WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.440 --> 00:00:08.640 Most mornings, I arrive at the library before any one else. 2 00:00:09.199 --> 00:00:12.439 A building, three stories of old red brick, softened by 3 00:00:12.439 --> 00:00:15.679 a century of salt air, has always seemed to unfurl itself, 4 00:00:15.679 --> 00:00:19.160 slowly tipping open like a well loved volume, as sunrise 5 00:00:19.239 --> 00:00:22.679 warms the panes and chases away last night's damp. I 6 00:00:22.719 --> 00:00:27.160 take pride in this daily ritual. Keys turned, lights, coaxed awake, 7 00:00:27.480 --> 00:00:30.960 a gentle walk through quiet aisles. It's a routine I've 8 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:34.880 perfected across decades, a comfort woven tightly with my sense 9 00:00:34.920 --> 00:00:39.759 of self. If anything ever changed overnight, I would notice 10 00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:43.359 this morning, as the sun barely nicked the top shelf, 11 00:00:43.640 --> 00:00:46.679 I wandered into the reference section, where no one lingers 12 00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:50.719 except the desperate and the deeply curious. Dust hangs in 13 00:00:50.799 --> 00:00:53.840 the slanted light, here, settling most heavily on the great 14 00:00:53.880 --> 00:00:57.840 dictionaries and atlases, the one sacrificed to time and the Internet. 15 00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:01.920 I keep them for ceremony. They smell of old bindings, 16 00:01:01.920 --> 00:01:05.680 of frayed knowledge. I always dust the spines from a A 17 00:01:05.799 --> 00:01:09.200 Z left to right, pausing for the battered red websters. 18 00:01:09.519 --> 00:01:13.120 The fat World Almanac, teetering beside a crumbling road, Atlas. 19 00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:17.200 My fingers stopped suddenly on something that didn't belong. Tucked 20 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:20.760 neatly between two grimy volumes, call numbers r G one 21 00:01:20.840 --> 00:01:23.879 zero three seven and r G one zero four one, 22 00:01:24.200 --> 00:01:26.599 if you care for such things, was a hard back 23 00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:30.400 I did not recognize. Its cover was an unassuming gray green, 24 00:01:30.640 --> 00:01:34.519 perfectly plain. I looked for a sticker, or even the 25 00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:37.040 tail of a barcode, but there was only a faint 26 00:01:37.079 --> 00:01:41.439 impression where a label would usually rest. Nowhere at the corners, 27 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:45.959 no thumb bent edges, or pale scuffs from passing hands. 28 00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:49.239 I pressed my finger to the spine, not even a 29 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:52.760 trace of dust. For a moment, I wondered if I 30 00:01:52.840 --> 00:01:56.079 was the first to see it. Ridiculous, of course, because 31 00:01:56.120 --> 00:01:59.560 surely some one had placed it here. But who a 32 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:03.079 little library hasn't added to reference In two years, new 33 00:02:03.120 --> 00:02:07.239 books arrive with an almost ceremonial fuss, examined for stickers 34 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:11.759 and proper cataloging. I double check every batch myself, and 35 00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:15.319 yet here it was an orphan, disguised as if it belonged. 36 00:02:15.560 --> 00:02:19.319 I squinted. Its spine was blank, or nearly so, a 37 00:02:19.400 --> 00:02:22.680 shimmer a ghost of a title, or perhaps my eyes 38 00:02:22.719 --> 00:02:26.039 were blurring from the morning's quiet. I set it gently back, 39 00:02:26.199 --> 00:02:30.360 left hands steadying the old almanac. Before I could decide 40 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:33.120 whether to pry it open, the front door clattered. I 41 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:37.120 reflexively straightened. There were forms to read, photocopies, to make, 42 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:40.479 an inbox, to sort. I shelved a trivial paperback left 43 00:02:40.479 --> 00:02:43.800 on a cart, shifted two misfiled biographies, and turned back 44 00:02:43.840 --> 00:02:46.680 to the shelf. Now the book's spine was not blank. 45 00:02:46.919 --> 00:02:50.479 It displayed a title, just visible in oblique light, Index 46 00:02:50.520 --> 00:02:54.479 of Small Realities. I blinked, leaned closer, and watched the 47 00:02:54.520 --> 00:02:58.240 words waver. A moment later, the title faded to nothing. 48 00:02:59.240 --> 00:03:01.719 For a heartbeat, I wondered if I'd bumped my head 49 00:03:01.800 --> 00:03:04.719 without noticing. Then I let out a chuckle, a little 50 00:03:04.759 --> 00:03:08.680 embarrassed at myself. The book didn't feel threatening, just strange, 51 00:03:08.919 --> 00:03:12.520 an anomaly, daring me to follow its thread. I decided 52 00:03:12.680 --> 00:03:15.520 sensibly not to make much of it. I'd finished my 53 00:03:15.599 --> 00:03:20.599 morning circuit and return with fresh eyes. Objects misfiled themselves, sometimes, 54 00:03:20.960 --> 00:03:25.439 especially in old buildings with slippery histories. Still, I couldn't 55 00:03:25.479 --> 00:03:28.479 quite shake the odd propriety of its dustless cover, or 56 00:03:28.479 --> 00:03:30.360 the way it slipped in and out of the line 57 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:32.879 of books, as if it had always belonged and never 58 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:37.360 truly existed. I left it untouched for now. That was prudent. 