One client, also now a dear friend and who asked, got pretty much the full monty. Another who was having an anxiety attack about getting her book late was told that we had to wait to ship because we were getting special boxes to protect her order (this was true, I just left out the part that when verbalized sounded more or less like the Inquisition had been at work).

Another client from a religious order whose choir books we are selling, reminded me to take time. "Everything we do here is very, very slow," she said. "Take all the time you need" (implied, but not spoken, "centuries, if necessary").

I thought briefly about a tag line in my automated mailing system, but decided to make no changes there. One of the more attractive by-products of becoming an oncology patient is sporadic psychological fragility, and I certainly did not want to disseminate too much information along with our books.

But I did listen to a lot of advice, and I am building in away-time to my day. Some of this will be taken up by treatments, but I thought it would be a good idea to do something fun as well. The one good thing about this Internet business is that it has the most flexible of hours, so let's take advantage of that. Stop when you get tired. Get outside more. Get away from the computer. Don't obsess on eBay. Hang out with your grandchildren. Go to the beach.

The prognosis is very good, but nothing is certain. We are just dealing with probabilities over here. 20% probability of reoccurrence. 80% probability of no reoccurrence. 10% probability of complications. 1% probability that those complications will require surgery. But, with our new plan, a Katrina or 9/11 event not withstanding, just about 100% probability that our books will go out, even if they may be a day or two later than we would like.

So, this is a reminder and, I suppose, a plea that we all be a bit kinder to each other. The next time somebody mentions "medical emergency", they may not be making a lame excuse. And creating a plan for your store, in writing, will make things easier on you, your family, and your customers.

Shakespeare may live forever, but all of us booksellers are merely mortal.

Renée Magriel Roberts can be reached at renee@roses-books,com.