BOOK! A No-name Generic Product

THE LONG DISTANCE READER

It was the third subway stop and there were only two more to go before I was to get off. Around me were hundreds of people reading their newspapers, and doing their magazine crossword puzzles. The only thing I had to do was to watch them. Somehow, I kept forgetting to bring something for myself to read. I usually remembered earlier on in the morning, but I always seemed to forget before I left the building.

Tomorrow will be the day when I will finally bring a book so that I can have something to do. I want to be just like all the other commuters. It's not the same just seeing the backs of other peoples' newspapers, because just as I get interested in an article, a stop comes up and the paper is folded up and carted away under someone's arm.

I am living in a world of other people's media . . but soon it will be different. No longer will I be the only one without something to read. Tomorrow I will enter a new era. I will become a somebody, and some other poor fool will be sitting in the corner watching me be engrossed in my book. Then it will be him, not me, who will feel like an idiot because he forgot to bring his magazine. Oh, the joys of superiority. Good-bye to the days of newspaper backs. Tomorrow I start a new life all on my own!!!