Harper's Histories

[Jonah]

Jonah was in the back room of the store, sorting through donated books. The business was still young and they were still trying to build stock, but the big man was becoming discouraged. For the most part, he was keeping his disappointment to himself. He knew that the business would take time to get going and make money and it likely wouldn't be until after that that he would have any success with the other purpose of the store.

The alarm on the door went off and he sighed. It was late and none of the evening employees had arrived yet so it was up to him to try and handle this customer. Forcing what he hoped was a friendly face, he walked to the counter and looked for the visitor.

Since the shop was still sparsely filled, it did not take long for her to appear, a woman of average height with short, dark hair. She did not see him at first but flinched visibly when his appearance clicked with her. "How can I help you?" He asked, trying to ease the possible tension.

She would not look him in the eye and it was almost amusing as she tried to find someplace to focus her gaze. Bald head? No. Pointy ears? No. Finally she settled on his throat. "I understand that you purchase book? Stories?" It was a simple question but her hands were fidgeting while she asked it. Jonah attributed it to nervousness about his appearance.

"We do. We're most interested in spiritual and supernatural texts though. Is there something that you were wanting to sell?"

The woman dropped her bag and began digging through it, finally finding a composition notebook. "I'm not sure if this is something that you'd be interested in but...I have stories written from my tribe." She laid the notebook on the counter and slid it to him. He thumbed through it, looking at the handwriting more than the information contained inside. The scribblings of a want to be author were hardly what he wanted to deal with but he needed the store's reputation to grow somehow.

"Why are you wanting to sell this?" She looked at him sheepishly and rubbed her arm, "I'm going to the university here. It's paid for but I need money for other...stuff. He knew better than to pry further in to her personal life. "You understand that we don't really deal in manuscripts?" She nodded, biting her lip. "If you can leave it with me for a few days, I'll let you know if we can do anything with it. Fair?"

She broke in to an honest smile then and looked him in the eye. "That's perfect. I have a lot more of these." Jonah returned the smile but was not looking forward to the disappointment he was sure he was going to have to give her. "Leave your name and a good phone number and I'll give you a call when you should stop back by." She found a pen and scrawled her information on a scrap of paper, tucking it in to the cover of the notebook. "I hope to hear from you soon," she called out as she walked to the exit. "Stay sa....have a good evening."