In anticipation of the midnight release party that every book store in the universe will have upon the arrival of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, my sainted spouse was put in charge of decorating her store’s front window for it. Given a budget that wouldn’t even buy a small bag of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans, she still wanted to make it something special. So, she spent this past weekend scouring stores for odd trinkets and begging others to let her borrow stuff. So, she’s got potion bottles and a crystal ball and various other Potteresque items on display.
The piece de resistance became a set of the fictional books within the Harry Potter series. She covered old books (like a copy of our yellow pages for “Hogwarts: A History”) with cardboard covers, spray-painted them solid colors, then hand-painted titles and gold filigree on them.
Yes, she is nuts.
But wait. There’s more.
As with the last time, the wife and youngest muggle child will be participating as Professor Flossy Slapcabbage and random Hogwarts student (yes, in costume). Well, guess who else got roped into this extravaganza? Yep. I don’t exactly know what I’m going to be, but I will be reading the first chapter of the book to the throngs of kidlets and grown-up kidlets waiting to get their paws on the magical tome.
Now, since 3-of-4 of us are participating, what say we force Whiny to play dress up, too?
Oh! I almost forgot! Since her store is in a mall and right next to the movie theater, do you think the crowds might be swelled by the release of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that same night?
Nah. Me neither.
