O Fortuna

[flemmings]

I'm at work yesterday, pulled in at no notice because someone didn't show up for a shift, unfortunately on a morning when the night before I'd thought Oh I'm too tired to shower now, I'll do it in the morning. I have a dentist's appointment in the afternoon and it's cloudy and lowering and stuffy and I think I forgot to put deodorant on even as I scrambled into my clothes. One staff is sick and wants to go home and two of the darlings are whining non-stop from tiredness and one is the sweet blue-eyed blinker who turns banshee the minute you walk into the naproom with her.

At this moment the pre-school staff sticks her head in the door, puts a bag on the counter and says 'I finally remembered to bring it.'

A hardcover book. Which will be the hardcover copy of Nation that her die-hard Pratchett fangirl of a daughter (has both the American and British editions of all his works) but naturally bought the minute it was out, and that I-- jokingly, truly-- had said So when's S gonna lend me her copy of the latest Pratchett?

At which point blue sky opens up to the west, I take the banshee into the naproom and baby-massage her till she falls whimpering asleep, give other blue-eyed whiner a bottle and she passes out on my shoulder (and both then sleep two hours plus.) The other short-notice replacement person appears so I can zoom home and wash; thinking I'll be late I arrive twenty minutes early at the dentist's; and the technician tells me my gums are in much much better shape, keep up the good work. My bank account has $200 more than I thought it did, my Hundred Demons 17 is in the mail, I have mooched two books and one of them is an unread Discworld, and all's well with the world.

The only problem is, when I get the bag home and open it, it's not Nation. It's Making Money. Latest Pratchett, last Pratchett. There's a difference, but only a fan would know.

Comments

[kazeko.livejournal.com]

I kind of mooch every single Pratchett from my country's national library. I do plan however that once i start working to collect the whole series!

Pratchett is <3.

[doire]

When we had had a really hard morning teaching our habit was to eat lots of garlic bread - a fine comfort food but also good for discouraging over active students.

We also had a communal deodorant spray kept for those rushed mornings when we didn't want to put them off.

[incandescens]

Even if it had been the latest Pratchett, Nation (unless they've retitled it across the Pond?), that's not Discworld, alas.

But still. Good turnaround generally!

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

I know, Nation's not Discworld, but very well spoken of anyway.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

I can sometimes borrow deodorant from another staff who keeps it handy, but I have the nose to end all noses and scented deodorant makes me feel a little sick to my stomach. I find it better to use some of the hand sanitizer I have in my backpack, which smells of nothing much but alcohol.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

First the money to buy the books. Then the money to rent a place big enough to keep the books. Never-ending vicious cycle, it is.

[purpleicicles.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, never read Nation, but courtesy of my massive Discworld collection I'm a major fan - I'll have to go find a copy!

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

Unless S does indeed come through, I'll probably wait for the paperback.