Where Will They Go Now?

By Susan and Terry Whittaker of Viewpoint Books in Columbus, Indiana

Bookstores attract a wide range of people, but often seem to be an especially welcoming place to those labeled eccentrics or misfits.

The first time I saw D. he was standing several steps back from the counter of my bookstore waiting patiently until I was free before speaking to me. I could tell immediately that he was heavily medicated; he shuffled as he moved up to speak with me, and slurred his words. He was unkempt and poorly groomed.

“Sir, what is your name sir?” he asked. I told him my full name but he addressed me as Mr. Whittaker even when I told him to call me Terry. He would always address me as Mr. Whittaker.

 D seemed almost compulsively polite. If another customer approached during our talks he would invariably say something like, “Please wait on them; I have all day.”

He told me that he was interested in completing his collection of the Nobel Lecture Series in physics and mathematics. He told me his father had been a professor at the University of Chicago in the 1950s and he had met some of the great mathematicians and physicists of that era.

I told him I would be happy to search for what he needed and he said he would give me a list of the books in the series that he had. Several days later he returned with a five page handwritten list. The lettering was small, meticulous and angled. I would receive many such lists over the years. He always began the notes with, “Dear Mr. Proprietor.”

I would often see him sitting alone at a table outside our store writing furiously and talking to himself while poring over pages of mathematical formulae. Many people gave him wide berth reacting to his peculiar behavior, and teens would often laugh as he passed by. 

Over the course of 15 years or so, D was a fixture in our store. Sometimes we wouldn’t see him for months which usually meant that he was hospitalized due to what we assumed was schizophrenia. He would always reappear. All of the staff knew D by name and always treated him with utmost respect. He was a kind and gentle soul, and we always tried to return the kindness.

He had good days and bad. One day he came into the store and was as coherent and energized as I had ever seen him. He told me he was feeling wonderful that day and asked if I would send a letter to the Nobel committee recommending him for the prize in physics. I told him that I would be happy to although I doubted my name would add much stature to his effort. He assured me that it would.

I had an interest in science as a layperson and read often on the subject. Occasionally D would comment on some area that interested me and I would offer some thought that would begin a conversation. These soon turned into a one-person dialogue as his knowledge was so far beyond mine that I was soon lost. I always felt that he thought I knew more than I did.

He often told me that he planned to leave his large collection of physics texts to me, and I thanked him but suggested he might look for an institution where they would be better appreciated and understood. He loved his books so, and he wanted them to belong to someone who also loved books.

D was younger that I but did not live to old age. He died in his apartment surrounded by his books. I knew his social services caseworker, and he told me that when D became very ill and knew he was dying, he asked to have as many of his books moved into his home (there were so many that most were in storage) as could fit.

After he died, I sent a letter to his surviving sister who lived in another state telling her that those of us in the bookstore felt great affection for D and would miss him. I received a kind reply from her, telling me how much it meant to her to know that there were people who accepted her brother and thought well of him. She found a welcoming home for all D’s books in a college near her home and donated them all to the school.

Every bookstore has customers like D. With a number of bookstores closing in recent years, I wonder where the D’s of this world go now for the acceptance they found in our stores.  I hope they have found other places.