The Reviewer

It had gone well, she thought as she wrapped up her first book signing. She had been worried as it was intimidating to stand up infront of a load of strangers and read your works. You had to believe that they liked you or why would they be there?

"I think you've sold 50 copies tonight," the bookshop owner, Annie said warmly.

50 copies! A boxful! As a start, she was ecstatic, gratified even. And the buyers had been such lovely people. There had been that one odd little man who had presented her with a book which wasn't her own - had she read it, she'd thought? - but she had been so caught up in the excitement of the evening that she hadn't given it much head room until now. He'd been a bit glarey too, intensely staring at her while she'd read but she'd deliberately kept her expression neutral and her eyes away from contact. Strange. She hoped he wasn't a stalker.

As she headed out, waving to Annie and thanking her, the bell on the door rang and consolidated her mood with its tinkling. She did a little run on the spot and punched the air infront of her with unbridled joy.

What should she do to celebrate? As she headed along the pavement to her car, thinking of popping corks and dreaming of the Hay Literary Festival and movie spin-offs, she could see the poster advertising her reading. She could also smell the meaty potent aroma of dog mess and saw the deep imprint of a ridged sole moulded in a caramel canine expulsion.

Oh, she thought. They'll need a bamboo skewer and a toothbrush to deal with that. And lots of hot soapy water.

And then, she noticed her poster had been graffitied.

Rather than being shocked, she approached her face and marvelled at how she actually looked quite handsome with a moustache. She was glad that the artist had chosen a more flamboyant form with body and wonderful curlicues at the tips and not something Hitler-esque.

She looked left. She looked right. Quickly, she peeled the poster and tucked it into her bag.

The artist would have been furious!

***

366 words

A sequel to yesterday's tale which you can read here:

And a big thank you to Hannah Moore, a wonderful and versatile writer who made a comment on this piece about what the reviewer would do, and John Cox, another talented storyteller who supported Hannah's suggestion. I decided to run with it.

Thank you, you two.

You can read their glorious creations here:

Thanks for stopping by! If you do read this, please do leave a comment as I love to interact with my readers.

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