Ode to a bookstore

What a shock! Who would ever believe that the last time I was at Barnes and Noble in Jenkintown, it would be the last time. Why it closed is a mystery. The pandemic? Who knows.

B & N had everything — books, sales tables, games, and a huge Children’s Department, where the proprietors knew the names of my grandchildren, Max and Grace.

In the music room, I would sit under headphones, tapping my feet as I listened to different versions of classical music from Mahler to Paul Hindemith to Brahms (I still own the Brahms and play it in the kitchen while cooking).

“Thirty-five percent off” would read books on the remaindered table and calendars. All those calendars. I would wait until the price was right and spring on it like a cat. In fact, I did buy a cat calendar for a friend.

Did I mention the Starbucks Cafe? What goes better with coffee than cheesecake? What a treat sitting and eating cold cheesecake with raspberry sauce and sipping on a plastic cup of Joe, which I would take with me to my car and sip on the way home.

I liked to park far away — far from the fray, near Heavenly Ham, which, in fact, is no longer there. A postman friend of mine said a new grocery store will be built on the premises.

Please!

I prefer to remember making a donation and getting my books wrapped by non-profit organizations such as the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation.

Yes, Barnes and Noble, Jenkintown, like Georgia, you will always be on my mind.