I Wonder What Happened to Hunter - Saturday 10/22

Hunter turned 21 in August. Or at least he would have. I don’t really know.

The children’s section of Eagle Books is in the corner farthest from the door. The owner sits at her desk to the right when you walk in. The rare books collection is in a locked case next to her desk. To the left is a full wall length magazine style rack. Straight ahead are the new arrivals. Unsorted as yet. The store goes back much further than you initially expect. Shelves line the right wall of the store, and jut out at right angles from the left. As you near the back the pattern changes, and the shelves come out from the rear wall as the path through the store bangs a hard left.

If you follow the pathway all the way to the back of the store without getting distracted and wandering into any of the other sections—which is not easily done, at least for the four of us in the store on this particular overcast Saturday morning—you’ll eventually arrive in the children’s section.

On the floor is a copy of Frederick with the inscription:

For Hunter, on your first birthday,

Because the world would be a better place

if we were all a little more like Frederick.

Love,

Mom and Dad

August, 1996

Hunter turned 21 in August. Or at least he would have. And I can’t help but wonder what happened to Hunter that his copy of Frederick is sitting on the floor in the back corner of Eagle Books instead of in a private library, or at least in a box in the garage, basement or attic. Any of a million things might have happened to Hunter. The ghost of Hunter will haunt me for the rest of my life. I think daily about calling the book store and asking the owner to ship me the book.