THE GIRL WITH THE BOOK [M, 5-19-25]

BEYOND WINTER: The Haunting Memories of An Old Man—THE GIRL WITH THE BOOK [M, 5-19-25]

I am haunted in memory by a girl, around ten years old, walking across the school parking lot while I am waiting for my grandchildren. It’s May. She’s wearing a t-shirt and jeans and running shoes. Yes, even in Iron Mountain, Michigan, some May days are like that.

She is reading a book.

Not just reading. She’s being absorbed into the book. She pays no attention to cars or people in the parking lot. She crosses the street without looking either way. She is not just reading the book; she is in the book.

It was around 15 years ago when I actually saw her. Nowadays perhaps it would be a cell phone that has her attention, but I think not. I think she was a reader. She needed a book in her hands. She needed her nose in the book. She needed that mirror.

At first, I was pleased by the sight. She liked that book so much that she couldn’t put it down. Only two minutes out of school. A lot of kids would say they were tired of reading, only wanted to go get a snack or slump in front of a TV or video game, but not her. She was a true reader.

Then, I had a different thought, a disturbing thought. I know that too many kids dread going home after school, because home is not a safe place. I remember two talented young women, teacher friends of my wife. One was a champion gymnast. The other was an expert juggler. As children, the first spent all her time in the gym because she didn’t want to go home. The second went home, but she spent all her time in her room with the door closed, concentrating on juggling.

Was that fifth-grade girl I so admired for her devotion to reading just using that book as an escape? If so, more power to her. I hope she became a writer.

We have different ways of trying to make sense of life. Writing is one of those ways. Reading is another. Not all readers are writers, but all writers are readers.

When we say writer, we usually think of published authors. James Patterson is a writer. But you don’t have to have readers to be a writer. You just need to be willing to let the words help you learn where you belong.

Reading is a mirror. We can see ourselves in what we read. Writing is a two-way mirror. We see ourselves not just by hearing the story but by telling it.

I prayed for that girl that day, as I watched her walking through the parking lot. She had no idea I was there. She was aware only of the book in front of her face. I prayed not only for her, but I said a prayer of thanks for the author of that book. I still pray for that girl, that regardless of the reason she was reading then, that she can read now and find her place in a world that makes sense.

And if she’s writing, too…all the better.

John Robert McFarland

“Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.” Horace Mann