The Long Book Haul

My family moved around a lot. My father, a book dealer, had to move his books whenever we moved. My mother, an antiques dealer, had to move her antiques. Me, as a youngster, a collector of bottle caps and TV Guides, had to move my stash as well. My sisters, keepers of records, clothes, and cats, had to move their stuff, too.

Of all of us, my dad had it the hardest. With his sheer tonnage of books, he was constantly in a state of packing and unpacking boxes of books. He had a series of shelves which could be broken down and reconstituted in a matter of hours. He had this system down. But the actual moving of books was by far the most trying task due to their weight and volume.

Here I present to you an original copy of my father's short short on the chaos and mania he felt moving his books from New Jersey back to Cape Cod in the late '60s. I give you, The Long Book Haul.