59 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:41.360 The reference shelf was, after all, a bastion of order, 60 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:44.319 a place for things to remain as they were. I 61 00:03:44.319 --> 00:03:47.080 would ask around if any one else remembered seeing it. 62 00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:50.199 Perhaps there was a note in the catalog I'd overlooked. 63 00:03:51.120 --> 00:03:53.360 But as I dusted the rest of the shelves, I 64 00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:57.039 stole glances over my shoulder. The book was still there, 65 00:03:57.439 --> 00:04:01.039 impossibly clean, exactly where I had it, and I was 66 00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:05.360 left half smiling, half puzzled, A mystery planted gently at 67 00:04:05.400 --> 00:04:09.159 the heart of my routine. A library is a peculiar 68 00:04:09.159 --> 00:04:13.000 cross roads, local gossip traded below the portraits of dead mares, 69 00:04:13.319 --> 00:04:18.199 school children scribbling in pencil, lifelong residents tracing grainy microfilm 70 00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:21.519 with a magnifer. The building crouches beneath a ruffled crown 71 00:04:21.560 --> 00:04:24.439 of copper gutters, staring out at the sea Blanche Street, 72 00:04:24.759 --> 00:04:27.839 its doors warped ever so slightly by salt and the 73 00:04:27.879 --> 00:04:31.439 memory of storms. Most of the reference section is ignored 74 00:04:31.839 --> 00:04:35.160 unless someone needs to settle a stubborn debate or confirm 75 00:04:35.160 --> 00:04:38.839 an ancestor's name in the old registers. I've earned the 76 00:04:38.879 --> 00:04:43.959 reputation of knowing where everything is. Familiar faces glide through 77 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:47.959 each week, Irene always hovering near the genealogy table with 78 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:51.720 another dogged volume under her arm, her face sharp with inquiry, 79 00:04:52.319 --> 00:04:55.639 Tom slouched in the study Carrols with headphones askew and 80 00:04:55.720 --> 00:04:58.879 highlighter stains on his sleeves, his papers spread into a 81 00:04:58.920 --> 00:05:03.199 slow moving desare to zone, and Missus Brodie softly rustling 82 00:05:03.240 --> 00:05:06.680 through the local history room like a spectral presence, her memory. 83 00:05:06.759 --> 00:05:10.600 Rumored to hold every town council meeting since nineteen sixty eight, 84 00:05:11.680 --> 00:05:15.959 our routines a gentle, almost ceremonial. Each morning, I check 85 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:18.360 for books mislaid by a sleepy shelter of the night 86 00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:23.279 before patrons seeking comfort or correctness consult me a wedding date, 87 00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:26.439 the true spelling of a long lost surname, the weather 88 00:05:26.519 --> 00:05:29.199 on the first day of the festival in nineteen seventy four. 89 00:05:29.920 --> 00:05:33.160 I like that the library represents certainty, a place where 90 00:05:33.199 --> 00:05:37.959 disputed memories can be resolved or quietly revised. I've never 91 00:05:38.040 --> 00:05:41.160 claimed to be infallible. I joke only half in jest 92 00:05:41.480 --> 00:05:44.639 that a librarian's omniscience means filling in the gaps with 93 00:05:44.720 --> 00:05:48.399 guess work and a straight face. My personal planner, a 94 00:05:48.480 --> 00:05:51.920 worn green notebook from some past conference, is littered with 95 00:05:52.040 --> 00:05:57.279 reminders ask Irene about fairy schedule, check microfilm feed, and 96 00:05:57.319 --> 00:06:01.639 the occasional cryptic did I reorder tea back? Most of 97 00:06:01.639 --> 00:06:05.199 our reference shelves are anchored by weight, not frequency of use. 98 00:06:05.720 --> 00:06:09.680 The almanacs, once vital, now collect years worth of coastal 99 00:06:09.800 --> 00:06:13.920 dust on quiet days. If someone stirs those tomes, it's 100 00:06:13.959 --> 00:06:17.399 for love rather than need. Even in our digital age, 101 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:20.519 the community leans on us to settle the facts, as 102 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:24.480 if the building itself holds the keys to consensus. And 103 00:06:24.519 --> 00:06:29.000 so this book, the unmarked, untarnished visitor, simply did not fit. 104 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:33.240 No new donations had arrived, no vendor shipments for months. 