Story of the Day 8/ 15/ 2012

My son, the 21 year old, loves the public library.
We all love the public library.

Yes, we have stacks and stacks of books not just on the book shelves, which are stacked three deep, but atop chairs and tables and counters and in piles on the floor. And we know every nook and cranny of the nearest bookstore. In fact, we drool when the name of it is mentioned. But we also love the library, which is good because otherwise we might not have enough money left over for food and we might have to sleep atop piles of books......

But even in our family, there are levels of love- and my son, Aaron, LOVES the public library.

When he was in high school , he would often go to the library 3 times a week. He would come home with stacks of movies....yes, VHS tapes and DVDs, and even a few books about movies, thrown in. And , once or twice, the book upon which a film was based.
He was so well known that he ended up working at the small local library which is private ,but part of the public library loan system. first as a volunteer and later as a paid helper.

And most of the time, he was even pretty good about getting all of those things back to the library on time.
Most of the time.

The problem is that most of the time is not always.
And videos are a $1 a day fine.

I did not know about this.
I did not know about this because Aaron has his own library card and because the Library would allow him to check out more things , regardless of the amount he owed.
They would.
But, it seems, their policy has changed, and he was confronted with that fact, today, when he and Sarah went o the Library after he picked her up from school.

Aaron was being checked out- I mean his books were- oh, he has, in his religious phase, pretty much stopped borrowing videos and has become a book borrower. This means that he makes substantially fewer trips to the Library, since he reads more slowly than he watches.
So, he was checking out his books, only he wasn't because the computer wasn't allowing it, and the librarian had to come over and help him...becasue the Libarry has changed its policy and Aaron had to pay the fine....or not get to take the books home with him.

Now, to be honest, Aaron very recently did mention that he had a large fine that he had owed for a few years. After all, he is 21 ,ad the fine dates back to high school. He totally startled me when he told me this. He also refused to say how big the fine was, but admitted it might be in the $50 range....might be. But that he was hoping to earn some money and pay it, himself.

Of course, if you haven job that is hard. And he hasn't had one, not since he got home from Israel and not since he told me about the fine; so when the librarian, today, told him that he needed to pay the fine, Aaron took out the money he had, in his wallet, and handed it to the man.

And the man looked at the dollar bill and told him that it wouldn't do, he had to pay the entire chocolately confection. I mean the entire fine.

Sarah told me that Aaron tried, again to offer the man the dollar, and the man again reiterated this new rule.

So, Aaron got out his charge card, the card that his parents pay, the one that is to pay for gasoline and groceries for the household ( what we can afford after buying books) and emergencies. And he paid the fine.

After all, not being able to check things out from the library is an emergency.