The Book Barge – Part 2: Last Page
Mature & Silver·EN·1 min read·Published 2026-11-07, updated 2026-11-07·Part 2 of 2
He cooked on a camping stove on the deck: smoked mackerel, new potatoes, a green salad with far too much dill. They ate under strings of small yellow lights while the canal slid by, black and gold, and the city murmured beyond the trees.
"It's wonderful," said Hanneke, and meant it.
"It's simple. I'm a simple man."
"You are not."
He smiled at his plate. "No. But I would like to be, tonight."
When they had finished, he brought out a bottle of genever and two tiny glasses, and they sat on the deck in the warm dark. A bicycle bell rang somewhere. An old barge went by with a single lamp.
"Can I ask you something?" said Hanneke.
"Yes."
"Do you ever think it's too late?"
Pieter turned the little glass in his fingers. "For many things, yes. For books, no. For this," he said, slowly, "I hope not."
"Nor do I."
"Then I would like to kiss you, Hanneke. If you will let an old bookseller."
"Yes," she said. "And if I say stop, you must read me the index of the atlas."
"All of it?"
"Aloud."
"A terrible punishment," said Pieter, and kissed her.
It was tender and unhurried, a hand against her cheek, the taste of juniper between them. Her fingers found his collar. The boat rocked gently on the water, and the little lights swung above them.
When they parted, both of them were smiling.
"Green?" he asked.
"Green," said Hanneke. "Very green."
In the morning, a new sign hung from the wheelhouse of the black barge. It read, in Dutch and in careful English: Closed until noon. Reading.
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