I recently ventured to an antique book shop in a small town near ours. I'm not an expert in literature, ancient books, or anything old really, I just like the way the shops feel and the ambiance inside them. I also like taking a book off the shelf and thinking, "Somebody purchased this book way back when and it's been read and reread and saved until somehow it made it here." Not to mention, it's fun to read what's written inside the front cover and imagine who wrote it and why.
But on this day, I have something new to add to reasons why I love these mysterious places. As I was scanning the children's book titles (I ultimately settled on the The Story of Babar. I loved that book as a kid, but did you remember how sad it is? I didn't). Anyway, as I was getting reacquainted with the story of Babar, I hear from the front desk,
"Oh yes, we've got ghosts. Plenty of them. There are ghost throughout this place." The owner of the shop and a patron were in mid-conversation. The patron continued,
"We've got ghosts as well. A few of them actually."
"Yeah? You know, one of them here requires room in the bed and will knock you square between the shoulder blades until you give 'em a place to sleep."
"Oh really?"
"Really. And we've got a smoker."
I strained against the noise of another patron entering the shop to see if I could catch the details of this newest smoking ghost and unfortunately couldn't catch a word. But what struck me as unusual was how casually these two women were discussing their "ghosts", as if they were discussing clothing or furniture. You know, like a "We've got a really nice sofa." "Oh yeah? Me too" kind of thing. They made it sound like in order to be categorized among the cool kids, one had to have a ghost. I'll admit I even felt a little left out. But you can bet that I'll be on the lookout for my own ghost so that I'll have something to report at my next visit to the shop... you know, because anybody who is anybody has a ghost.