Page 8 of The Bookshop of Forbidden Books

“Not trying to sleep with me on the first night.”

“Mathilde, I have no intention of sleeping with you.”

“My grandmother used to say, ‘Never spit in a vase, you might have to drink from it someday.’”

Mitch stared at her. “What on earth made your grandmother say that?”

“Oh, probably seeing me spit in a vase. So, are you seeing anyone?”

“Mathilde. Can I please talk to you about this book? Yes or no.”

“Yes or no would work just fine for my question too.”

“No!”

“In that case, tell me – what’s the big mystery with this book? I’m sure it’s riveting.” Mathilde bit her lip seductively as she said it. Mitch couldn’t tell if she was being sarcastic.

“At first,” he said, “I really believed it would just be a passing thing. You know, a moment of insanity. That reason would reassert itself soon enough.”

“Is that a quote from the book?”

“See,” he went on, unfazed, “when the government banned abortion, I thought women would take to the streets.”

“We did.”

“Not enough of you.”

“And where were you when the police came to pepper-spray us?”

“At home,” Mitch admitted.

“Oh, okay, then. I was afraid for a moment you were about to lecture me.”

“On the contrary. And that’s exactly why we’re here together tonight.”

“So far, the only thing I can see bringing us together is this amazing food. Your point, I’m not seeing at all.”

“When they changed the school curriculum to comply with government rhetoric, the students occupied high schools and universities. Once again, the police came to beat them and drive them out, and I stayed at home. Then they arrested the dissenters, the journalists who refused to follow suit, attorneys protesting the appointment of—”

“Of loyalist puppets. Let’s call it like it is. Let me guess – you didn’t do anything then, either?”

“I signed petitions.”

“Eases the conscience, but doesn’t actually accomplish anything.”

“Agreed.”

“And you decided I was the right person to unload your guilty conscience onto?”

“You don’t strike me as the right person for that sort of thing, Mathilde.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Have you, by any chance, heard of House Bill 1467?”

“No, but something tells me I’m about to.”

“I’m the one in the line of fire now. They’ve banned more than a thousand books. The list grows every day.”