Category Archives: Big Stone Gap

A Little Help from our Friends

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Jack guest blogs on the value of friendships, especially in small town shops

This weekend we are once again on our travels with book events, from the John Fox Festival here at home, through a visit to Clifton Forge Library, and then on to the Virginia Festival of the Book in Charlottesville. As usual when we are away for a few days our friends rally round to staff the bookstore on rota.

Just call us The Little Book Co-op of Big Stone Gap.

These friends handle book sales, oh yes, but there are also the shop animals to care for, boxes of donated or traded in books to be valued and priced (or politely refused), mail to be collected and opened for book orders, and phone inquiries to be responded to. Although amazed that anyone would be willing to take this on, we are delighted that we have so many friends who will. They represent one aspect of the community presence of our bookstore; we really are almost a co-operative owned by its customers. Quite often a ‘regular’ will be hanging out, checking e-mails or browsing the bookshelves, when suddenly he finds himself in charge of the shop for ten minutes while I do a post office run or dash out for milk.

Occasions like this weekend require a bit more pre-planning, but, despite other calls on folks’ time, we always manage to keep the shop open. We never succumb to the erosion of hours, no matter how tempting; it’s our observation that when small businesses become careless about that, their days are numbered.

So, we pay homage to the many friends of ‘Tales of the Lonesome Pine’ AKA ‘The little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap’.  And we also salute Mark and Sally Smith of Memphis, who are coming to watch the shop for two weeks in April while we get our Christmas and birthdays 2012 and 2013/Valentine’s Day/fifteenth wedding anniversary holiday in. (We’re going to Istanbul. It’s expensive. We’ve been saving for months and we’re going to have the time of our lives.)

You’re going to love Big Stone, Mark and Sally, and they’re gonna love you. Our thanks to you all for keeping the shop while we’re running about promoting a book about bookstores. There’s a certain full-circle feel about it, don’t you think?

For more examples of how people have rallied to their community bookstores, check out the March 18 Christian Science Monitor article detailing bookstores that have been moved, staffed, or even cooked for by locals lending a hand. If you’re in Illinois (Edwardsville, to be precise) check out Afterwords Bookstore, a lovely shop with a similar story. Or ask your local bookshop about their ‘co-op’ friends. They’re guaranteed to have some.

Sexual Frustration

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Our scruffy staff mutt Bert is the wee bit confused. And our gorgeous long-haired foster Tallulah is frustrated.

IMG_3625Tallulah came to us two months ago after giving birth to three sons, all of whom have now been adopted into loving homes. Accent on loving. Because–as most Mommy Cats do–Tallulah waited a couple of days after closing the milk bar, then went back into heat.

She has a spay appointment next week–the first available on the Margaret Mitchell van that services our area with discount “fixing.” PAWS, the rescue we foster for, has a standing arrangement with them.

Meanwhile, Tallulah isn’t doing much standing. She’s flinging herself about in a “take me, take me now, sailor” kind of way. And she’s mostly flinging herself at Bert.

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Bert is trying to be a gentleman about the whole thing. At eight years old, he’s flung his flings. Plus, as responsible pet owners, we had his reproductive equipment removed.

We’ve tried talking to Tallulah, explaining that females certainly do have more options these days, but maybe dogs aren’t one of them. Cross-species is still a hard sell; LGBT acceptance doesn’t really cover it. If she’d focused on Beulah, our in-store cat, the neighbors wouldn’t be talking now. IMG_3627

But the heart wants what it wants.

Meanwhile, staff kitten Owen is taking it hard. Naturally, he feels he should have been the first choice for Tallulah’s affections–or lust, as the case may be. Owen hangs around in a heartbroken kind of way, just in case Tallulah, umm, changes course.

IMG_3634So far, she hasn’t noticed.

And so it goes. Just another day in the bookstore. Yes, we do sell books now and again, but right now all eyes are on the soap opera unfolding before us. Friends drop in just to see the floor show. Tallulah never fails to entertain. We should record the noises she’s making.

No, on second thought, we shouldn’t.

Poor befuddled Bert. And poor wee Owen, offering unrequited love to a disinterested Dulcinea. Y’all send them good wishes. And spay your cats, or this could happen to you.