The Library

Just as I finished checking out at the grocery store, I saw a friend standing at the copy machine.

"What are you up to, Matt?"

 "A friend of mine wants me to draw a picture of her son. Here's his picture. She wants him in better looking clothes. I found a picture of guy with nice duds in this magazine."

Matt, an engineering manager, is also an artist. I saw him  drawing at Starbucks, and I commented on his work. With similar engineering backgrounds, we have become good friends. Since then, his striking charcoal renderings have continued to improve, and he is getting more commissions for his work.

"Hey, did you buy that magazine?" I kidded.

"Nope. I looked through the magazine rack over there, found this guy who is looking in the right direction for the drawing, and made a copy of it."

"Hey, I said, "that reminds me of the time our family was driving back from Greeley on Colorado county roads. We were doing a crossword puzzle and had a disagreement about how to spell the word "channel." My father, word expert, thought that it had one N."

"We were stuck, and without a dictionary, we couldn't finish the puzzle. But, help ahead--we all had the same idea when we saw the K-Mart. We stopped. Went straight to the book section, picked up a dictionary, and found to my dad's chagrin that channel had two Ns. We didn't buy the dictionary; didn't need one."

"My teenage daughter was mortified. A pain she still carries."

"Good story. Here's the picture I copied," said Matt, showing me the thick annual edition of  'People,' and its $10.99 price tag.

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   Admission and rationalization: Many times I have browsed magazines at the bookstand and then haven't bought them.