Okay, whose idea was this?

So I was waiting at the printers' shop. I'd tucked a book into my purse, because I always tuck a book in my purse. In the old days, I would do this because I like to read and don't like being bored. These days, I have those reasons plus the fact that, given how many book reviews and researched articles I'm working toward on any given day, any seventeen seconds that I could spend reading rather than staring idly at the back of the person in front of me is seventeen seconds it would be a mortal crime to squander.

I have several internationally themed articles gathered for this about-to-be-born issue that there weren't room for, so there will soon be another international issue of SHM. However, I've had my heart set on the next issue being what I first thought of as the Darwin issue, and then the science issue, and now the critical-thinking issue. This year marks the hundredth anniversary of the publication of The Origin of Species and the hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Darwin's birth, and there've been a slew of books released to honor both occasions. I'd like to review a lot of them.

I also was lucky enough to interview Sid Fleischman, and had a wonderful talk about children's writing, magic, skepticism, and critical thinking. I promised him that this interview would appear in the same issue with all the Darwin articles, and he was pleased.

And I have some products from the always-wonderful Critical Thinking Company to review.

Should keep me busy.

So, with all this in mind, I tucked a mass-market copy of The Origin of Species into my purse as I set out to drop off the order for issue #6. This particular edition of Origin is specifically geared toward teenagers, and I intend to write about how well it manages to make Darwin's writing accessible to young modern scholars.

There was a line, and only one man working at the front. He looked rather harassed. I smiled to let him know that there was no hurry at all so far as I was concerned, and to back up this point, pulled out my book and began to read.

At last I was next in line, and as I glanced idly up to see what kind of order the man before me had, I saw not the usual business cards or convention flyers, but a book called Biblical Counseling.

Now, plenty of people are fine with the Bible and with Darwin. I'm just saying: I've never been at the printers' place long enough to have to wait in line at all, and I've never seen anyone there ordering copies of religious materials, and the juxtaposition was kind of cute, so far as I was concerned. I wasn't quite up to asking what anyone else thought of it.

It was also rather adorable that the people behind the counter don't always understand what exactly it is I'm ordering, because although to me it's a magazine, to them it's not. I've never yet been able to figure out what I ought to call my order. Plus I can never remember the details of what weight of paper I want, saddle stitching or the alternative, and so on. So I've fallen into the habit of bringing along a copy of the last issue, so they can see what they did last time and take it from there.

So as I got to the front of the line, I handed the man behind the counter my disk. Mr. Biblical Counseling was still right there, having stepped aside a bit to make room for me but still getting his order together.

"Hi," I said (not to him). "I'm here to order several hundred copies of SECULAR Homeschooling." And I hauled out the sample issue and waved it around.

I didn't do anything half so loud or obvious. Sure felt like it, though.

The guy behind the counter was having a hard enough day, so when he asked me when I needed the order done by, I didn't say anything about how my heathen readers needed to get their copies before the next Quickening. I just asked how soon he thought he could get it done for me, and he said maybe possibly we really really hope Tuesday.

So here's hoping.

Here's also hoping that same guy isn't picking up his order at the same time, because as my husband pointed out, there's always the danger that our mutual life forces might cancel one another out.

And now I'm going to go clean everything in my apartment that hasn't gotten cleaned this past month because I've been writing, rewriting, editing, proofreading, screaming, and whimpering.