A good book has no ending.
–R.D. Cumming
Mim & Mom awakened my love of reading. Mom, by reading aloud to us. Mim, by putting so many books in my hands.
For about a decade - after 1959, when Philadelphia lumber yard where Dad was a skilled millworker & designer burned to the ground, to the late '60s - times were financially tough for the our family. But no matter how tough the times, Christmas ALWAYS brought what seemed to be, for each of us children, our favorite gift - a new book.
I remember scoping out the lay of the land when it came to our individual pile of wrapped presents. The one that looked suspiciously like a book was always 2nd-to-last to be unwrapped (the one that looked like a new doll was kept to last). I still recall the thrill unwrapping, the first peek at the title. And I don't think I was the only Lockhart feeling that way.
We all grew up with Mom reading to us. I think of Peter, who got to have her all to himself for four years, never having to battle to sit on her lap. I remember her story about the first time she read The Bird's Christmas Carol to him, with its tender ending. Peter was a very little boy & she worried that it might have been too much for him. As she read the last lines & slowly closed the book, she looked down at Peter, who looked up at her, tears streaming down his cheeks & asking, "Please, read it again."
That's how all of us felt about Mom's story hours & finishing a book - please, read it again.
Mom introduced us to the joys of Wanamaker's book section (strangely, we never went to Strawbridge's, not even to the book section where she had happily worked), to Sessler's on Walnut, to Leary's.
But it was Mim who introduced her younger sibs to what felt like the tangible magic of books. From my earliest days, I recall books arriving via Mim, seemingly out of nowhere. Now, I realize they were weekly reader selections, but back then we thought Mim conjured these wonderful books just for us - wow! Didn't dawn on my until this very moment that of course our parents subscribed - duh! But it felt so wonderful, having such a tender, thoughtful & caring older sister.
Mim was certainly the one who read them to us. Gift From The Mikado, The Pink Motel, The Peculiar Miss Pickett, The Islanders. And especially Ian's o! best beloved book of all time - David & the Phoenix.
All of this came very much to mind last night, coming across a slim, unillustrated volume of David & the Phoenix, which I'd purchased to send Mim, then decided against. But I'd held back. Seemed wrong to send her an unillustrated version - the illustrations are so much of the experience. Instead, I paused, waiting to get her a used edition of the one we loved for Christmas 2015. Still happy with my decision & glad I held onto the one I have - it's perfect for another use, but would not have satisfied Mim's heart, not without the pictures of David, the Phoenix & their arch-nemesis, the Scientist.
Ian never got to experience the glee of having Mim drive him to book stores. Wheeeeee! From the practically just-around-the-corner Jenkintown Book Store to introducing my to the Barnes & Noble experience at what was then it's one & only location - 18th Street & 5th Avenue - going to book stores with Mim was a downright sensual delight.
Oh, the names that are no more - both of them are long gone. How well I remember Frigate Books (wonderful shop, crabby owner) & The Secret Garden, both in Chestnut Hill. The Newtown Book Store. Sessler's & Leary's, both in Center City, both gone. Shakespeare & Co., gone - at least from it's Upper East Side perch, just down from Zabar's. Ditto Murder Ink. Rizzoli - sob!
Yes, we are blessed to still have Joseph Fox Book Shop (blessings on them for bringing Gretchen Rubin to town) & other gems in Center City; Canterbury Tales, up in Lahaska; the terrific Doylestown Book Shop & Booktenders (children's books) within easy walking distance of each other (& Zen Den for coffee) in D-town; Wayne's tiny, packed with treasures Reader's Forum; and for lovers of old & seriously collectible books - the fabled Baldwin's Book Barn due south of West Chester.
These remain, but so many literary jewels have been pushed out by Borders, by Barnes & Noble, themselves obliterated or in jeopardy due to the Internet.
But Mim & I drove all over our area while bookstores still thrived. What glorious times we had, especially uncovering a new treasure.
My big sis introduced me to the joy of books by mail. Oh, the shiver of joy that still reduces me to a puddle of happiness, spotting the unmistakable sight of an order from Green Tiger Press (Laughing Elephant), especially its heart-soaring celebrations of fabulous book illustrators, or Daedalus* on the front step!
* Alas, Mim never had the glorious pleasure of visiting the Daedalus Outlet Warehouse, between Columbia & Savage, MD. Bibliophile bliss!
Those last days, when Mim was in the hospital, knowing what the outcome would be & how soon, she asked me to swing by her room to pick up two books. Both were well-worn paperbacks, both decades old - the paper getting slightly brittle. Both Helen MacInnes - The Venetian Affair & Decision at Delphi. If she'd had Mary Stewart's My Brother Michael (her copy disappeared years ago), am sure she would have asked for it, too.
How right, that Mim wanted books that were like friends to be with her. For me, it would be Clouds of Witness, The Chestry Oak, David & the Phoenix.
Mim helped open my spirit to the joys of books & reading. I had the honor of ensuring that two of the ones she loved most of all were with her to the end. How right that the person putting them once more in her hands knew so well all the people & places & adventures that lay within.
Like a gratifying read, the last page was as satisfying as the first.
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