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Among the
hardy travelers who have spent decades exploring
the vast reaches of the BTB&T rumors, have
begun to circulate that there may exist a heretofore
undiscovered region called 'Tomes' – and
some claim to have actually made their way there,
if only for a few fleeting and highly frustrating
moments.
Those who support the rumor base their surmise
on the obvious fact that an establishment called
'Booktown Books & Tomes' must contain some
area - a room, a building, a mountain peak or
even a desert - that corresponds to the name 'Tomes'.
The more skeptical point out that 'Tomes' simply
a synonym - albeit a highly specialized one -
for 'books' and that it would have been impossible
for them to overlook such a region in their many
exhaustive visits. When they are reminded that
many of them have never been ascended, the 'Lost
Horse' eyrie in the heart of BTB&T, they stammer,
shuffle their feet and edge toward Jason's StudioCafe.
Others remind us that there once existed - indeed
still exists - an establishment called 'Tomes'
which seems to have dealt in books (or 'Tomes')
inside Sierra Mountain Coffee Roasters at 671
Maltman Drive-right next to the former location
of Booktown Books! They claim that 'Tomes' must
still be there and that the intrepid adventurers
who seek to find it inside BTB&T are simply
but extravagantly wasting their time. They also
point out that the supposed ruler of 'Tomes',
variously named 'Tombs', 'tomb' or 'Tomes' himself,
is clearly a figure of myth, closer to the legendary
Prester John of the late middle ages than to any
possible modern bookseller.
The travelers who claim to have actually reached
the 'Tomes' inside BTB&T present themselves
as both exhilarated and embarrassed, at times
almost ashamed. They insist that they have spent
time in what they describe as paradise - 'like
a corner of the Library of Congress', one said;
'like my mothers lap', another insisted - but
they remain unclear exactly how they made their
way there or how they spent their time one they
arrived. 'I dunno', one said; 'I got there on
13 April and now they tell me it's July'.
In addition to their own, highly questionable
'experiences', they claim to have brought back
maps - or at least rough sketches - that detail
all the wonders to be encountered in 'Tomes',
which supposedly lurks behind the high red wall
just west of both entrances of BTB&T. If
these are to be believed and they surely aren't,
they are so sophomoric, so juvenile in fact
that they could hardly derive from a responsible
bookseller.
The verdict is still out. As new adventurers throng
through BTB&T, We respectfully ask that they
devote some of their precious attention to this
contentious question. Does 'Tomes' really exist
or is it merely the figment of a few overheated
imaginations? We will present the evidence to
you as it arises. The final judgment remains with
you. |
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| This talisman hangs
above one of the vaults at the west end of BTB&T
which some think may lead to Tomes'. It appears
to offer protection against the evil eye. |
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| image 2 |
| Many travelers have reached
this rest stop in the west end of BTB&T. Most
of them were concerned with other matters and
cannot vouch whether they actually penetrated
into the depths of 'Tomes' or merely went down
the hall. |
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