Part 1 - Bookshelves
Max lived downtown in one of those older apartments. He grew up in a rural community many miles outside of the city – he had spent most of his life on the farm enjoying what many would call the simple life. His parents, were pig farmers, they worked tirelessly to save up enough money to send him off to the city for better opportunities as they noticed from he was young that Max had no interest in the day to day operations of the farm – and instead found pleasure in the few books that darted around the house. When Max moved to the city, he was shocked by its fast pace and the congestion. One morning while making his way to school, he got lost on the train. Too embarrassed to ask for help, he decided to retrace his steps – long story short – he never made it to class that day. He, however, found something much more fulfilling than his physics class – an old antique store by the park called Time-lapse.
He entered the store with excitement, and explored it with the eyes of a child lost in candy shop. There were wooden shelves that carried memories of the last century within their grooves, stone statues that held an eerie gaze while standing still and of course, the many books – some new, some old, most ancient, most delicate. Max had found his haven of joy in this sad city, a quiet, calm oasis in the middle of a congested concrete desert. Max sat down in the seating area off in the corner of the room, and he mapped his way home with one of the maps that were on the cashier’s counter. After gathering his thoughts, he grabbed one of the books from the free section of the store and was on his way home. When he got home, he jumped on a call with his mother through the landline;
“Hello mother, I got lost today-”
“Don’t you have one of those smartphones.”
“I do not know how to use it yet; it is my first one. Are there any books on how to use Smartphones?”
“I do not know Max. I think the phone should have come with a manual, have you even opened the box? Your father and I spent a lot of money on that phone, you best learn how to use it to stay safe.” Max looked over at the packages that were piling up at his door. The phone was at the bottom. He walked over to the packages and carefully reached for the phone box, opening it to find a manual similar to the one his mother had described.
“I will figure it out over the weekend, for now maps are just faster. Anyway, I found a nice little antique store in the heart of the city, they have so many old books, the books are far more interesting than the ones at school. I picked up one today, it’s a collection of poetry. The foreword was in English and it describes the anthology as a masterclass in style and technique when it comes to the modern love poem – unfortunately the rest of it is written in Russian so when I go to school tomorrow I will find a book that teaches me Russian and then go from their-”
“My son, I hear that these phones can translate things. There is no need to waste time learning yet another language-”
“It will not take that long to learn another language, I learned French in a year, Spanish took half a year, German was a bit difficult but I managed to achieve some competence in a few months as well. Each language I add, I get faster-”
“Yes dear, I know, you were always a fast learner, but do you not wish to make use of the efficiencies of technology?” Max looked down on the phone box again, he opened it and stared on with crossed eyes.
“Does this phone thing have books on how to learn Russian?”
“I think it has access to all the books in the world my son.” Max looked again at the phone. He and his mother kept talking about other things happening at home, how the pig sales were up this month, and how his father was still stuck in his old ways refusing to modernize the farm. “I do not blame Father. The farm has done well without these modern technologies.” Max replied to his mother’s frustration with his father. The two chuckled at his comments and then they continued talking about the town. They were exchanging goodbyes when Max’s mother brought up Mary.
Mary is Max’s best friend. The two have known each other for all their lives. Their mothers shared the room the day they were born. Since then, while sharing a bassinet they have been inseparable. Mary, however, did not grow up as a farm girl. Her father was a businessman who lived and worked in the city, but spent his weekends out of town with his wife and daughter. He wanted to make sure that his daughter had the luxuries of a rich life but was not consumed but the fast pace nature of the city. Mary was a calm young lady, she had a beauty that would stop time if it could, and she was always the center of the town’s attention. The bell of the ball as Max described her once upon a time in one of their many conversations at the county fairs and events.
“Mary misses you son. She still comes by the house and sits in your room to watch the stars.”
Mary and max would often have sleepovers, where the two would watch the stars until they fell asleep – it was a tradition they had for years now, neither remembering where or when it started. While Max had left for the city, Mary’s father decided that she was to stay out of town. Though apart the two would send letters back and forth often, trying their best to maintain the connection they shared. Max looked at the window sill across the room, and admired the moon, and all the stars that danced around her. He sighed from the bottom of his chest and looked over at his trashy desk covered in envelopes from back home, a moment of silence that wasn’t much of a moment fell between he and his mother before he responded to her. “I miss her as well. I should send her another letter updating her on the new book I found and how I got lost in the city, she would surely laugh at me. Unfortunately I am finding trouble locating a store with the stamps I like and I have run out-”
“Mary says you could just text her on your new fancy phone her dad sold me.”
“Is there a book on how to text Mother?”
“I am not certain my son.”
