Exercise in Futility

• Go to your local Borders with your 30% off coupon and look for books by Antonya Nelson, Mary Gaitskill and Donald Antrim.

• When you can't find these authors in the alphabetical listings, squint, look around for a stool and drag it over. Step on stool and feel around on top shelf to ensure you haven't missed anything. Sigh. Step down.

• Schlep to Customer Service area. Perform a search on the Borders computer system to ensure you haven't somehow overlooked the obvious.

• Note that NOT ONE of these authors has a single book in the store.

• Curse under breath.

• Go home and order from Amazon.