The Bookstore

There is a bookstore, probably the last of its kind. It sits on the corner of 3rd and Cooper. The large pane windows allow for a great view of the small city street and the people walking, the buses rumbling by and the bit of sky over the shops and houses on the other side of the street.

This is where Brad Kirkland comes to escape the monotony of his daily work life. Brad is an engineer at Aerotechnic, one of the largest aerospace firms in the world. He chose this company when he was in high school. He went to school specifically to get a degree so that he would get hired. He had dreamed of designing and creating new kinds of planes that would revolutionize the industry. He has worked at Aerotechnic for 6 years, and he only made it to the point where he could confirm the measurements of the new seat designs. A small cog in a large machine that creates one part of a much larger machine.

This bookstore is exactly a 7-minute walk from his desk. Just enough time to clear his mind so he can start reading a random book. 46 minutes to eat and read, then back to work. He never finished any of the books. Just started. He normally didn’t have any interest in reading the whole book, just liked to test them out, and perhaps learn something new. Every once in a while, he will find a little bookmark in the first few pages. These are normally a torn piece of paper with a number, a letter or a few numbers or letters. He likes to think it’s a part of a scavenger hunt that someone has planned. Would be fun to know where it starts so he could follow the clues.