It’s not easy living with a price on your head. You begin to see and hear things in the shadows - footsteps in the mist. One begins to second-guess even the smallest of decisions. Gentle Reader, that was my existence up until this very afternoon.
“I owe a debt.” I said to the woman who politely smiled. Did I see a sultry curve to the corner of her lip? I couldn’t be too sure but I knew this woman held the keys to my future. I passed her my identification.
“Let me see…” she said investigating my credentials. She scanned my bar code. “That will be $1.70.”
“A dollar seventy?” I asked.
“$1.70?!” My wife yelled at me from the next terminal over. “Gallant returns her Library books on time – Goofus does not.” I knew from the tone of her voice just how and to whom the titles of “Gallant” and “Goofus” had been assigned.
I flashed her a smile and paid my fine. My debt to society satisfied I took out a couple of Jazz CDs (Coltrane & Gillespie/Parker) and a Neil Gaiman book, “American Gods”.
I tell you this story as a precautionary tale. It’s not easy to live life with a price on your head. The librarian spies are everywhere. Be mindful where you step and try to remember where you left that overdue book.
Don’t become a statistic.
3 comments:
you are worth more than $1.70
I just got an Atl. Co. library card in the mail. I still have to activate it at my local branch. I'm trying to save $$$ by buying fewer books ('though I hear the siren song of Amazon as I type this). I'm hoping to be a responsible soul and avoid fines. Hoping.
We went back today. I'm still legal! I picked up the "Best of the Dukes of Dixieland" Jazz CD (that I'm listening to now).
Nice.
I like our library even though I have lived with a price on my head.
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