Guest writersAbout twenty years ago I was walking through the city center of Arnhem one afternoon and came across the Van Hoorn antique store. First I browsed the children’s books for a while and eventually I ended up at the ‘Arnhem and surroundings’ shelf.
Looking further on the shelf I saw the boys’ book The walking tricolor. I have had that same book for a number of years now. It is about three boys, one with red hair, one with white-blonde hair and one (from the West Indies) with blue (!) hair. I won’t spoil the story herebut it takes place near Doetinchem, and there is a death!
Of course I found it strange that that book was not on the children’s books shelf, but on the Arnhem and surrounding areas. Slowly but surely I got close to the front door of the business again. I messed around there some more in the ramsj books, which were on a table at the front.
Two ladies entered the store and told the storekeeper that their father had only a short time to live and that he still wanted to read a boys’ book from the past and that they had been looking for months to see if he had that book.
The book was called: The walking tricolor. What!, The walking tricolor? My heart rate dropped. The shopkeeper suggested that they should look at the boys’ books. Fortunately, once I recovered, I knew better and was able to point out the book to them.
When I got home I thought it was fine a remarkable combination of coincidences. I was there at that time, the book was on another shelf, I knew that book, I have never seen it before, those ladies were there at that time, I was at the front so I heard them ask, et cetera, et cetera . Chance? Does that exist?
Erlend Joséphy from Arnhem
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Tags: ladies father short time live wanted read boys book Gelderlander
