DLand - The Book Was Called "Foolscap"

There was this girl in the airport last night. Woman, I suppose, but it's hard to tell. She was curled up in one of the sets of three seats with her business casual slacks draped over the arm and her not very business casual cartoon socks poking out from underneath. She seemed entranced in the book she was reading, chuckling to herself and chewing on her bottom lip. Looked like she did a lot of reading by the absent way she pushed her small wire-rimmed glasses up the bridge of her nose and tucked the errant strands of hair behind her ear constantly, never taking her eyes off the words on the page.A toddler was running laps around her bench and would occasionally stop to grin and bounce at the edge of her seat, sticky fingers grabbing the crisp pocket of business casual slacks. The little girl would grin up at the big girl and the big girl would grin back as they both said “book” in unison. This was the third book the woman had read in the past two days. She had brought two on her trip, thinking it would hold her but had finished them before she landed in Columbus the day before. This third novel had been purchased out of desperation for something to read during the long layover. The first book was a graphic novel (a “picture book” as her boss called it) but it had text and an ISBN so I thought it should count as a book. That was finished before she even taxied to leave on Wednesday and the second one was a small novella of sorts that was a bit on the dark side. She seems relieved to be reading a humorous novel again (a very humorous novel given her demeanor and grin). Maybe this is what graduate students look like. I know too much about librarians to believe what you see in “The Mummy,” but maybe graduate students have this ability to read six books a week and nod their heads emphatically at no one in particular while perusing obscure references in obtuse novels and plays. I never fancied myself much of a reader compared to others I know. But I have been reading a lot more lately. Maybe I could go to grad school and perfect the look. No, nevermind, shut up. Perhaps I could just look like a grad student but not actually take classes and just read all the good books. It wasn't until I looked up from my novel and noticed my glasses sliding to the end of my nose (again) and my cartoon socks swinging over the edge of the chair that I realized I may already have.