paper.”
“Well,
to each her own, I guess.”
“I
suppose.” Liz looked like she was
thinking hard about something. “So, um, about you moving in here; you seem nice
enough, except for the whole e-book thing.
Um, if you want, you can stay here for a week and see?”
“Uh,
yeah.” Molly wasn’t sure about whether
she wanted the apartment anymore. Of
course, it was a nice place, even though it was overloaded with
literature. “I actually have a few other
places I was going to check out before I commit to anything. That’s fine, right?”
“O-oh,
yes. Of course. You’re the only one to respond to the ad, so
you probably have time. Just…just you
know, let me know? Um, if you wanted a
full tour before you decide, we can do that now also.”
Molly
thought about it. Liz just looked so
earnest and nervous about the whole thing.
Even though the girl had an almost unhealthy attachment to books, she
didn’t seem so bad. She nodded and
agreed to the tour. The two of them
stood to begin. Molly just hoped she
would be able to see anything other than books.
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I should probably read more. I'm told to be a writer, reading a lot is a must, but I have other things I like to do. Meh. Maybe someday I'll start reading more. Maybe.
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