Borders

I saw her at the local Borders reading an electronic Students for Free Culture handbook. I don’t know much about what she’s reading but I know that it must have something to do with creativity, copyright laws, fair use regulations and what the face of media will look like in the future if we start changing it now. I wasn’t even sure if it was her or not. It’s been about 37 years since I’ve seen her but it sure as hell looked like her. Her name is Michelle. I met her in about 1995 in the mall of my old local town. She was working at Footlocker and I was passing by, just strolling through the mall, probably looking for some action. I was 18. She was 17. She was beautiful in a cute kind of way. Shorter than me, she was the perfect size to hug and kiss while she looked up at me. Our relationship didn’t last long. We only had about 2 or 3 dates. But the lifelong impact from her is still felt now as I gaze upon someone who could be her in this bookstore in this year of 2033. So I walked up to her and asked her if she was who I thought she was. She was hesitant at first but then relented. It was her! We talked for only moments after I found out the truth of who she was. I guess we both felt shy because we didn’t even truly know one another back then. Back then we were just two kids that were attracted to each other, hardly knowing more about the other than our names. She agreed to get a cup of coffee the next day. So we met again, this time at Starbucks. We sat and talked longer and I found out more about her than I ever thought I would. She had got engaged to be married to a boyfriend of hers shortly after we lost contact all those years ago. Her fiancé died in tragic drowning accident when he was only 19. After that she sheltered herself inside her shell and hasn’t ventured out much save for the occasional trips to her parent’s house and bookstores here and there where she would download electronic novels and transport herself to different lands and times. She says she misses the feel of old-fashioned books, the ones you can hold and turn the pages on, but they are so hard to find these days and so expensive. I decided I would find her some books that she would like and give them to her the next time I saw her.