A Torn Library Book

“What is going on here?!?” the teacher screamed.

The two 6-year-old boys dropped the permanent markers and immediately looked up at the teacher. Their faces looked like they were about to go on a warpath and their bodies looked like they were in the habit of making drunk trips to the local tattoo parlor.

The teacher picked up the markers from the ground a put them in her desk. “I don’t know how you got a hold of those but go wash yourself off.”

She sent them out of the room knowing that they wouldn’t be able to make much progress but it would at least keep them out of her hair for another 10 minutes. She would catch hell from their parents when they came to pick them up. After the day she had, it would merely be the cherry on top of her shit sundae.

“Are you doing okay, honey?” John asked her from across the table. They were getting an ice cream at their favorite ice cream parlor like it was the 1960s.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just had a crummy day at work. Tomorrow will be better.” She answered trying to change the subject to anything else she added, “What’s up with you?” He had been a little off lately.

John looked around at the people ordering ice cream outside in the middle of spring. “I’m fine,” he hesitated then added, “But there’s something we should talk about.”

“Yeah? What’s up?” She said taking a scoop out of her cup of Neapolitan ice cream. She was careful to get all three flavors in one spoonful before looking up at her boyfriend.

“I think we should stop seeing each other.”

She dropped the flawlessly allocated spoonful of ice cream back into the container. “Excuse me?”

“I don’t think this is going well. I think we should take a break and see other people.” He said putting a spoonful of his rocky road ice cream into his mouth.

“I don’t even know what to say,” she whispered to herself.

She eventually got home after a long, and far too public, fight with her now ex-boyfriend. There was no reason for the fight. She knew she wouldn’t be able to change his mind. But these kinds of things never went smoothly, and she felt like she had to make a show of it. She laid down in bed ready to put the long and shitty day behind her. Tomorrow will be better she told herself.

She picked up her library book, “The Man from Jupiter” off the bedside table. There was nothing like finishing the last few pages of a novel, and she was determined not to let the day pass in complete vain. She started reading, and after thirty minutes she was on the last page. She got to the last sentence on the page, and it stopped midway. She checked and all that was next was the back cover. There was a small snippet about the author on the fold, but there was no finish to the sentence of the book. How many pages was the book missing? she wondered, Who steals the last pages from a library book. She was furious and hurled the book across the room.

She was determined not to let her day end like this. She put on a bra, a shirt with an acceptable number of ketchup stains and the first pair of shorts she saw. Her keys were patiently waiting next to the front door, she was off to buy the book from Barns and Nobel.

She arrived at 10:55 and was prepared to fight whatever force stopped her from buying the book she was reading. After walking directly to the science fiction section she looked for “The Man from Jupiter.” It wasn’t there.

She scanned a whole section as a young man came on the PA system saying that the store was closing and all customers should complete their purchases.

She decided to use the computer kiosk to see if B&N had it under a different section. There was no way that this store was void of a single copy of this, soon to be a best selling, book. She searched and searched on the computer kiosk.

“Excuse me ma’am do you need help?” She heard someone ask her.

“Yeah I need to find this god damn book, and you guys don’t have it,” she snapped.

“I’m sorry what book is it,” the young man asked, “we are closing.”

“Yeah, I know I heard your announcement,” she rolled her eyes to dismiss his comment, “but I need this book.” She said not ready to give up.

“What book is it? Maybe I can help you.” He said in a controlled and measured voice.

“The book is called ‘The Man From Jupiter'” she said, scanning his nametag. His name was John. Of course, it was John!

“I’m sorry we don’t have that book in stock today. We will get our next shipment in on Monday.”

“I can’t wait until Monday. I need to finish that book tonight!” she demanded.

“Why is it so important?” He asked her while checking his watch.

“Because, never mind, it just is.” She felt her tears well, but she wasn’t going to cry in front of this stock boy.

“Look, ma’am, we are closed. It’s ten past eleven, you and I are the only ones in the store. I know for a fact that the book isn’t in the store….”

“So you want me to go and get out of your hair, of course, you do.” she flung her hands in the air, “I’m not surprised. You can’t even go to the back to check to see if it’s there. And you’re not willing to because you’re hourly and B-n-N doesn’t pay you to deal with psychos that come in looking for a book at closing.”

“They don’t pay me for that. It’s actually specified in my contract. The advise we stay away from psychos for insurance purposes.” A smile grew on his face but his joke was lost on her, “I can help you, though.”

The young man was in his early 20’s at best. His face was clear of acne but hadn’t developed into its full masculinity yet.

“How are you going to help me? Find another B&N in the area that I can go to to buy it at tomorrow. Just so I’ll get out of your hair?” she said, by now she was miffed.

“No, I have the book in my car. I bought the last copy yesterday.”

“You barbarian! How could you buy the copy yesterday? You work here and know there wouldn’t be another shipment in until Monday!”

“Barns and Nobel employees are people too,” He defended himself. “I wanted to start it last night. Anyway lady, if you let me close up I’ll meet you in the parking lot. Then you can have my copy of the book, since it’s so important to you.”

“I only need the last few pages.” She corrected.

“You can have whichever pages you need! Just let me freaking close up.” He looked at his watch, and she saw over his shoulder that it was nearly 11:20.

She leaned against the hood of what she hoped was the stock boy’s Honda Civic. She checked the clock on her phone. It was pas 11:40.

The B&N John walked out of the store, and the car unlocked under her. He opened the door when he got there and pulled the book out of his bag.

He handed it to her over the short roof of the car. “Here you can have it. I’ll buy another copy of it on Monday.”

She noticed his bookmark. He wasn’t even a quarter of the way through into the book. “No, no, I only want to read the last few pages. Someone ripped the last pages out of the library book.”

“Out of a library book? Who does that?”

She shrugged, “Probably a real psycho,” she said with a faint smile.

“Okay well just sit down in the passenger seat. I’ll wait,” he said. “But don’t ruin the ending for me!”

She found the page she was on and realized there were at least ten pages missing. “It might be a little bit.”

“It’s fine, now that I’m off work I can wait.” He said, “I hate being in that place after it closes, though.”

She sat down in his surprisingly clean passenger seat and finished the book. It was a marvelous ending and while she had tried to guess at it the remaining pages that she read in his car completely surprised her.

She closed the book and looked at the clock in his car. it read 11:59. “Sorry, that took longer than I expected.”

“It’s fine. I’m glad you finished it. It seemed important to you.”

“You wouldn’t believe the day I had.”

“I bet I would. Want to get a drink and talk about it? There’s a place around the corner that’s open for a few more hours.”

“Sure, if you don’t mind hearing about the mess that is my life,” she said.

“I’ll listen to whatever you have to say as long as it’s not about the end of that book.” He said gesturing to the story that rested on the armrest between them.

“Deal,” she agreed. She got out of his car, and he turned off the ignition as the clock changed to 12:00 am. She had a feeling that today would be better.

Photo Credit: Shane Birley