A Reading Encounter

I was hanging out at Pizza Boli's takeout Friday night, waiting for my order while reading a few pages of A Good and Happy Child. I was pretty absorbed in the book, so when I heard someone say, "You brought a book to read in here?", I was a little surprised.

I didn't know the guy, had never seen him before. He wore a faded cap, a paint-spattered shirt and cutoffs. He seemed friendly enough. "Yeah," I said, "it's really good." I gave him the premise of the book and he began to frown a little. Then he leaned closer.

"Ya know what?" he said. "I'm fifty years old and just a few months ago, I'd never read a book in my entire life."

I didn't know if he'd just learned how to read or if he just didn't enjoy it or what. So I asked him "What was the book?"

"The Da Vinci Code," he said.

"What did you think?" I said.

"I liked it," he said. "It was sorta tough with all those Italian names and all, but I stuck with it and I'm glad I did. It was a whole lot better than the movie."

We kept talking. I could tell the guy was really excited about finishing the book and I told him he should be. He told me his 14-year-old daughter reads all the time. I could tell that at one time it must have hurt him that he couldn't share in her enjoyment of reading. But he read the book and you could see something in his face, a sparkle in his eyes like he'd found something he hadn't known he'd ever missed. I silently thanked God for Dan Brown, at least in this case.

I certainly wanted him to keep his reading going, so I said. "So what do you want to read next?"

He looked a little uncomfortable, shrugging his shoulders. "Don't know. Something not too hard."

"Well," I said, "what kind of movies do you like?" I figured if he likes action movies, that would open up several authors that I might suggest, if he likes horror, another set of authors, etc.

"I watch just about anything," he said. So then I described a few types of books he could read: action, horror, mystery, etc., and named a few authors.

"I'll never remember all that," he said.

I asked him if he was familiar with the library and he said he knew where it was. "Great," I said, "just go to the Information Desk and tell them you read The Da Vinci Code and really liked it. Ask them what else you might like."

But I could tell he'd be too embarrassed or intimidated for that. "Look, don't worry about that," I told him. "They do stuff like that all the time. They'll be glad to help you."

The guy smiled. "I guess I just want to walk in there and go right to the book I want to read. It doesn't work that way, does it?"

"Well, not at first, but they can point you in the right direction. Really, they'd be glad to help you." (If the library had been open, I'd have gone with him myself.)

My pizza was ready, but I wasn't through with this guy. "So do you think you'll go?" I asked.

He seemed very reluctant to talk about it further, even changing the subject before getting his own order. I shook the guy's hand and told him again, "Really, the people at the library would be glad to help you. Give it a shot. Don't stop now."

I left, wishing that I'd had some books in the back of my car, which I usually do (books to donate to the Goodwill and Salvation Army). Who knows if I'll run into the guy again, but I'm going to look for some books that I think he might like and could read pretty easily. Stranger things have happened.

Something about the encounter has stuck with me ever since it happened. It's sort of like a little voice said to me, "What just happened with that guy....That's important. Don't ignore it."

I don't know what it means. Maybe it's a little nudge that I should be teaching adults how to read, or maybe I should do something to put more books in the hands of people, or maybe I should do something to promote literacy. A career change, maybe?

Again, I don't know. But it's something I want to find out.