Bookstore Crawl + a bag of chips

He found me and handed over a book.
“This one’s for you,” he said. “It’s very you.” Nicholas Triolo - the shapes of his name matched the Enso Zen Circle.

By the end of our bookstore crawl date, we’d gathered eight books between us. He carried them in a brand-new fabric tote, which also held my fresh pair of jeans—and later, a half-eaten, shared bag of sea salt & vinegar avocado oil chips from lunch.

Back home, I made tea. We sorted our finds:


• His stack: military history.


• Mine: writing, photography, nature.

I cracked open “The Way Around” and paused at the prologue: 
“What are we encircling? What is encircling us?”

Out the window, the forest answered in stillness.