Remember Wednesday morning when you thought you heard that noise? A sort of loud, piercing sound that snuffed your Nag Champa and cracked your amethyst crystals in half? Well, that wasn’t just the wind. It was the collective cry of a thousand Seattle-based witches, free witches, casual druids, and other practitioners of the light and dark arts, all simultaneously sensing the doors closing on the wonderfully weird Edge of the Circle Books.

I called Robert Anderson, president of Fun Time Inc., the corporation that owns and operates Edge of the Circle Books, to see what happened.

Anderson claims to have received an e-mail from someone connected to the Ludlow Apartments, to whom he sends his rent checks, instructing him to call a (253) phone number. Anderson claims that the representative he spoke with said something to the effect of: “We’ve thought about a bunch of different business strategies and we’ve decided we’d like to do something else with your space.”

In response, Anderson said, "Oh God." Before adding, “Whaaaaaa?”

To which the representative said, according to Anderson, “Basically, we’d like you to leave.”

Gathering himself, Anderson asked whether he was being evicted.

The representative said, “We’re choosing not to renew the lease.”

Anderson said they wanted Edge of the Circle Books out by August 1 of this year.

This news was a shock to Anderson. Not only had he paid his rent on time for the last 20 years, but when the Ludlow took over the lease from the previous property manager, they assured him that he’d have nothing to worry about.

“A group of people came into the store one day," Anderson recounted. "One of them introduced himself as 'the landlord.' He said he was interested in keeping the status quo. My rent went up a little bit, but otherwise I hadn’t heard anything from them.”

Representatives from the Ludlow have not returned my phone calls.

“The bottom line,” Anderson said, “is that the company wanted to earn more money.”

When I asked how he was feeling, Anderson replied, “Like the British before World War II. I just have to keep calm and carry on.”

There goes another one. :((((((((((