Just Another Night at the Library

One of my favorite books as a young elementary school kid was "Help! I am a prisoner in the library!" which detailed the account of two young sisters who accidentally become locked in the town's library one night during a snowstorm. To my young seven year old mind, it was the creepiest library ever and I used to hurriedly turn the pages, hoping for the girls to escape from such a spooky, book-lined place.

A few weeks ago I stumbled across a copy of this book at a local resale shop (great place to find books CHEAP) and scooped it up for my nine year old niece who was in town at the time. She too loved the tale of two little girls wondering through the mysterious floors of an abandoned (if only for one night) library.

Last night I found myself set up at a cozy table at our local library, laptop plugged in, various books scattered about, my trusty writing notebook and pen by my side. Once Tobe had arrived home from work, he and I traded off. I left him with leftovers and two little kids who had just returned home from a very exciting pool party (have I mentioned how great my husband is?) and I set off for the quiet stillness of our awesome public library to get some much-needed writing done.

Apparently the "quiet stillness" memo was not circulated among my fellow library patrons last night because here is a rundown on the completely odd, somewhat wildly inappropriate things I witnessed last night at the library.

Upon entering the library I noticed A. One man on stilts dressed as a ringleader to the circus and B. Another man juggling. Hmmm.

I approached the Reference desk to ask a question, where I noted (to myself) with intense curiosity that the lady working the Reference desk had somehow discovered a particularly purple shade of plum lipstick to match (exactly) her purple/plum dress. This peaked my curiosity in such a manner that I could not really focus on the answer this lady (who was very nice and most likely very helpful) was giving me due to the fact my mind was racing as to how she found such an interesting shade of lipstick. Did she discover it in the tween make-up section? Did she melt various tubes of lipstick to create her own signature color (my mom had a friend who used to do this)? Was it even lipstick or perhaps some sort of Sharpie/carmex combo? Despite the unusual color, this shade actually worked for this lady quite well.

After setting up my spot (and fighting the urge to make my own "fort", but didn't have a Trapper Keeper to properly construct one), I got to work. Time ticked by as I become lost in writing. It was then I noticed a man out of the corner of my eye sit down at the table next to me, starting up an abandoned laptop. He then proceeded to open a Snickers bar and LOUDLY and SLOWLY eat it. Apparently the "No Food and Drink" rule did not apply to this man.

While I attempted to ignore Snickers man, the man on stilts walked by the glass wall that separates the children's area and the rest of the library. The man juggling bowling pins was following closely behind.

With the mantra "Write. Write. Write." going through my head, I attempted to block out Snickers man and Stilts man. It was then that a man and his Chihuahua walked past. I am all about service dogs being allowed anywhere, however I do not think that a Chihuahua wearing a tank top (huh?) is a service dog and should not be allowed in public places. What if he got dog hair in the Snickers bar?

I now attempted to block out Snickers man (who is STILL eating), man on stilts, and the small dog all while not allowing myself to worry about what happened to the guy juggling bowling pins. I typed out a few more lines. Just as my groove was starting to come back, the lady who had been sitting at the table directly behind mine woke-up (did I mention she had been asleep this whole time?), packed up the contents of her table into a DSW bag, and left the library.

It was then that I contemplated screaming, "Help! I am a prisoner in the library!"