Professor Sea Gull

Second-hand books often have stories of their own. Like the one I'm reading now - Up in the Old Hotel by Joseph Mitchell. It's a series of amazing stories, mostly factual, that he wrote for The New Yorker in the 1930s and 40s. "A" leant it to me. It's 1993. He's sitting on a train, York to Edinburgh. There's this weird geezer reading a book. Weird but well-dressed in an American Psycho kind of way, looks like he's got plenty of money. The weirdo keeps moving from seat to seat throughout the journey, so by the time the train gets to Edinburgh the boy has sat in most of the seats in the carriage, but he won't make eye contact with anybody. The train gets to Edinburgh and A notices the weirdo has got off and left his book behind. A grabs the book, and sees the guy about 20 metres in front of him. He runs after him and yells "excuse me!" and the boy looks back. A is waving the book and jogging towards him. The boy's eyes bug out with fear and he turns around and runs as though a hellhound were on his trail. A shrugs and gives up, and pockets the book, thinking he might as well read it sometime. When he does, it's one of the best things he's ever read.