Shannon Garvey

much the same way by the door, but this time he has something in his hands.

And it's a little book wrapped in plastic.

So he walks up to the counter, and he opens it, and he points to the first page and puts the book in my hands.

It was a second edition copy of This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which was his first published novel, and it was signed.

So I'm holding this piece of literary history in my hands, and I'm looking at the signature, and it looks so normal and crazy, and I'm just thanking him for bringing it by.

And I go to give it back to him, but he's taken two steps away from me.

And he says that he wants me to have the book.

And I am sputtering, I'm saying, no, no, no, no, there's no possible way I can accept this.

At the time, I had no idea what something like that could be worth, but I knew for certain it was much, much more than anything that I owned.

And he kind of stops me and he says,

that he was a teacher for a really long time and my passion and enthusiasm for Fitzgerald reminded him of the enthusiasm from his students that really made it worth it for him and it just really brought a lot of light to his life.

So I tried to give the book back one more time.

He doesn't accept and he leaves kind of abruptly and I never saw him again.

So I took the book as the sign that I needed

It has followed me between rundown apartments, sat on the shelf while I've eaten cliff bars for dinner, and worked odd jobs to sustain writing time.

Some of that old romance is definitely gone.

I'll never get bangs again, or be as excited about cleaning tables or mopping floors.

It's not always paradise, but things feel much better on this side of it, pursuing a passion.

Thank you.