Early in Quiet Miracles, after Jake walks past the shop without coming in, Jayson reaches beneath the register for a small black notebook. The leather is cracked at the spine. He turns to a section at the back that he has never shown anyone, and he writes the same words he has written every day for three years:
“Another day. Chair’s still open.”
That line is the whole book in five words. Jayson can’t make Jake sit down. He can’t fix what grief has done. What he can do is keep the chair open, and write it down, every day, so that he doesn’t stop.
Watch the notebook as you read. Most chapters end with a line or two from it. After Lucia’s visit, Jayson writes just one:
“Lucia. The chair didn’t save her. But it might have reminded her she’s not invisible.”
He doesn’t write what he did. He writes what the person needed. I think that’s the difference between keeping a record and keeping watch.
So here is this week’s question. If you kept a notebook like Jayson’s, what would you have written about someone you saw this week?
Tell us in the comments. I read every one.
Quiet Miracles is October’s free audiobook for Glimpse Circle members. It’s free: get the book.
