My Library Adventure
I think this classes as something semi entertaining. Therefore, I am going to tell the story of the time I was seconds away from being locked in a library.
If you've read some of my posts before, you might have figured out that I generally have no plan. I spend a lot of the time with no idea what's going on and can be incredibly air-headed at times. I am the type of person who freaks out over nothing and is incredibly calm in situations when I should probably be freaking out. Whether this is a blessing or a curse, I am not yet sure.
I was meant to be meeting my friend. The same friend who I'm always talking about (I only have one. I know, poor me.) We live quite close to each other, and used to meet up halfway between our houses quite often (pre-lockdown). This halfway point is where there are a couple of shops – a corner store, a florist, a sweet shop... and a library.
It's not that I walk quicker than she does, but I am always more prepared to leave and leave before she does (also this halfway point is not exactly halfway, and I live closer to it than she does).
So I arrive first. And instead of just hanging around outside the shops and both looking like a weirdo and feeling awkward, I decided to do the thing any sane person would do – go into the library.
Now, I think this story is a testament to how little attention the people in that library pay to people coming in and out. It also doubles as a cafe, so I walked in and the person behind the counter glanced up at me. I walked on past, to the YA section, just to grab something to pass the time. I didn't want to check anything out, because I couldn't be bothered to bring anything back. I picked up Four (from the Divergent series) because I had read it before and I wouldn't feel the need to continue reading, as I already knew the story. Smart, right?
I texted my friend, letting her know I was in the library in case she arrived and couldn't find me. Then I sat down on a beanbag and started reading.
I was at about chapter three when the lights went out.
And no joke, I thought to myself "oh, that can't be good. I should probably leave" in the most calm, carefree sort of way. I then took the time to put the book back in the right place before walking over to the doors.
Luckily, the person locking up and gotten distracted in a conversation with someone, and was twiddling the keys in her hands as she talked. I walked by, my head down because I am an awkward carrot. As I passed, I heard one of them whisper to the other "oh, there was someone in there." Yeah, there was.
Everything was fine, I met my friend (who still hadn't arrived yet) and we had a lovely time.
I had a contingency plan. If I had gotten locked in, I would've phoned the police and let them know I was stuck in the library, then phoned my friend to let her know I probably would be a bit late, and finally phoned my parents to let them know so they wouldn't worry. The police would show up and get me out, and everything would have been good.
I must admit, this was not the initial plan. This was the plan I formulated much later. The plan I formulated immediately after was much more preferable and almost made me wish I had stayed where I was. This plan included visiting the cafe, eating sandwiches and cake, reading late into the evening and sleeping on the beanbags. There was a toilet, running water, food and entertainment. What could be better? And technically they wouldn't have been able to complain that I ate their food, as they had locked me in a library.
Nevertheless, I never had to carry out either of those plans, because I escaped at the last moment. I probably made this sound a lot more exciting than it was.
Honestly, though, it's two rooms, the library/cafe and the toilet. Not all that big. It would take a maximum of thirty extra seconds to check the whole building for people before turning the lights off and locking up. If the person had just looked around the corner of a bookcase, they would've seen me and they could've asked me to leave.
Not that I'm complaining, the experience means I have another kind of cool story to write about.
Okay, that's it.
Bye!
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