On Sunday in Waverly, Rhode Island, Hillary Rodham Clinton was spotted in a bookstore with her family, one of her first appearances since she delivered a concession speech on Nov. 9. An employee of The Savoy Bookstore, Jessica Wick, posted a poignant message about their meeting on Facebook, with a picture of herself and the Democratic Party's 2016 presidential nominee. Wick was understandably emotional about the whole affair, writing that she didn't get to tell Clinton everything she would have liked:
I wasn't as eloquent as I'd have liked to be. I didn't want to take her & her family out of their day together. I also didn't want to cry; I feel like strangers crying at one might detract from one's day. I'd have liked to tell her I was a poet in ardent support of what she stood and stands for. I'd have liked to tell her how, at that very bookstore, behind the very same counter she approached to ask about a book, I listened to her concession speech with two of my co-workers and we cried; how in that same spot customers and employees have talked about her with regret and hope. I'd have liked to tell her something which encompasses the sadness I feel that she did not win, but somehow tell her that in a way which didn't rub salt in any wounds. I'd have liked to give her something.
Since she delivered her concession speech earlier this month, the former Secretary of State has largely avoided the public eye, instead taking time to recuperate from a hard-fought campaign and enjoy the holidays with her family. Sightings of the New York politician have been rare, but widely publicized. Just after the election, Margo Gerster and her daughter, Phoebe, bumped into Clinton, her husband, and their dog while hiking in Chappaqua, New York. Gerster's photo of their encounter went viral.
That Clinton made a post-election visit to a bookshop isn't surprising, although The Savoy Bookstore's employees were "unprepared" for her appearance. In her Nov. 16 speech to the Children's Defense Fund, she said she just wanted "to curl up with a good book" in the aftermath of her concession to Donald Trump. Although Wick doesn't say whether the Clintons and Mezvinskys picked up any books, she wishes them "loads of good books and interesting reading" in the future, as do I.
