The Book Is Here!!!

Yesterday, a UPS truck parked in front of my house. When my Muse and I heard the squeak of the breaks and then the distinct sound of the truck's back door being raised, we stared at each other, both frozen with the expectation. Is it really for us? I looked out the front window and saw the UPS guy was indeed walking up our steps.

"It's here!" I screamed and ran for the door. The UPS guy stopped on the first step and stared at me like I might be an ax murderer as I flung open the front door, squealing and jumping. He dropped the package quickly on the porch and stepped back, far away from the crazy woman who had snatched up the package and was hugging it to her breast, saying, "Thank you! Thank you," over and over. He backed away, one hand fearfully waiving, and didn't turn around until he'd reached his truck.

I brought the package inside and shut the door, almost knocking over my muse. "Let's see it!" We ran to the kitchen where I found a knife to slice the tape that locked our book inside. At last, I pulled away the cardboard and revealed our beautiful, thick. glossy, perfect book.

"Is it alright?" my muse whispered, her voice tight with the suspense.

I examined the cover, front and back. Lovely. Then I gently turned to the first page. Good. The second. Nice. I flipped pages more rapidly, feeling the soft, almost dusty texture of the cream paper and smelling the fresh binding. Yes, yes... oh my God, it's beautiful.

"It's perfect," I said.

She grabbed the book from my hand and looked at it, almost drooling with pleasure. "Yes. It's wonderful!" We jumped up and down and squealed some more, which made the poor dog run away and hide in the other room until we stopped making that awful noise. At last, she handed the book back to me and we smiled at each other. "Thank you," she said.

I hugged her tightly, not caring if the snakes bit. "Thank you! This was your crazy idea, you know."

She nodded and grinned. "Glad you listened?"

"Yes. Most defiantly."