“I will figure that out eventually then, for now, I shall use the inferior stamps from the school and have a letter out inviting her down here at any time she wishes.” A robotic voice came on, explaining to Max that he only had a minute left on the landline for the day. “I must get going mother, the machine is tired of eavesdropping on our conversation. I love you Mother.”
“I love you too Max. Please don’t get lost anymore, the city is dangerous.”
As the months went on, Max slowly became accustomed to the city life. He even took interest in the phone that his parents had gotten him. Still, despite quickly learning how to use the phone, he carried with him a physical map of the city and spent many hours searching for a store with the stamps that he liked. He still called his mother on the landline once a week, Fridays to be precise, and had letters out for Mary by Sunday night. Mary would text Max that she received the letters but she always wrote back to him because Max asked her to simply live life in these letters. Max, however, did use the phone for learning new languages. He has learned three new languages, Dutch Russian and Mandarin and he’s currently trying to decide on a fourth.
Today was a very busy Friday for Max, he had just finished his last few exams before finals and spent many hours at Time-Lapse searching for a book Mary used to read back on the farm when they were teenagers. Mary was coming down to the city to spend time with her father over the weekend and the two had planned to meet up at his apartment on Saturday night. Max spent the whole day after his last exam making sure everything was perfect for her. Mary had informed him a few weeks ago that the book got destroyed by the rains of October – Max wanted to surprise her with a new old copy of it. Frustrated and tired, Max was ready to depart from the store in defeat, but as he turned the final corner, he was greeted by the book in question ’Lovers at Last’ by Nicholas Saint – a chilling tail of the love between two best friends morphing into something more. After paying for the book, Max made his way home, for his scheduled call with his mother.
“The Phone thing does not possess the books in the antique store. They should update that. This is why I constantly return to the store, collecting books from the free section and buying some. Today, after failing to find Lovers at Last on that amazon thing, I found it in the store smiling at me.” Max’s apartment was bland in most rooms, generic even but his study, was beautiful. Within the study he carried an extensive collection of books from the store. The bookshelf was massive, imposing and brought Max much joy. Max and his mother ended their conversation early so that he could get up in time to start cleaning his bookshelf before Mary came over. Max cleaned his bookshelf every Saturday morning without fail. Like clockwork. Nothing would stop him. When max woke up that morning, he made the usual breakfast he always did, watched the people through the window sill as he always did, and then moved into his study as he always did. He carefully removed all the items off the shelf, and began whipping it down from the bottom up as he always did.
The room as always silent, except for the little hums Max would make as he danced his hands along the wooden grooves of the shelf. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door – no one ever knocks on the door on Saturdays. Max stepped off the ladder and moved to the door and found Mary standing before him. His face lit up, and he grabbed her tightly before twirling her around like a princess. He placed her gently on her feet and before Max could say a word, Mary took out a pair of gloves from her pocket and spoke:
“I know we are supposed to meet later on in the day, but daddy is stuck in a business meeting and my day has opened up. You are the only person I know in the city aside from father. And, I know its Saturday morning, thus you’re cleaning. But don’t worry, I’ve come to help you clean your bookshelf and then after we are finished cleaning the bookshelf we can chill together – just like old times.” Max smiled at her and lead her to his study, Mary was taken by surprise by his collection “Its bigger than the one you have at home, you know, your mother and I clean it every Sunday.” Max laughed. The two began cleaning in silence, as they always did but eventually the two began talking and about the most random things. School, the farm, Mary’s new love interests.
“What would you do if a woman told you that she loved you like in your books?” Asked Mary after finishing her update on her latest failed relationship. Max was on the ladder dusting the top shelf of his bookcase, the question caused wrinkles to consume his face. Max did not answer. Max kept cleaning as if trying to see his reflection in the wood. Mary, annoyed by his silence tugged on Max’s shirt, pulling him before her eyes. She asked her question again. “What would you do if a woman told you that she loved you like in the movies?”
“Why must her love be in the past tense?” Max tried to deflect the question in his usual way, focusing on the semantics of it all. Mary looked at him in a scolding manner, he tried to laugh it off but Mary remained serious. “I do not know what I would do. No woman has ever loved me in such a way. I probably wouldn’t even believe her. Can we return to the shelves now Maria? My books miss their home.” Mary hated the name Maria, though her birth name it made her sound older than she was, but, she often smiled when Max used it.
At Max’s request, the two returned to fixing the bookshelves, later that night they would watch a movie together on that phone thing, and then go by the window to watch the few stars and moon that were out that night. Mary as always would fall asleep atop Max’s chest. The two hearts would then part the following morning, just as they did back on the farm, such good friends they were, and always would be. Before she left, Max gave Mary her gift but told her to open it back home – she went along with it.
