The Love Bookshop

Chapter Two

Benjamin Baldwin Love had been cursed since birth. At least that was the highly held opinion of the townspeople of Love , Georgia ( Pop. 3500 ) where he had spent all of his thirty years of life. According to the local gossips of which there were many he had been born in fetal distress. That essentially meant he was literally born covered in shit. His actual birth was so traumatic that his always frail and fragile mother Rose had died moments after giving birth to him. After Rose's death his father Peter went downhill fast. Peter ignored his only child in favor of drinking heavily to the point that he ultimately crashed his pickup truck off the road one snowy night and went off a cliff. He had died instantly and so had the entire family in the station wagon he hit before meeting his own tragic fate. The only survivor of the crash was young five year old Ben. Ben lived but with a badly mangled leg that would require him to walk with a cane or crutches the remaining days of his life. He was also marked in the face with a long jagged hideous scar that crisscrossed the whole right side of his face from the top of his forehead all the way down to the very beginning of his thin lips. That was his only legacy from the father that cursed his name at birth. Young Ben had went to live with his only living family , a widowed uncle who held the town status of being both blind as well as the grumpiest man around. His uncle , Gerald Love , was fiercely independent and owned the only rare first edition bookstore in town. He taught his young nephew to never let the world recognize him only for his disabilities. He also taught the boy to appreciate and cherish the books they not only sold but read each night ; Gerald with his special braille copies and Ben his beloved Hardy Boys mysteries. Uncle Gerald became Ben's whole existence really. His father figure. His friend. His boss at the bookstore where he worked after school. Some say Ben hid at the bookstore. When he finished his bachelor's degree in English and History at the University of Georgia Ben returned back home to become assistant manager of the bookstore. Then Uncle Gerald left him too. He died of a massive heart attack while sitting in the living room of the three story Victorian house he and Ben lived in. Ben had found him. Gerald Love was sitting peacefully in his favorite chair , a cup of still warm herbal tea beside him on the end table , his favorite braille Bible open to Psalms on his blanket covered lap. He had been smiling. Now Ben Love was all alone.

He still felt cursed , Ben mused as he sat behind his uncle's large antique desk in his study. His hated cane was leaning against the desk as though it mocked him. He wanted to toss it out the window but his best friend Henry would kill him if he damaged the original window panes. " You live in a historical treasure , Love ! , " the short effeminate man with his long reddish blond hair and twinkling green eyes exclaimed one day over tea and pastries at Henry's own antique shop which was on the town's main street and across from the Love Bookshop. " Show some appreciation ! Especially around mere peons like myself ! " Ben's scarred face creased in a rare smile as he thought of his only real reason for getting up in the morning since Uncle Gerald had passed away. Henry Hawkins who had been his best and only friend since Love Grade School days when the two outcasts sought comfort with each other. The school bullies had mocked Ben for his physical issues and his hideous face and Henry for being well Henry with his love of make up and wigs and dresses. For his having come out of the closet as openly gay at fifteen which had gotten Henry kicked out of his house. Henry had been taken into the Love house by Gerald. Ben had followed Henry with his own coming out revelation at seventeen although truthfully he had always known. Not that it helped much. Henry had better luck with men than Ben. After all Henry didn't scare children and pets like Ben. His face , his scars , his leg were all destined to keep Ben a lonely single virgin for all his days. Even Grindr couldn't help him. After all who wanted to fall in love with a hideous freak ? With a monster ? With someone as damaged as himself ? A cursed man who had killed his own mother at birth. No matter what Uncle Gerald had told him so many times Ben knew the truth. He was fated to die alone and unloved.

Well unloved except for Henry and his spoiled white Siamese cat Matilda. But he had The Love Bookshop that his uncle left him lock , stock and many precious old books. He had the bookshop and he wasn't giving it up , he thought as his smoky grey eyes fell down to look at yet another of those annoying letters from that lawyer at Woolbury Enterprises which owned practically everything in the globe including a chain of brick and mortar super bookstores ( everything under one roof from books to toys to coffee ). His eyes chilled as they regarded the letter. The Love eyes glimmered with the infamous family stubbornness. Yes. He had the bookshop and he wasn't giving it up. To anyone. For any amount of money.

" So sorry to reject your kind offer , Mr. Woolbury. Again. But the answer is still no. " Then he quickly ripped up the letter in two halves , relishing the sound it made when it tore. He allowed the pieces to flutter down to the carpeted floor. " You can't always get what you want in life. I should know that. "

A knock at the front door practically had him jumping in surprise. Henry was away on a buying trip for his shop. He loved prowling at estate sales. The man was a walking Antique Roadshow. And nobody else came to visit him except his daily housekeeper Naomi. But it was Saturday and her day off. Who would dare come visit a monster ? , he thought idly as he reached for his loathed cane to hoist his short slim body up from his chair.

Maybe , his own mind mocked him , maybe it was his own Prince Charming come to rescue him. Wasn't that how all the fairy tales ended ?