From Browsers Bookshop in Olympia, WA:
This week, we crossed an important, if not disgusting, milestone at Browsers. In twelve years of owning a bookstore and a building in downtown Olympia, we have had our first rodent encounter. I’m also pleased to report that it has come to a satisfactory conclusion. It appears that a solitary male roof rat squeezed under our front door and decided it was a nice place to stay. During the day, it made its home in a hole directly under my desk. I had no chill about this fact. At night, the rat did all its favorite things downstairs in the store. Two shoutouts: one to bookseller Julie, who was at the store early on Tuesday morning to put out this week’s new books, and who shooed the rat into the bathroom with a broom, where he took shelter in a small box with a trap inside. Also, to Joe at Venables Pest Management. He was the kindest, most helpful person we could have hoped to meet during this time.
I debated whether to share this because not everyone wants to hear about a rat in a bookstore, but I decided to, since this is a newsletter about small business, and we’re coming up on a big, celebratory day. Both life and small business are very much like having a rat visitor, aren’t they? In the span of one week, there are a dizzying array of occurrences: a rat, a big party, appreciation for people who are good at what they do, ruined beanies and t-shirts thanks to the rat, waking up at 3:00 AM worrying about the rat chewing through all the computer cords in the store, beautiful babies coming in with their tired parents, plans to eat around a table, getting all the details in order for our reading retreat next weekend, lunch with a friend. It’s all here. I’m so grateful I get to do this work. Thank you for supporting Browsers and independent bookstores everywhere. We so appreciate our readers. If you’re around this weekend, we’d love to see you in our rodent-free bookstore!
A rat-tastic reading list:
Ratty by Susanne Selfors
Ratnip: Lost and Found in the City by Cam Higgins
We Could Be Rats by Emily Austin
What other books with rats would you include in ratty book stack?
