So last night I was book-shopping on B&N.com. I have a gift card in my wallet. It’s been there quite a while. I was feeling in the mood for another Updike novel, one they don’t have at the local library. Why spend 50 cents to have one shipped from another branch, when for zippo – on the gift card – I can own it free and clear, right?

Right. And I noticed that Updike won the Pulitzer for Rabbit is Rich, about 20 years ago. I never read that one. But I have far too many books to keep in the bookcases in my study, and I remembered that boxed up somewhere in the closet, I’ve got an old Updike paperback which I never read. Wonder which one that is …

Today I went into the closet, where there are several large, heavy boxes of books on high shelves, above my head. This is going to be a pain in the ass; I’ll be lucky if I don’t sustain moderate injuries. But jammed between the boxes, I see the bottom edge of one paperback. I can get to it easily,just wiggle it out and see what it is … Yep, you guessed it: Rabbit is Rich by John Updike.

I don’t remember ever reading it, but on the title pages there’s a note in my handwriting — dated August 29 1985 — “We have no reason to be nice on the way up, because we won’t be coming back down.” Hmm. This is very interesting. A message from myself, across time and space, referring to the themes of the novel and the place where one day it would be found again.

Strange but true.

And the good thing is, I spent nothing of my something, which cost me nothing, so I still have that for something else, someday. Sweet.