THE BOOK BINDER

THE BOOK BINDER

The second Friday of February, I decided to pay a visit to the shop of the old  Book Binder, down the block.  I hadn’t been to his shop for years since I ran out of worn out books for him to restore .

The Book Binder’s name was Daniel, and when two heavy volumes of legal notes bound in big rings were dumped into my lap, I thought of Daniel and his vanishing craft.

I suppose you only think of the man’s existence when you need  him.  I needed to have the bulky materials bound in book form and this called for a craftsman of Daniel’s skills.

When I entered the shop I was greeted by the lanky man seated in Daniel’s chair. I told him I needed to see Daniel for some special work. The man with a bit of smile introduced himself as Daniel’s nephew. He said Daniel died three years ago, and he’s minding the shop now.  He said he’d been expecting me to drop by after all these years, because his uncle, had left instructions to give to Judge Drilon the six  volumes of the 1970’s edition of the Reader’s Digest  which remained uncollected.

I was dazed by the surprising news of the Book Binder’s departure,  who, was summoned by the Author of the Book of life. The fact that I did not know of his demise gave a mixed feeling of loss and regret.  I regretted seeing him too late.  I wondered why Daniel never called to remind me of the uncollected books, I still had with him. Perhaps he knew  I would eventually come.

Daniel’s nephew pointed to me the six volumes fully bound with my name embossed on the maroon covers.  He drew out the first volume,  flipped the cover,  picked  the slip of paper, inserted between the cover and  handed it to me. “Uncle left you a note,” he said.

Scrawled in Daniel’s handwriting, the note reads: “P900.00, less payment P600.00, balance, P300.00”.

The last message from the Book Binder,  before leaving the world of the living, reminded me of my unpaid account.

I paid my debt to the dead man, gathered my books, together with the half forgotten memories I had with him.