TheBanyanTree: Potter

[John]

The last Harry Potter book went on sale last night, at 12:01 AM, Saturday. I didn't want to buy one myself, but thought it might be interesting to stop by the local bookstore and see the fans show up in their costumes. Several bookstores had been advertising their parties for the event. The Princess and I went to a dinky, hole-in-the-wall type bookstore, that is located in a small strip shopping center.  When we drove up, the parking lot was well filled, and about thirty people were milling around outside on the sidewalk. Another twenty or so were inside the store listening to folks making speeches and celebrating their good fortune to be near the front of the line. Outside, several kids were dressed as Harry Potter, or Hermione, or other characters. About five adults were wearing costumes of Hagrid, or witches, and the guy with the funny eyeball. A man in a cape was sitting at a card table with apothecary bottles containing various colored liquids and powders, and a smoking cauldron (dry ice in water). He was the potions master. I asked if he had anything to turn me into a frog. 

      "No, sorry," he said.

      "Oh, rats," I replied.

      "I don't have anything to change you into a rat, either," he remarked.

 

    At the stroke of 12:01, a cheer went up, and the books went on sale. People surged into the store to claim their prizes. Everyone was very polite and well behaved. 

 

    The Princess and I wanted to go past one of the larger bookstores in town and see how they were doing. We drove over to the main mall where there is an outlying Barnes and Noble store, with a Books-A-Million across the highway. Both stores have large parking lots, which they share with other major stores like TJMaxx, Best Buy, and Lowes. The parking lots were filled to overflowing, and more parked cars clogged the lots of the neighboring stores. We decided not to try joining the throngs in the parking lots, since mob scenes are not our style. But we were happy that the Potter fans were enjoying themselves. We learned last night that the small bookstore was the place to get your copy with the least hassle.  

 

    I think Harry Potter has made another success.

 

Later, John.