The final event of How to Plant a Billion Trees’ book tour, at least for this leg, was on Saturday at Weller Books at Trolley Square.
I’ve loved both these places since I was a kid. I also love the Desert Edge pub where, unlike everything else in SLC, the rare roast beef and swiss hasn’t changed. It was there that the power went out. I also got an email from Weller’s. We’d have to cancel the event. I ran down to the bookstore to see what we could do. The door was shut. A sign said, closed do to power outage. I texted Joel Long, “ACK!” He texted back, “Double ACK. I’ll be right there.” I knocked on the door. He asked, “Yes?” I said, “I’m Nicole. Ack! Is there anything we can do? to keep the reading happening. I know a bunch of people are coming. Ack!” He, dear reader, did not compare me to the Aflac duck for speaking in ACKS! He looked at his iPad. He said, “I have square.” “Can we read out in this huge atrium-like foyer to Trolley Square?” He said, “We can.” “Do you have chairs? We can help you set them up.” He said, “We have a whole cart on wheels with chairs!” They rolled the chairs out. They set them up. People started coming in. We needed more chairs.
Joel and I stood on the stairs we’d made a stage and read from our books. Joel read about the Great Salt Lake and the most beautiful night with the most beautiful people and my cousin and his best friend’s dog, who died at twelve weeks because she was born without kidneys.
I read about my dog who died last week and a time where she was very much alive when she and I nearly drowned in a paddle board emergency.
As we read, the Trolley Square tiny train made the rounds (battery operated? Maybe.) The Old Spaghetti Factory rolled carts of pasta through our makeshift stage. I suggested we turn Trolley Square into an arts venue. I yelled out to my sister Valerie Walker, “We could do flash mobs right here in the foyer.” She yelled back, “Right now?” “Well, maybe later!” The power came back on and music blared. Joel and I signed books. My dear mentor and friend Katharine Coles joined a bunch of us for drinks after the reading. We reminisced about the old Trolley Square. Chalk Garden and JMR and Greenstreet. The reading was a bit of a disaster and it was indeed the best reading of my life because it was here at home, because it was with my dear friend Joel, and because my family and friends were there. And because it was at Trolley Square and Weller Books–who I thank forever for making it happen.
(Photos of Joel and me thanks to Sarah Long).
Nicole Walker 