A Short Interlude

I was at our local independent bookstore the other day, perusing the YA stacks, when a teenaged couple stopped by.* The girl marched right up to the staff picks on the left, grabbed a book, and presented it to the boy. 

"That was fast," the boy said. 

"I know this place like the back of my hand," the girl announced confidently. 

I gave them some privacy and moved away with a little smile on my face. In the 1980s I would have said that about our local bookstore just a 5 minute bike ride away.

You know, I don't think reading is dead just yet. 

I've experienced this same feeling lately, watching teenage gamers at my local game store, or even watching YouTube videos put out by younger people so obviously invested in reading or tabletop gaming. When you need every bit of positivity a lot of these days, I take some comfort in that the next generation of geeks is ready to shoulder the load and teach the generation after them to love these pastimes. 

*I only got a cursory glance at them, so I couldn't tell if they were high school or college age for certain, but my guess was they were about 16 years old. Maybe 17.