On my way to get a haircut. . .

Last night I stopped off to get a bite to eat as well as a Perfect Margarita before I went for my haircut. While at the restaurant, I worked on some edits for another author's manuscript.

I am not one who can do edits on paper. I have to have my laptop. There I sat with my small laptop at the corner of the restaurant's bar where there is good lighting editing.

I wasn't even two bites into my salad when a man, dare I say older man, comes up and starts talking with me. I am a native Mid-westerner and now live in New Hampshire and we are friendly sort of people so when he asked me questions about my computer I answered his questions. When my steak arrived I hoped he would have been polite and left me to my meal and my edits. Nope! That was not to be the case.

He chatted on until the waitress caught my eye and rescued me. Unfortunately, that only lasted a few minutes because after she walked away he returned and asked if I wanted to eat at his table. I politely declined stating that my meal had already been delivered and I had some work to do.

OH! Do you think he would understand that. No! In the back of my head I screamed for him to scoot along and let me eat my meal in peace. All the while cursing myself for being too blasted nice.

When his meal was delivered by the manager, he finally went about his meal and allowed me to eat my now cold steak.

Ahh! But the time there was not a total waste. While I sat there attempting to choke down cold meat, two gentleman slid into the bar stools to my right. You know how it is when you go to restaurants and tables are close together. You just cannot help but hear the conversation.

I won't go into all the details, but suffice it to say, right before I left to get my hair cut, the one guy asked the other how classes were going. The younger man seemed to be happy with his college courses but not thrilled with the English/Reading classes.

He said something to the effect of, "I just can't get into reading. Nothing is interestig."

DING! I could so relate to what this man said. As I went through school I never enjoyed reading the stories the school picked out. I think it was a matter of I HAD to read them and did not want to read them because I actually LOVED to read. I wanted to read what I liked and what I chose.

Anyway, I felt for this guy and as I packed up my laptop and bag, I remembered I had a copy of Killer Bunny Hill in it. DUH! Any good author carries a copy of their latest novel around with them. You just never know who you might meet.

So, I pulled out the book, scratched my signature on the inside very quickly and handed it to him. I said, "Here maybe this will make you want to read more." Smiling, I turned to leave then spun back. "Oh, and yes, I wrote that book."

The would be reader and the other gentleman with him thanked me and asked if I had an email so they could let me know what they thought. Alright, so sometimes I can be a flake and forgot all about the stash of bookmarks I carry until then. I whipped one out, handed it to him, pointed out my website URL and told them, "I would love to hear what you think."

They thanked me again and I wished them a nice evening and happy reading.

My hope is that one or both of them truly do read the story and that the gentleman who is in college might start liking to read just a little bit more.