A Real Page Tapper

“Mom, I don’t know what to get for Grandma’s birthday this year,” Sophie said.

“I don’t know either. I tried finding her a good book but you know how she is about eBooks and we can’t afford a paperback book this year,” Madeline said.

“Has she even tried reading an eBook? I don’t know what the big deal is,” Sophie said.

Madeline hated to think back to the year she bought her mom the iPad 2050. She should have listened to her dad when he warned her not to waste her money on eBook devices for her mom. Madeline thought her dad was just worried about the cost; she didn’t realize her mom was anti-eBook.

The memory was still so fresh in Madeline’s mind that it was like it happened yesterday. Madeline had the most financially successful year of her life and her savings account was calling to her. She finally had enough money to purchase the latest Hybrid Ground to Air Audi. She could have afforded one the year before but she didn’t have enough money to afford the jet fuel for it; but with the success she was having as a partner in her law firm she didn’t need to worry about money any more.

Madeline couldn’t wait to give her mom the iPad 2050. She even preloaded it with five thousand of her mom’s favorite books and included a gift card for another five thousand eBook titles. After dinner, Madeline handed her mom the gift, confident that it was going to be superior to whatever her brothers managed to scrounge together for her. Madeline’s smile quickly left her face when she saw the look of distaste on her mom’s face.

“It’s a new iPad 2050 mom. You’re going to love reading your favorite eBooks on it. I included your favorite books and look, there’s a gift card so you can go online and get the latest eBooks. There are some real page tappers out there now,” Madeline said.

“Page tappers? What does that mean?” her mom asked.

Madeline looked around at her brothers who were stifling their laughter and at her dad who was shaking his head.

“You know that saying, ‘it’s a real page tapper.’ Forget it. I just meant that you can go online and find some really great books,” Madeline said.

“I prefer to read actual books that have binding and paper pages,” her mom said.

“I just thought that since those kinds of books are becoming scarce, you might want to start reading eBooks,” Madeline said.

“Take it to the store and get your money back. I will never use this thing. I can’t read a story unless it’s in a real book,” her mom said.

Madeline felt dejected. She didn’t want to return the iPad 2050 so she gave it to her daughter and paid over one hundred dollars for a paperback book at the local B&N Antiquities for her mom.

The next year wasn’t as prosperous for Madeline’s law firm. The price of jet fuel had gone up so high that Madeline was forced to turn in her Hybrid Ground to Air Audi and purchase an annual Air Taxi pass just to get to work every day.

After Madeline sold all of her paperback books earlier this year, she was back on her feet financially but she knew she still couldn’t afford to buy a real book for her mom’s birthday. Real books were only for the underground traders and the extremely wealthy buyers. Even though she saved all year, she still didn’t have a thousand dollars to spend on a paperback book for her mom’s birthday.

“How much money do you have?” Madeline asked her daughter.

“I have one hundred and fifty dollars,” Sophie said.

“I have five hundred and twenty dollars. If we put our money together I think we can afford to buy Grandma a nice box of chocolate. What do you think?” Madeline asked.

“That’s a great idea. Let’s go over to Target and see what kind of chocolates are on sale,” Sophie said.