Have you ever noticed that extraordinary things only seem to happen to ordinary people?
In real life. In films. In books. Especially in books.
Take for example, Mr. Berger of “The Museum of Literary Souls” by John Connolly (ebook, StoryFront, 2013). Mr. Berger, the protagonist of this story leads a rather dull existence of unvarying routine.
He is single, never been married, and lives alone in London. He works for the housing department of a rather minor council as an Assistant Registrar.
His position as registrar paid neither badly nor particularly well but was enough to keep him clothed and fed, and maintain a roof above his head. Most of the remainder went on books. Mr. Berger led a life of imagination, fed by stories. His flat was lined with shelves, and those shelves were filled with books that he loved…
Mr Berger might sometimes have been a little lonely, but he was never bored and never unhappy, and he counted his days by the books he read.
In all probability, Mr. Berger might have continued living his life in a similar manner for the rest of his life, if not for his mother’s death. Her bequest, though not a great fortune by any standards, was enough for him to resign from his job, move into his mother’s house in the countryside, and attempt to live out his dream of becoming a writer. A new routine developed, another unvarying one that included reading, writing, walks in the countryside and an occasional visit to the local pub.
One evening something happened. Something that shifted the equilibrium in his carefully ordered life.
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