Storytelling Thursdays
The Illusive Library Card
My computer files are filled with the stories I have written. Some are true, some are not. Some made it into books, some did not. Some are still in my head waiting to be written. Hopefully, having a story in your inbox on Thursdays will brighten your weeks as winter trudges toward spring. I will also recommend some books I have loved!
The Illusive Library Card
(Reprinted from A Brave Life: Survival, Resilience, Faith and Hope after Childhood Trauma)
Libraries are my happy place and I usually could not be any cheerier than when talking with the friendly librarians at my local Springfield, Missouri library. But on this day, I had a problem. It would be necessary to confess that my library card had vanished.
A very tall austere librarian came to the counter. I had hoped the young, peppy librarian would be working. No such luck. With a sigh, I mumbled the story about how my daughter lost my card (she truly did) and how it needed replacing.
“That will be a dollar,” she said.
No problem! I love supporting my library!
As she pulled up my file on the computer, though, her facial expression reflected what she was seeing on the screen. This was not the first card replacement; not even the second and ... maybe not the third. She offered no conversation as she handed me a new card. Accepting the card, I mumbled a thank you, and fled.
After an hour of searching and locating a few books, I began to collect myself to check them out. Then my heart sank. Where was my card?
Searching up and down the aisles, on the shelves, and around the corners, I willed the card to appear. No luck. Emptying my purse onto the table and exposing my life to fellow patrons didn’t solve the problem either.
It seemed like such a waste to leave the books behind. I had no other choice but to go to the counter and ask whether someone had turned in the card. Hoping the tall, austere librarian had left for dinner, I headed toward the counter. No such luck. She spotted me coming. And she smirked.
Shrinking and slinking toward the counter, I watched as she reached behind her and picked up my card, smirking again.
I mumbled, “Oh, you found it.”
The entire situation sent me into a fit of uncomfortable laughter and then, to my chagrin, I noticed the title of the top book in the stack: Laugh Again. This created a new fit of laughter while I awkwardly tried to point out the irony of the title. But her stoic enjoyment of my discomfort was not going to end anytime soon.
Grabbing my books, and smiling weakly at her final smirk, I dashed out the door.
Have you read The Library Book by Susan Orlean?
This book is a great read! It helped that I grew up near L.A., but the history was fascinating and changed my perspectives about libraries—which were already one of my favorite places!
“On the morning of April 28, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. The fire was disastrous: it reached two thousand degrees and burned for more than seven hours. By the time it was extinguished, it had consumed four hundred thousand books and damaged seven hundred thousand more. Investigators descended on the scene, but more than thirty years later, the mystery remains: Did someone purposefully set fire to the library—and if so, who?”
