The Book

Marcus was reading a book on the history of Palindrome Town which he borrowed from Martha. While he understood that the town was discovered some 500 years before, he could not quite grasp its unusual history. He then stood up trying to wrap his head around the haziness of the past. He looked at his father's shelf and touched the book's spine but there was no urge inside him to open one of them. Ever since his father died, he lost all interest in reading the books his father owned. Martha arrived and brought him some more books from the public library.

"Here's the books you want. By the way, I hope you will read this in time because I don't want to pay the surcharge for this. "

"How much is the surcharge in case?" Marcus asked.

"A dollar and fifty," Martha replied.

"Wow, that's expensive by any means. It's like I bought the books already."