CHAPTER 24

 

The faculty secretary was adding numbers to a spreadsheet when Grose walked in. She looked up and smiled. Her name was Marion and she was a fan and at least once a month would remind him that Snow Birds was her all time favorite novel. “Marion, can you do me a big favor?” he asked.

“Of course, Dudley,” she said.

Grose held out the hotdog thumbdrive. “There’s a file on this. The Bestseller. Do you think you could print it out for me.”

“You really do hate computers, don’t you?” she laughed. She took the thumbdrive from him and plugged it into the side of her computer. Her fingers played over the keyboard and a few seconds later the printer behind her kicked into life. Marion peered at the screen. “Forty-two pages,” she said.

“Thanks, Marion,” he said. As he looked over at the printer he noticed a grey plastic oblong sticking out of her bag.

She saw him looking at it and took it out. “It’s a Kindle,” she said. “My new toy. My husband bought it for my birthday and I use it all the time. I don’t think I’ve bought a real book since I got it.” She held it out to him and he took it.

“But don’t you miss holding a real book?” he said.

“Oh I do, but you soon get used to it.” She took it from him and held it to her bosom. Her face went suddenly serious. “Oh, but did you know that your books aren’t available on Kindle ? Why is that?”

“I don’t know,” said Grose.

“You really should talk to your publisher. I’d love a copy of Snow Birds on mine.”

“I’ll do that. But please tell me that you’ll keep buying real books.”

“Oh, I’m sure I will,” she said. “It’s not great for cookbooks because you wouldn’t want to get it dirty in the kitchen, and it doesn’t do pictures very well. But you know I love romance novels and it’s perfect for that. Do you know how many books I have on my baby?”

“I’ve no idea,” said Grose.

“Have a guess. Go on, have a guess.”

Grose was getting tired of the conversation but she was doing him a favor so he forced a smile. “Fifty?”

“More,” she said.

“A hundred?”

“A hundred and twelve,” she said. “Can you believe that ? And most of them are free. All the classics are free.”

“Because they’re out of copyright,” said Grose.

“I just downloaded the complete works of Sherlock Holmes. Totally free.”

“You mean the complete works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,” said Grose. “Sherlock Holmes was the character.”

Marion seemed oblivious to the correction as she continued to extol the merits of eBooks, caressing her Kindle as she spoke. Grose nodded politely until the printer stopped spewing out sheets. Marion gathered them together and handed them to him. He thanked her and hurried out of the office. He found an empty lecture room and sat down and started reading.