She was tall with a multicolored loose-knit sweater hanging around the middle of her thighs. Her bell bottoms were appropriately decorated with holes and raggedy loose threads so that her freckled skin was visible in strategic places. She had bumped into me next to the cooking section. She seemed to be absorbed in reading each title on the shelf.

“Please excuse me.” I said and I moved over slightly and continued my own search for the title I was hunting for. She smiled shyly and moved along to another section in the bookstore.

I finished skimming every title in the cooking and decided to search in the homesteading section. I wasn’t quite sure where my author would be listed or even if the book was in this store but every used book store was a great place to continue my search. Lorretta Gray Applebee had been my great Aunt and had written 2 cookbooks and a volume on homesteading. My goal was to find a copy of the homesteading book to replace the volume I had since mine was overused, scribbled in and full of coffee stains.

I got down on my knees to peruse the lowest shelves when suddenly I was looking at cherry red toenails! I looked up and realized it was Miss Bell Bottoms from the cooking aisle. She was searching the shelves above my head in the homesteading, canning, farming sections. I kept creeping along on my knees, searching for my great aunt’s tome. I decided that I was finished searching for today. There will be more bookstores tomorrow. I got up and accidentally bumped into Miss bell Bottoms again! She was crouching down to search the area that I had just vacated.

“Oh, Excuse me!” she purred. I smiled and waved. I decided to check out the mystery aisle before leaving the store. There were at least 3 books that called to me and I chose one to buy and took pictures of the other two with my phone to jog my memory for later. I chose the cashier with the shorter of the two lines and as I waited my turn I read the preface of my newly acquired mystery. Time disappears when you stand in the checkout line at a bookstore with a great find glued to your nose.

“Do you have anything by Lorretta Gray Applebee? I believe that she lived in this town and wrote some information on local homesteading.” Someone was asking the cashier in the other line.

The cashier punched a few keys on the keyboard and stared at the screen. “No, ma’am, I don’t see any author by that name on my current list. I think we sold the last copy by her about a month ago.”

Startled, I looked up and knew I needed to talk to Miss Bell Bottom!

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