Day 3 - Karma Police

Oh ye of such little faith! Do not despair. It's only 8:42 p.m. The night is young. Plenty of time to blog. I wouldn't break a promise on the third day! I'll probably break it next week, when February unleashes its fury on my household with some nasty sickness. God Forbid.

Libraries make me break out in a cold sweat. In school, I always got nailed for talking too loudly. But the problems have really come up since I've had kids and now visit the library regularly again. The last few years have brought hundreds of dollars in late/missing fines, escorts out when Nora had colic, and a general air of disdain from any employee I've ever had to encounter. The place makes me feel like I've sinned yet again.

On Monday, I took the kids to the library to restock on books and videos. While I was there I purchased a book and magazine at the Book Corral, a used book stand inside the library. The Cooking Light issue I picked up for fifty cents had a tasty looking recipe featured on the cover; steak tenderloin and pomme frites.

After placing all our loaner items in bags, I walked over to the Consumer Reports shelf and leafed through the issue focusing on digital cameras. A nice little one page summation showed all I needed to know. I glanced around, and didn't hesitate. Riiiiiiiiiiip. I tore the page out, folded it into a tidy square, and slipped into my pocket. It was naughty, it was selfish, and I felt heady with Library Guilt.

When I got home, I took out the Consumer Reports page and showed it to Scot. "You stole that?!" he asked. "Nyo, I ripped it out," I stammered. He brought up a good point. Is it stealing something if they let you borrow it anyway? Hmmm...

Later on in the evening I cracked open the Cooking Light that I purchased at the library. I flipped through to find the recipe for the steak and fries (p. 112).

109, 110, 111, 118. What? Where? Yup. It was gone.

" This is the library, Toni. We are here with the Karma Police. Please come with us."