Smacked by a Librarian

Now I get home and every night I see the same note: we have gone to the library.

It all started when Thun got into trouble for ignoring me. He was playing some idiotic computer game and I came home and said, "Thun, how was school?" but he ignored me because he was too busy swordfighting against virtual samurai. Later, I told Poo that he ignored me, and she said. "That's it! No computer games for a month!"

Then he re-discovered books. He kept nagging Poo to take him to the library.

One night I came home and Poo was so excited: "I will NEVER go to the bookstore again! At the library they have so many books, and they are all free!"

"Wait a minute," I said, "The library is new; why are they giving books away already?"

"Well I have to bring them back, but I get two weeks!"

Sometimes I forget that Poo grew up on a rice farm. That must have been her first time in a proper library. Soon, she discovered that Jason likes it, too. At first he thought it was a giant playground, and he started running around and shouting. The librarian is an old-fashioned lady, so she called him over as she rolled up a magazine.

"Jason," she said, "Don't run!" (THWAP!) "and don't make noise!" (THWAP), "a library is a quiet place." That's my kind of librarian!

Jason wagged his finger at her and said, "Don't do that!"

Later, she asked him, "Jason, have you been running again?"

"No," he protested, "I stopped running already, so don't hit Jason!"

I don't hit children, and generally I'm against it, and children should never be hit in anger, but getting smacked by an old-fashioned librarian is perfectly OK with me.