-- Chapter 1
- A look into the everyday life of John Grey.

On the corner of Now St. and Free Avenue there was a quiet store. Run by a quiet man with a quiet nature.
No real family or friends, just his little store with his little books for it was his choice to run a book store. He traded in books of all shapes, colours and sizes. Nothing too amazingly interesting about that, but to each his own, is this writers opinion. He lived over his shop : ' The red owl ' and had managed to put enough money aside during the last few years to buy a very nice car and a small black briefcase of Italian origin. He wasn't a big spender though. Hoping to retire in a few years he had been planning a very nice trip to Hawaii, where he would live out his days in a small beach house with his pet gerbil, Wilfred.

The quiet man had won the shop while attending community college in a bet over who could stare at the sun for more than the other guy. He hadn't even started yet, when the other contenders had all been blinded and walked into traffic. He had won the store by default with a complete set of books and the gerbil who he had named Wilfred.

The quiet man was, for no obvious and particular reason, named John. His parents weren't very creative. To be honest, they never had been. They had had a grey house, with a grey picket fence. The grass had in it's later years turned greyish. They both worked at an old, damp and (surprise, surprise) grey factory on Grey street. Wore grey suits every day of their grey little lives. Their eyes had always been grey. If 2 people had to represent a colour, these two would be the prime candidates for the colour grey. Even a grey dog, who they named Grey Dog. Many have pondered how the grey couple had managed to create John. But neither I nor' you should or want to know the answer to this question. It should be in our grey area.

Readers shouldn't be shocked now, but John didn't like the colour grey. His parents weren't really upset about this. In fact they didn't really mind. For them it was grey area. Nothing to concern themselves over. John Grey (you were shocked, weren't you?) liked the colour red. He fancied black and occasionally he enjoyed a bright pink along with a mix of orange and yellow. He liked to call it yoller. He was strange that way - enjoying making up words and facts that nobody would ever know or care about. Did you know that if you yelled at a glass door long enough someone would come and ask you why you were doing this.He even wrote a book about his 'inventions'. Over 1200 words, well built-up storyline and a decent book overall but he had only written one copy and kept that on his night stand. Unknown to him, had he ever had the book printed it would have been a world-wide success, gotten him 12 movie deals, dates with all the celebrities he could imagine, a 12-storied house on a small private island off the coast of Spain and all the money he would ever need or could ever spend.

The small, quiet bookshop was his and his alone. People would come into the shop, browse and sometimes buy one or two things or occasionally sell a few books. It all kept itself in balance more or less and for the time being everything was fine. John Grey and his pet gerbil Wilfred were the only occupants. Wilfred is actually more intelligent than the entire state of Illinois combined but this will be addressed in another chapter. Something to do with a college science experiment and a microwave.