A Book Nerd's Guide to Falling in Love

Chapter 14: The Farmer's Market

Littleton was a small town, but it had everything its population needed to survive. Plenty of its produce was sold in Littleton Farmer's Market--an open field where vendors put up stalls. It was their last month before winter started. Though it was cold outside, the townsfolks still preferred coming here to buy their vegetable stocks instead of going to the grocery stores.

My mother preferred coming here too, from June to the last day of October. And I didn't mind accompanying her after school. The market didn't only sell farmers' products; some stalls offered trinkets and all sorts of stuff, too. My favorite was the one that sold second-hand books.

"Mom, I'm just going to look around," I told my mother while she checked on some fruits.

She glanced at me. "Okay, balik ka agad. We won't be long." Balik ka agad meant come back soon. Then, she returned to the stall and bargained with the seller.

I made my way through the market and found the shelves of books wrapped in plastic so they didn't get damaged by the humid chill of the day.

"Hello." The vendor, a familiar lady with graying hair, smiled at me. "You've come back to buy another book?" she asked.

I smiled in return. The last time I checked out this stand, I bought an enjoyable novella that took only an hour to read. "I hope so," I nodded and began to browse the books.

I found the Fantasy and SciFi novels. It wasn't an extensive selection, but there's usually treasure to be discovered from the lady's collection of pre-loved stories. My eyes glazed over the colorful spines--most of the titles I already owned.

Japanese letters caught my attention, and I stopped and paused at one with a blue spine. "Tokyo Sympathy Tower by Rie Qudan?" I read. I had never heard of that one before.

Reaching out, I pulled it off the shelf and studied its front cover, a 90s-looking digital art of square buildings.

"Oh, that one is a new release for its English translation. I think the previous owner didn't read it. So, it's good as new," the vendor told me.

"Huh," I said, intrigued as I flipped the novel to its back and read the blurb. It was a SciFi story about an architect who designed a prison tower for criminal rehabilitation. The story was set in the near future, where the architect was friends with an AI Chatbot. "Interesting. I've never read a Japanese novel before."

"I think you'll like it," the vendor said, obviously trying to make a sale, but I thought she was right.

My book impulse buying overcame me. "I'll take it," I said, turning to her.

"Great! I'll ring you up." The vendor grinned and went straight to her cash register.

After paying for the book, I headed back to the vegetable section to find my mother. A satisfied smile boated my lips as I carried my new book in a paper bag.

Passing stalls, I found my way to the produce section but couldn't see where my mother had gone. I turned around, wondering if she had left me. I pulled out my phone to check for a text, but there was none.

"It's like she's in love with books. It happened overnight." My ears caught on to a woman's voice. "She told me she read that Romance novel until four in the morning. Didn't sleep."

I turned and saw two women standing in the field. I was only curious because I heard books, but I was surprised when the other lady spoke next.

"I think that red-bound book made her fall in love with reading," the shorter lady among them said.

Without meaning to, I jumped into their conversation. "Excuse me," I said as I walked up to them. "Are you talking about a red leather-bound book?"

They turned in my direction, both middle-aged, a few years older than my mother.