Bookstore, trapdoor

I walked into one of my favorite Big City bookstores, and was surprised to see that everything had been done over in dark mahogany. Darkness visible! A new section of the store, devoted to antique drafting equipment, stood off to one side, accessible through a doorway. The strangest touch was an elevated walkway — in dark mahogany, of course — with a hinged section that could open, like a trapdoor, onto the main floor.

I overheard two employees talking: one spoke of a Huck Finn-themed party she was giving. She had decided not to invite one guest’s spouse, because he was Black and might be offended. “Gee,” I said, “where I come from everybody would be welcome at a party — though I don’t think anyone would think of having a Huck Finn party.”

Possible source: Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City (2003), for reasons I won’t try to explain here. Another: American mythologies and realities.

Related reading
All OCA dream posts (Pinboard)

[“Only fools and children talk about their dreams”: Dr. Edward Jeffreys (Robert Douglas), in Thunder on the Hill (dir. Douglas Sirk, 1951).]