john goodwin

I don't know you.

I do know where you live—Flagstaff, AZ—and that you rode the bus around the town, at least for the month of July, last year—number 11298.

I found your bus pass in the Flagstaff Bookmans, nestled in Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God," which I bought. I chose that book from several alternative versions because you humanized it, gave it a previous owner, a history.

Did you finish it? I don't think you did. If you're like me—which I think you are—you never put a bookmark back into a finished book. It's a kind of neurosis; a completed book doesn't need a bookmark.

So you left your bus pass in the book when you sold it. Did you mean to leave it? Maybe you simply forgot about it; or maybe you remembered, just as you were handing the book to the clerk behind the counter. You remembered but were too rushed to retrieve it. What good is an expired bus pass? It's not worth worrying about, not worth bothering anyone.

You should have finished the book, John. The final portion was the best. Janie finally finds a husband worth standing behind—third time's the charm, you know? There was a huricane. I think you would have like it.

Thanks for the recommendation, though; indirect as it was. Also, I hope you've bought a car. Taking the bus sucks, expecially in winter in Flagstaff.