And I thought should I get it for him or not? Because I know your stamps are gone, and how much they meant to you, and this might only make you feel the loss more. But then I thought maybe youd enjoy reading the articles, and who knows, you might even want to, I dont know, start another collection, although that might be impossible after having lost everything. Then I thought, oh, for Gods sake, Julia, give the little man two dollars and fifty cents and go home. So I did.
So you did.
Now if it was a really terrible idea, she said, just put it back in the bag it came in and hand it to me, and Ill guarantee you never have to look at it again, and we can both pretend this never happened.
Youre wonderful, he said. Have I ever told you that?
You have, but weve always been upstairs. This is the first time youve told me on the ground floor.
Well, you are.
The presents okay?
Yes, and the futures promising.
I meant
I know what you meant. The present, this present, is more than okay. I dont know if Ill find the articles interesting, I dont know if Ill even want to look at the ads, much less
do anything about them. But all of that is something I ought to find out.
I live another day, she said. Why dont I pour you another cup of coffee, and why dont you take Linns into the den?
He looked at the front page and wondered why he was wasting his time. The lead article was about the high prices realized at an auction in Lucerne of an exceptional collection of stamps and postal history from Imperial Russia, before the 1917 revolution. Less prominent was coverage of the discovery of an error, a recent U.S. coil stamp with one color missing, and an article about reactions in the hobby to the post offices announcement of new stamps planned for the coming year.
The same stories, he thought, week after week and year after year. The details changed, the numbers changed, but the more it all changed, the more it remained the same. He had to check the date of the paper to reassure himself it wasnt an issue hed already seen, months or years before.
The same dim-witted letters to the editor, too, the outpourings of the same self-involved malcontents, this one whining at the cost of keeping up with the huge crop of new issues, the next furious because the idiots at the post office insisted on ruining stamps on his mail by defacing them with heavy cancellations, and others joining in the endless debate on how to interest young boys and girls in the hobby. The only way you could do that, Keller figured, was to find a way to make philately more exciting than video games, and there was no way that would work, not even if you came out with a series of stamps that exploded.
Keller turned next to Kitchen Table Philately, which hed heard was the papers most popular feature. This had always struck Keller as unfathomable, yet he had to admit he found it irresistible himself. Each week, one of two pseudonymous reviewers interchangeable, as far as Keller could determine analyzed in excruciating detail a mixture of stamps hed bought for a small sum, often as little as a dollar, from a Linns advertiser. This week was typical, with Mr. Anonymous grumpy beyond belief because his two-buck assortment of stamps had taken a whole two weeks to reach his mailbox, and unhappy as well because fully 11 percent of the mixtures contents were small definitive stamps rather than the large commemoratives promised. Christ, he thought, give it a rest, will you? If you cant actually manage to get a life, cant you at least pretend youve got one?
And then something curious happened. He read another article, and got caught up in what he was reading. The next thing he knew he was looking at one of the ads, a listing of Latin American issues offered by a worldwide dealer in Escondido with whom Keller had done business over the years. Like most listings, this one consisted of nothing but catalog numbers, indicators of condition, and prices, so it wasnt really something a person could read, but Kellers eyes were drawn to it, and from there he found his way to another ad, and after that he put down the paper and went upstairs for a minute. He came down with his Scott catalog and returned to the den, picked up Linns , and resumed where hed left off.
Nicholas?
He looked up, yanked out of his reverie.
I just wanted to let you know Im going upstairs. Youll turn off the lights when you come up?
He closed the catalog, set the paper aside. Ill come up now.
If youre having fun
Ive got an early day tomorrow, he said. And thats all the fun I can stand for one night.
He showered and brushed his teeth, and she was in bed waiting for him. They made love, and afterward he lay with his eyes open and said, That was very sweet.
For me, too.
Well, just now, sure. I meant bringing me the paper. That was very thoughtful of you.
Im just glad it turned out all right. Im assuming that it did?
I got caught up in it, he said. But do you want to hear something really pathetic? I found an ad with what looked like some interesting material, and I actually went upstairs to get my catalog.