Chapter 5 Chapter 4 The Feeling of the World

Maya usually wakes up before sunrise, when only AJ can be heard snoring in the other room.Maya, in her one-piece pajamas, walks softly across the living room to AJ's bedroom.She started by whispering, "Daddy, Daddy." If it didn't work, she called him by his name; if it didn't work, she called his name aloud; She would rather not have this kind of mischief.Today, as soon as she got to the point of speaking, he woke up. "Wake up," she said, "downstairs." Downstairs is Maya's favorite place to go, because downstairs is the bookstore, and the bookstore is the best place in the world.

"Pants," AJ mutters. "Coffee." His mouth smells like socks wet with snow. There are sixteen steps down to the bookstore.Maya sat there and slid down one step at a time because her legs were too short to walk confidently down one step at a time.She staggered past the bookstore, past the unpainted books, past the greeting cards.Her hand slid over the magazines and turned the bookmark carousel around.Good morning, Magazine!Good morning, bookmark!Good morning, Book!Good morning, Bookstore! The bookstore had wooden wainscoting on the walls, just up to her head height, but beyond that was blue wallpaper.Maya couldn't touch the wallpaper unless she was standing on a chair.There was an uneven, swirling pattern on the wallpaper, and she felt comfortable rubbing her face against it.Then one day she read the word "brocade" in the book, and she thought: Yes, of course it should be called that.In contrast, the word "wainscoting" is extremely disappointing.

The bookstore is fifteen mayas wide and twenty mayas long.She knows because she once spent an afternoon measuring it by lying down indoors again and again.Luckily there were no more than thirty mayas, because she could only count to thirty that day. From her vantage point on the floor, the people are the shoes.Sandals in summer and leather boots in winter.Molly Kroc sometimes wears knee-high red leather boots. AJ is wearing black sneakers with a white toe.Lambiase wore round-toed shoes, and Ismay wore flat heels that alternated between insects and jewels.Daniel Parrish wore brown loafers with a penny in them.

Just before the bookstore opened at ten o'clock in the morning, she arrived at her destination, and the picture books were all in that row. When Maya gets a book, she smells it first.She tore off the cover of the book and held it up to her face, letting the cardboard cover her ears.Typical smells of a book are: Papa's soap, grass, sea, kitchen table, and cheese. She studied the drawings, trying to make up stories out of them.It was tiring work, but even at three she knew the metaphors.For example, animals in picture books are not always animals, they sometimes represent parents and children.A bear in a tie could be dad, and a bear in a blonde wig could be mom.You can learn a lot about a story from pictures, but sometimes pictures can mislead you.She prefers to read.

She can read seven books in a morning if there is no interruption, but there is always an interruption.However, Maya likes customers most of the time and tries to be polite to them.She understood the business she and AJ were in.She was sure to thrust a book into the children's hands when they came into her row.The kids wandered over to the cash register, and it often happened that the accompanying guardian would buy the book the kid was holding. "Oh my God, did you choose that book yourself?" the parent or mother present will ask. At one point, AJ was asked if Maya was his child. “You both have dark skin, but not the same shade,” Maya remembered because AJ answered in a tone she had never heard him use to a customer.

"What is the same black?" AJ asked. "I, I didn't mean to offend you," the man said, and the one in the flip flops backed to the door, walked away without buying a book. What is "same black"?She looked at her hands, wondering. These are some other things she wants to know: How to learn to read? Why do adults like books without pictures? Will daddy die? What's for lunch? Lunch started at about one o'clock and was bought from the sandwich shop.She ordered grilled cheese and AJ ordered a turkey sandwich.She likes going to the sandwich shop, but she's always holding AJ's hand, and she doesn't want to be left at the sandwich shop.

In the afternoon, she reviews books by drawing pictures.An apple means the book smells okay; a piece of cheese means the book smells bad; a self-portrait means she likes the pictures in it.She signed these book reports "Maya" and gave them to AJ for review. She likes to write her own name. "Maya". She knew her surname was Fikri, but she didn't know how to write it yet. Sometimes, after customers and clerks have left, she feels like she and AJ are alone in the world.No one else is as real as he, other people are just different shoes for different seasons, that's all. AJ can touch the wallpaper without standing on a chair, can operate the cash register while talking on the phone, can lift heavy boxes of books above his head, can use words that are too long for her to believe, he knows everything, Know everything.Who can compare with AJ Fikry?

She almost never thinks about her mother. She knew her mother was dead, and she also knew that death meant falling asleep and never waking up.She felt sorry for her mom, because people who don't wake up can't go downstairs to the bookstore in the morning. Maya knew her mother had left her at Island Books, but maybe that happened to every kid at a certain age.Some children were left in shoe stores, others in toy stores, and others in sandwich shops.Your whole life depends on what store you are left in.She didn't want to live in a sandwich shop. Later, when she was a little older, she would think of her mom more.

In the evening, AJ changed her shoes and put her in the stroller.The car is a little tight to get in, but she likes getting out, so she tries not to complain.She loves hearing AJ breathe and seeing the world fly by.Sometimes he sang, sometimes he told her stories.He told her he once had a book called Timur, which was worth as much as all the books in the bookstore combined. "Tamerlane," she said, loving the mystery and the musicality of those syllables. "That's how you got your middle name." At night, AJ puts her to bed and tucks her in.Although she was very tired, she didn't want to sleep yet. AJ's best way to get her to sleep is to tell her a story. "Which story?" he asked.

He keeps nagging her not to pick The Monster Is at the End, so she picks Hats for Sale to please him. She had heard the story before, but couldn't understand it.The story is about a man who sold colorful hats. He took a nap, and the hats were all stolen by monkeys.She hoped this never happened to AJ. Maya frowned, clutching AJ's arm tightly. "What's wrong?" AJ asked. What does a monkey want a hat for?Maya wondered.Monkeys are animals.Maybe like the wig-wearing bear is the mother, the monkey represents something else, but what...?She has ideas, but can't speak them.

"Read," she said. Sometimes AJ would have a lady come to the bookstore and read aloud to Maya and the other kids.The woman gestures, has a lot of expression on her face, and cadences her voice for dramatic effect.Maya wants to tell her to relax.She was used to AJ's way of reading—soft and low.She is used to him. AJ reads: "...on top, a stack of red hats." The picture shows a man wearing many brightly colored hats. Maya held down AJ's hand and told him not to turn the page yet.She glanced at the picture, then at the page, then at the picture.Suddenly she understood that "red" was "red," just as she knew her name was Maya, AJ Fikri was her dad, and the best place in the world was Kojima Books. "What's wrong?" he asked. "Red," she said.She took his hand and pulled it towards the word.