The sad story of Henry Bemis, ironically is the foretelling story all of all us readers of the world. There is a book-saving moral here.

 Henry Bemis

"Witness Mr. Henry Bemis, a charter member in the fraternity of dreamers. A bookish little man whose passion is the printed page, but who is conspired against by a bank president and a wife and a world full of tongue-cluckers and the unrelenting hands of a clock. But in just a moment, Mr. Bemis will enter a world without bank presidents or wives or clocks or anything else. He'll have a world all to himself... without anyone."

That's how creator Rod Serling introduced "Time Enough at Last," one of the most popular episodes of his show, The Twilight Zone, a 1959 sci-fi television series. The show, in black and white back then, was loved for its clever plot twists of incredible circumstances.

You see, due to an H-Bomb explosion while Henry Bemis had locked himself into the bank's vault for a lunch hour of undisturbed reading, the outside world was vaporized, leaving him alone, with all the books of the world and all the time in the world to read them, totally undisturbed.

Sadly, just as he had surrounded himself with piles of books to read, he dropped, then stepped on his very thick eye-glasses, breaking them unfixable. And Henry was almost blind without his glasses. 

Unbelievably, his utopia was gone just as fast as it had come, and all the books in the world were left without readers. 

Now jump to today, all you book-loving Henry Bemis's. Remember Borders, a Barnes & Noble rival, no longer in business? Remember possibly your favorite book store, gone. Remember the libraries of the world, shut down to browsing because of the coronavirus?

LittleFreeLibrary.org

There is, of course, Amazon, where almost everything can be bought, books and all, no matter the virus. Thank you--I think--for that. But really, support your local bookstore if you still have one. They need you but in reality, you need them more.  

And cities like Seattle, and others where culture allows, have dozens... or perhaps hundreds, of neighborhood mailbox-like Little Free Libraries where anyone can take a book/leave a book, never a question asked because readers are like that. (You too can have one of these Little Free Libraries by your house. Click the link to see what it's all about. It is exciting for everyone who dreams books.)

Of course there are books on tape and ebooks but those aren't really books, are they? OK, they are, sort of, but not everyone wants to read on a computer or Kindle. And those who like books to be read to them are no doubt fond of being read to. Maybe it takes them back to the time mom or dad would read them The Three Little Pigs or Cinderella at bedtime. Not my thing, thank you, with the possible exception of a long, boring road trip by yourself.

Give me a book book... in any form, really, or a newspaper (what's a newspaper?). Social media or television is not reading. 

The Strand

How much do we miss bookstores (but are thankful and loyal to those we have) here's a story of true love: One of a most noted bookstores is the Strand in downtown Manhattan. If you've been there, you know you can spend happy hours there with every visit. Sadly, the famous Strand is struggling with revenue during this coronavirus era down 70 percent. "HELP!" it's owner asked... and help it got.

On the following Saturday, it received a single-day record of 10,000 online orders, crashing it's website. In the next 48 hours, the store processed 25,000 online orders (compared to about 600 in a typical two-day period. Employees have canceled vacations and coming in to help with the surge. 

You do know how much readers love their bookstore. 

l"es bouquinistes"

It's not all roses though. If you've ever been to Paris, you most probably totally enjoyed 'les bouquinistes," the 230 or so open air booksellers in carts, tents and tables that line four miles on both sides of Seine in the shadow of Notre Dame. Now THAT is a market to love. Sadly, it seems to be a tragedy in the making as the coronavirus lock-downs and its concerns make this, "a sinking ship," as a good number of the booksellers fear. Sales have plunged 80 percent and survival is in question.

Hey Madames et Monsiers, (Excusez mon francais, or thereabout) have you tried a Strand strategy yet? From all the book lovers in the world, good luck. We need you.

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORES... AND RETAILERS WHENEVER POSSIBLE. WE NEED THEM AND THEY NEED US!