A Place To Come Home To

There was a staircase, straight in stature, going up to a place I never seen before. Up the stairs I went, gently touching the railing, with white paint flicked off in some spots, showing its age. To the top I went and saw a door that beckoned me to open it. Forward I went, gripped the doorknob that seemed as aged as the staircase, slowly opening the door forward as it creaked, almost sounding like I was in a horror movie, opening a door to an unknown place. Today would not be a day for something scary. The day was bright, brilliant and beautiful, as fall like weather always is. A smiling, endless blue sky looked down at me as I opened the door, telling me it will be an experience I will not forget.

I smelled something, something old, but pleasant, something familiar, maybe something from my childhood awakened my senses. Standing at the entrance, I let my eyes gaze around a new place, full of something I would find out. It was a small place, with lots of natural light that I was eager to find out the source. The carpet was faded, like a red color, but not blood red. I noticed there were a lot of shelves, the kind of shelves you would put something special on. Books. Lots and lots of books. Books on the floor, books on the shelves, books on tables and chairs. It was like an endless stream of good reads, but not too much to consume your mind. Walking in this store full of books, I bent down and touched the books I saw on the floor, curious to what others were reading. So many unique and different titles, titles you or I may not have heard of.

Standing up I perused the shelves, books scattered here and there, no particular order. Definitely not a Barnes and Noble with its organized books, by title, authors, subjects! Again, book titles I never heard of, begging to be read, looked at, maybe even taken to a new home. I turn around and see a kind, elderly man, standing behind a counter, looking at books. He winks and smiles at me, greeting me with a happy heart. I noticed he shuffled behind the counter as he was moving the books from the counter and onto the bookshelves, not in any particular order. Maybe he felt obligated to keep coming to this unique store, or perhaps he wanted something to do, and books brought that to him, with a peace that only books can give.

I turn back around and continue on my journey into this store. Why wasn’t I here before? How I love to visit unique places that pop up here and there, sometimes feeling like I was destined to roam places like this bookstore, finding whatever at the moment I need to find. Not like I lost anything, but I like the “unordinary” things or places to visit or seek. I think it is in my blood.

What is that I hear as I pondered about this store? It sounded like water dripping. Was there a leaky faucet somewhere? I move around the store, crossing over to a large window that was open with a screen protecting anyone that would dare to fall out, and look below. Oh my goodness! I put my face up against the screen gently as I did not want to push it out, and what my curious eyes see below as I was high above, is a beautiful creek. Lots of green trees, shrubs surrounded it, but I could see bits of it. But what I noticed mostly was the sound and smells coming up. Earthy. Pungent. Fresh.

A smile formed across my face as I gazed down and back up again, knowing I was in the right place at the right moment. A nice, old and what maybe a comfortable chair was beside me with, you guessed it, books on a small table. I sat down while a small bit of dust flew around and I picked up a book. Leaning back in the comfortable chair and indeed it was comfortable, I read some parts of the book and looked at the other books, curious to what others were reading.

I placed the books back on the table and sighed. A sigh with contentment. A bookstore perched up high, next to a creek below, with trees swaying in the wind, sort of like dancing with a partner, moving gently across the landscape, the gentle sound of the creek as water flowed along its path, not a worrying thought in sight.

A place to come home to.

What was a place that you came home to?