Goodnight, Harry

You have only a few hours left before the sunstroked media skip to the end of J.K. Rowling’s last Harry Potter book so that news of the young wizard’s survival or demise can ease the pressure of reporting on war, genocide and climate collapse. By dawn Sunday, the fate of the most popular fictional character since Madonna will be known to anyone with an Internet connection or a pair of AA batteries to put in a radio. But before heavy-breathing punters violate the spirit of actually reading the seventh novel’s 784 pages, you can enjoy one last night of innocent curiosity just about anyplace with books, short of a Christian Science reading room. Not that retailers are leaving all of that velvet-robed pomp to booksellers. At every shopping center in North America, you can dress like a sorcerer and hunker down like a geek as commerce is eclipsed by various contests and earthbound Qudditch matches. For instance, the midnight vending of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at Borders is the centerpiece of the weekendlong annual sidewalk sale at the Shops at Boardwalk (Interstate 29 and Barry Road in North Kansas City, shopsatboardwalk.com). KC Wizards players will judge the best costume there tonight. Be sure to drop by J. Jill and ask for a pair of Hermione drawers. Your neighborhood gas station is probably taking last-minute book orders, and somewhere there’s a sushi restaurant offering the book as a bento box.