Sophie Strand

“Chris, this display is just totally, utterly, absolutely depressing”, I say, looking at the book selection in front of me. Chris and I run this bookstore together. Well, technically Chris is my boss, and the owner. But he has terrible taste in books and would be totally, absolutely lost without me. “Nicky”, Chris responds with exhasberated patience. “This is a great display. I handpicked all these books myself. These books have attracted customers for years. Look at it. Ken Wilber. A.H. Almaas. Eckhart Tolle. They’re basically classics.” I cut him off, before he can launch himself into a sermon on the virtue of showcasing books written by old white men in the eighties. “Yeah Chris, I know. But have you read the new Sophie Strand book? The Body Is A Doorway. It’s absolutely revolutionary. The way she talks about the environment, her connection with nature and how it’s all connected to her illness. How we’re making people ill by the way that we’re making the planet ill.” 

I sigh when I see his face. I can see my words literally floating past him. His attention is totally, utterly somewhere else. I bet he’s thinking about the number of copies of Ken Wilber books he’s sold this year. (Less than a hundred.) Imaging the way they’re totally changing people’s lives. (They’re not.) Mentally revisiting the first Ken Wilber book he ever sold. (In the eighties.) I sigh some more. A lost cause, if ever there was one. But I am not so easily deterred. “Look, Chris, you keep saying that we need to attract a younger audience. Too keep up with online sales.” He looks at me, his expression pained. “It’s a matter of reaching the most people”, he says, adjusting his horn-rimmed glasses. They’re rimless at the bottom, which was fashionable, like, ten years ago. “Sophie Strand is niche, Nicky. Boulder customers want more mainstream spiritual texts. Meditation, enlightenment. The works.” I roll my eyes. Not actually, obviously, but on the inside. Mainstream spiritual texts. Ken Wilber, is what he means. We have three Wilber books on the center display. If that isn’t obsession then I don’t know what is. 

“But what about the younger crowd”, I say, forcing myself to not give up. One book. Just let me put one book on the table Chris. “You said yourself that we need younger customers.” Boulder people are old. Or maybe the people who shop at this store are old. Either way, there’s some serious oldness going on. “Sophie Strand would attract younger customers.” Chris gives me another look, a look that tells me I should just give it a rest. “Nicky”, he says. “Just because you like Sophie Strand it doesn’t mean that other young people do too. Who’s to say that they don’t also like something more… time honored?” I can feel a serious frown coming on. I look around the room. Out of the fifteen shoppers only about four don’t have grey hair. I grab a chair and hoist myself up. The chair is a bit wobbly but I suck it up. “Everyone” I project into the half-empty store. “Would all customers who are under forty please come to the counter? Thank you very much.”

Chris looks at me dubiously as the four youngish folks gather at the checkout counter. I can’t quite tell if they look curious, or confused, or freaked out…? Either way, they’re here. “Thanks for coming”, I say, keeping my voice level. “My colleague and I”, I gesture at Chris, “are having a dispute. We’d love your help to settle it. Have any of you good people heard of the author Sophie Strand?” Three out of the four raise their hands, still looking a bit befuddled about the whole situation. I look at Chris, both eyebrows raised. “That should settle it, shouldn’t it Chris?” He looks back at me, his facial expression somewhere between amused and annoyed. I can tell that he’s finally, finally, finally actually thinking about it. He looks at the display table. “Okay”, he says after a long while. “You can put your book on here Nicky.” I nod. Then I quickly grab a Wilber book from the display and float into the stacks to grab The Body Is A Doorway. 

“So do you have any Sophie Strand books?” A customer asks Chris, who shakes his head in disbelief. “I believe my associate is getting some right now”, he says. When I come back Chris is looking at me with what seems to be newfound respect. “I guess you were right Nicky” he says. “Yeah”, I say. And, since I’m on a roll I also propose a new display table, “for the younger customers”. And then, since I have his attention, I also ask for a well-deserved raise.