i love this

Just a moment ago, I was flipping through a dingy paperback of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, which I bought at the Strand for $0.48. I found the following message scrawled in black ink inside the front cover:

"To Alison - This is not really a Christmas present, just something that you can read while you're waiting for the train. Your real present is far too precious to send through the post so it will have to wait until I see you. Take care, I love you. Graham."

I fear that something terrible must have happened between Alison and Graham. Maybe she dumped him. Maybe he died. Either way, this lovely memento ended up in a cart on the street. So, we can add the Strand's sidewalk sale as another place where relationships, or at least the vestiges of relationships past, go to die.