My Mr. Meesey

Part 1

Today was the day you would find it, you were sure of it. Yet another bookstore in yet another small town where the streets had more pot holes then drivable roads and everyone's cars were a certain tint of red due to the clay dirt spun from tires going down dirt paths. There were barely any cars to be seen sitting on the side of the road but plenty of small shops lined the streets. This town looked almost as if it had walked out of an old black and white film. You had driven over thirty hours and this was the first sign of civilization you came across, your olive green Oasis camper van sat in the middle of the parking lot locked up with sun reflectors covering your windows. As you drew nearer to the shops you could tell that there was a barber, a salon, a few boutiques and a mom and pop fish house at the very end which you could see from where you were standing. Despite all the old thrifts and pawn shops you passed you can't help but keep your eyes on the purple and white building that set nestled in between two stone buildings that looked much more upkept. The front windows were lined with books wrapped in pink and multicolored paper covered in hearts and other valentine looking prints. The door had a window with cursive letter that read 'The Readers Nook'. You cross the street listening to the lick of the street light as it flashes red. Once you make it across you find that the front of the shop is lined with flowers of all types, you figured whoever owned the shop probably spent a lot more time tending to the flowers then actually selling anything.

"Look out!" You hear someone yell from your right but you can't even get a look at them before they crash into you making you fall to the ground covering you in a thick red dust. You shoulder hurt from the impact and your elbows were scraped from falling onto the gravel, while holding your head you sit up and find a young man about the same age as yourself lying on the ground doing much the same as you, holding his head and trying to right himself after hitting the equivalent of a brick wall going full speed. He was wearing a sunflower yellow t-shirt and a pair of jeans that seem to fit him well with a pair of generic sneakers. You noticed a backpack laying on the ground that had come unzipped in the tussle letting lots of gadgets scatter over the ruble, some things even landed in the planter box that held the flowers you were previously admiring.

"In a hurry are we?" You ask nonchalantly while you bring yourself back up to your feet doing your best to brush off the left over dirt and dust. The boy does the same however he doesn't respond to me instead ignoring me completely while scrambling to gather his things shoving them into the bag, you move to begin helping him gather everything but before you an grasp some sort of metal wand or tool he yells out.

"Don't touch that!" He grabs whatever the tool was before you are able to leaving you to back away with your hands up in defeat. Obviously this kid had some shit going on and wasn't handling the stress well and you hate to get in between him and whatever war path he's set on. Soon he determines that everything there was to get up is now safely put back into his bag and he again takes off in the same direction he was headed before, a sprint turing into a full out run the farther he got from you.

"Have a nice day?" You call out after him not knowing weather he heard you or not, you shrug 'what a strange interaction.' you thought yto yourself before turning back towards the old bookstore from before.

It was the 5th book store you'd visited on your venture through the states on your search to find a specific copy of Le Petite Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. This specific copy was first edition that had been translated to polish from 1947 with an old canvas cover with a crued original drawing of the little prince on the cover with his staff and cape. Yes this would be a nearly impossible book to find but the truth was you had all the time in the world to look for it, sure you were diverting from your original task of finding a college to go to once this summer was over but you found that you had no interest in pursuing a career of any kind really. Your parents, the loving and trusting souls that they were had given you the go ahead to ride around alone to find a college and town that 'suited you' almost like sending a which out on her 13th birthday to find the town she would live in and serve, like some kind of initiation. You however chose to spend your time not looking for colleges or mates and instead went searching for far off bookstores hoping to find a book you'd lost long ago. It was one your father had given you long ago, passed down through generations in your family, when you were young you put it into box of other things your mother would be donating to her church which would then go to multiple thrifts across the state.