I dragged myself out of bed.

Shirley was still asleep, but she half turned to me and said, half awake, “Don’t be late. It’s time.”

I threw on enough clothes and shambled to the door.

I had already put on my shoes. You need shoes to walk around in.

I went to the side door and onto the side porch by the driveway. There were already three people kind of waiting politely, but already partly shuffling down the driveway toward the garage. They were just waiting for me to go down and open the door.

They were pretty young, either teens or just beyond when you couldn’t tell the difference and it didn’t matter because they were still their own generation, and they were coming to buy books.

I could just hear in my memory Shirley saying, “I hope they buy something.”

I went down the driveway to open the door to the garage where the books were, and the three of them kind of went along not quite together with me, but not not, like I was older but they didn’t care, it wasn’t just tolerance, they were comfortable being with themselves but didn’t object to me being there, not following rules of separation because there weren’t any such rules. They weren’t disrespectful and respect wasn’t an issue, they were accommodating me because we were all there together for the same reason, and I opened the door to let them in.

The garage was big enough, and there were book shelves on all the walls, filled with lots of good books, and piles and stacks of books with aisles between them.

I saw there were already snacks and drinks laid out inside by the door, so I guess Shirley had already done the preparations as she always did because she had a better sense of how things should go.

The three possible customers who were now four or maybe even five, all about the same age or at least the same generation, were migrating toward the back where the illustrated novels were. I used to call them comic books.

Already some of the kids, they were too old to be called kids but they were still partly like kids, were already reading some of the illustrated novels because that’s what they liked. I was so glad I had collected some for the store we always wanted but never had.

I was turning on the lights, which turned out to be mostly sconces with LED bulbs. We had always used the older incandescent light bulbs because for a long time that’s all we had and we got used to their kind of light which was warmer, but was more expensive because it used more electricity and didn’t last as long as the LED lights which were invented and took over. We mistrusted their whiter sharper harsher light that required getting used to and then we looked at the lower electric bills and got used to them real quick.

And I was at the back of the garage getting comfortable with the lights on and now young people were coming in more and filling it up.

Some of them brought music stuff and were setting it up. Some brought more things to eat and drink and never spilled anything or left even a smudge.

They knew I was there but didn’t notice me. Some of them were reading books and showing them to each other.

Then I noticed there was music and dancing along with the reading and I guess it was a party and that’s why they were there and knew what time to come so it must have happened before like a regular thing and that’s why Shirley had said, “Don’t be late.”

This was all like a dream I was having but also like a real experience, and I half sat half leaned at the back of the garage and people kept coming and the garage was full but not crowded.

And everybody was happy. They had been comfortable before, but now they were happy. They got along with each other and it was a party and I thought, “At last!”

It was something I had always tried to do with my classes when I was teaching school and we worked on projects together and became friends and my students were all so happy together that they wanted to hold that thought and take it out into the big world outside the classroom where suddenly the world got better because they had learned how to be happy together, and I thought, here in my garage which was now serving as the bookstore I always wanted and everybody was getting along with each other no matter who and all happy, and I thought, “It’s working! I’m still teaching, and it’s working!”

And it went on for hours.

My phone rang and it was Shirley saying, “Are you about finished? We were going out for breakfast somewhere where they’re still serving.”

And I said, “Almost. Just a little longer.”

And she said, “I hope they leave some money and buy some books.”

And I said, “I hope so too.”

And it was about three hours.

And the party was winding down as if everybody knew it was time to leave and they helped turn off the lights.

And suddenly I was at the front by the door and people were giving me money. Some were just paying for the party, chipping in, and some bought books, some real books I had collected for the legendary store for people to read, and I was actually impressed by their choices and undercharged them.

I thought again, as I always do, “The young generation is the hope of the future,” and that made me very happy as it always does.

And some were putting coins into my hands, and most were giving me bills, and one girl near the front was still sitting with the books she was buying, don’t ask me how she could be sitting, but I decided it was all a dream after all and in a dream they say all things are possible, and I could see she was an avid reader, as she fished out some coins and put them in my hands with a five dollar bill, and then added another five.

And then everybody had left and I turned out the last light and closed the door.

And I went to the house and was deliriously happy that Shirley was dressed ready and could still walk, and she said, “Let’s go to Everest. We always like their breakfast.”

And I agreed, and these days we only got one to split between us, because the breakfast had three eggs, two for me and one for Shirley because it was enough and that’s all she wanted. And strips of bacon enough for each of us to have at least two, and a pile of cottage potatoes which were always good, even though some other places served hash browns which we loved when they were cooked right, crispy on the outside, but the cottage potatoes were really good too, no complaint, and toast with choices of jelly/jam, plenty of food for both of us, at half the price of two breakfasts.

And Shirley said, when I showed her, “I’m glad we made some money.”

And I thought, yes, it’s almost like our dreamed bookstore after all, and why didn’t we think of this before?

And I was deliriously happy that Shirley was still alive and we could be together, and we made some money enough to make it worthwhile, and if this was a dream, I wanted to keep dreaming, even when I was awake, and Shirley said, “I’m glad you weren’t late.”

And I snuggled her and said, “You told me, don’t be late.”

And I wasn’t.