Is hanging on the door. There’s five scattered about, so nobody can miss them. I don’t like them.
Everybody uses them. Actually, that’s not true. I don’t. But then I jump up and scan into my own shop. Don’t want anyone Checking the Data to think that nobody came.
Visitors are generous and careful. They stand outside in the rain and the cold, patiently fiddling.
‘Did you get it?’
‘Don’t know.’
‘Try again.’ They lean over the phone, glasses on the end of cold noses.
‘It says Bunnings.’
‘That’s we were.’
‘By God. What’s this shop then?’
Young people scan the code carelessly, without looking, still talking. They text a long reply to someone as they walk in. The text takes 1.5 seconds.
Some people sign in with a pen. They fill out every piece of information carefully for me.
Some people forget. Then they come back to the counter and sign in. ‘Sorry, sorry, sorry.’
‘Better do this then, hadn’t I!’
‘Better add my name.’
‘What’s the time David?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘The time. The clock. Don’t worry about it.’
David turns in a circle, confused, with two Jeffrey Deavers in his hand. His wife signs them both in. He tells me that Jeffrey Deaver has gone down in quality.
Some people show me their scanned in status. I say, ‘Great, thanks.’ And I mean it. Glad they can just do it and not get mad with me. Glad they’ll still come in and keep me going. Glad they still want to talk about To Kill a Mockingbird and Agatha Christie even though the world seems a little weird right now. Glad they still argue that they should have gone to the bakery first.
Image of an actual door at Salah Eidin Citadel, Cairo, Egypt
The Book Keeper Book Shop 