paying it forward

i think i may have mentioned how much i love the kurdish people who run my local bodega. they have this son who is about 10 and sometimes he works the counter. he's a very bright child. very chatty. often he works at inappropriate hours, like 11 pm. but whatevs. the other day i came in and he looked at me all wide-eyed and he asked "you work in a library, right?"

"why yes," i said, surprised that i am now a local celebrity.

"maybe you can get a book for me"

"well," i explained, "my library is kind of far from here." really i could easily get him a book, i just don't trust anyone to return library items to me. i've been burned before. "what book are you interested in?"

"well," he began, "i don't know the title. but it's an adventure book. like action? but it's my adventure."

"you mean choose your own adventure?!" i exclaimed. "those are good." and then we had a lovely little chat about books and i pretty much told him that if any books mysteriously fall off a book truck they'll be his. i also suggested he visit the greenpoint library, but then he complained that they're never open. which is totally true. their hours suck. get it together greenpoint library!

now, one service we have here at the 'brary is that we give out these "explore the universe" passes to the museum of natural history. these passes get in one family of up to 6 people for FREE! (you must have children with you, so don't get any ideas) i always have a stash of these passes handy, but my kids can never use them. unfortunately, getting an adult to take them into manhattan to an educational institution is a very far-fetched scheme. at other libraries they are hot ticket items that people fight in the streets for. but here the passes just sit in my desk drawer collecting dust, waiting for the day that someone can actually use them. so sad, shed a single tear for the children of library-in-the-hood.

i took one of these passes and i gave it to the kurdish woman at the bodega this morning as i was getting my large tea and organic pop tarts. i have not yet told them that i am moving. i will miss them so much. so i go to the counter and present her with the pass and i try to explain what it is. sadly, her english isn't that great and i didn't think she was understanding what i was saying. so finally i just said, "its a really big museum in manhattan. your son will like it. they have dinosaur bones."

then she said something in broken english, i think it was that her son liked talking to me. then i said, "he's a smart kid." and i left.

p.s. just as a side note, yesterday morning the kurdish man offered me a job at the bodega. saying that i am very nice and they could use someone like me. i said i would keep it in mind if my current job doesn't work out. then he told me that i am very beautiful. and that, in fact, all jewish women are very beautiful. man, i am really going to miss this place.