105 00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:36.720 I would have noticed such an addition. Even in retirement, 106 00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:41.199 I take pride in remembering every accession, every careful rebinding, 107 00:06:41.519 --> 00:06:45.040 every missing spine label. The urge to solve this puzzle 108 00:06:45.079 --> 00:06:48.680 knotted in my gut as the morning wore on. By 109 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:51.959 the time Irene bustled in, cheeks sharp from the chill, 110 00:06:52.319 --> 00:06:56.079 I was half way through checking the reserve shelf. Did 111 00:06:56.120 --> 00:07:00.000 you find that History of the Wharves volume. Yet, she called, 112 00:07:00.399 --> 00:07:03.079 dropping her bag in what she believes is her permanent 113 00:07:03.160 --> 00:07:08.040 seat by the east window. Not yet, I replied, stacking 114 00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:11.319 loose periodicals. You'd be the first to know if something 115 00:07:11.399 --> 00:07:16.360 drifted in unannounced. Oh, she said, peering over her glasses. 116 00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:20.639 That's never stopped things before. She meant it as a joke, 117 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:24.439 but to day it rattled a little across the room. 118 00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:29.040 Tom hunched deeper, pencil wagging. He wasn't one for conversation. 119 00:07:29.560 --> 00:07:33.040 Even so, his attention flickered to me and the reference section, 120 00:07:33.360 --> 00:07:36.680 as if the library's collective memory was a contest we'd 121 00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:42.399 all entered unwillingly. Missus Brodie meanwhile glided from microfilm to 122 00:07:42.439 --> 00:07:47.160 an old city directory, humming tunelessly. Occasionally she drop a 123 00:07:47.199 --> 00:07:51.079 comment that slid beneath your attention, only to surface hours 124 00:07:51.160 --> 00:07:55.360 later with sudden insight. That's what the library has always 125 00:07:55.399 --> 00:07:58.759 done best, gather us together in a climate of agreed 126 00:07:58.839 --> 00:08:03.319 upon truths, provide a sounding board for certainty. But as 127 00:08:03.319 --> 00:08:06.199 the morning sunlight crawled across the green gray cover of 128 00:08:06.240 --> 00:08:10.600 that mystery book, I felt an unexpected itch, Something quietly 129 00:08:10.959 --> 00:08:16.079 persistently unaccounted for winking out from the ranks of ordered knowledge. 130 00:08:16.279 --> 00:08:20.160 After the main rush of morning tasks, taming the errant printer, 131 00:08:20.680 --> 00:08:24.240 ferrying an avalanche of DVDs back into their cases, and 132 00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:28.079 settling a debate about the first annual sand Castle Festival, 133 00:08:28.600 --> 00:08:32.679 I returned to the reference shelf. The unmarked book sat 134 00:08:32.720 --> 00:08:35.320 precisely where I'd left it, but the spine was no 135 00:08:35.399 --> 00:08:40.759 longer blank, this time in a script unmistakably like my own, long, 136 00:08:40.919 --> 00:08:47.200 looping and faintly slanted, it read yesterday's versions. I leaned closer. 137 00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:51.279 I've spent half my life keeping spines tidy and labels legible, 138 00:08:51.519 --> 00:08:54.480 but this was a little too tailored. I reached for 139 00:08:54.519 --> 00:08:58.080 the book with hands steadier than I felt. The moment 140 00:08:58.120 --> 00:09:00.960 I opened the cover, a shallow rush of air escaped, 141 00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:05.759 the way old volumes sometimes sigh when freed from compression. Inside, 142 00:09:05.960 --> 00:09:09.799 page after page of handwritten entries beckoned uncannily similar to 143 00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:12.840 the lists and notes from my own battered planner. The 144 00:09:12.919 --> 00:09:15.799 first page detailed the events of the week just gone, 145 00:09:16.120 --> 00:09:19.159 a Tuesday tea break with Irene, right down to the 146 00:09:19.159 --> 00:09:22.759 cinnamon's scone she prefers, and a heated conversation about the 147 00:09:22.799 --> 00:09:26.759 town's oldest wharf, except I had no memory of such 148 00:09:26.759 --> 00:09:30.519 a break. No Cinnamon's scone, just the usual quiet head 149 00:09:30.559 --> 00:09:33.559 nod as she passed my desk. My actual Tuesday was 150 00:09:33.559 --> 00:09:36.919 spent coaxing a jammed microfilm machine and puzzling over weather 151 00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:39.240 to move the map collection for the third time since 152 00:09:39.320 --> 00:09:43.159 New Years. I scanned further. Each entry, adopted the little 153 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:46.639 phrases and ticks that pepper my writing, dust furrowed shelf 154 00:09:46.919 --> 00:09:51.519 gale watch outside unrushed hours. It was my language, my voice, 155 00:09:51.639 --> 00:09:56.840 but not my memory. Flipping pages, another date described convincing 156 00:09:56.879 --> 00:10:01.039 the board to postpone renovations, a scenarios so vividly rendered 157 00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:04.080 I could almost imagine the stiff backed chairs and the 158 00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:07.799 dust motes in the evening sun. Yet my own planner, 159 00:10:08.159 --> 00:10:10.799 written in the same hand as these entries, but for 160 00:10:10.919 --> 00:10:14.279 my own eyes alone, said nothing of any such meeting. 161 00:10:15.320 --> 00:10:18.200 For a blinking instant, I wondered if I'd confused one 162 00:10:18.279 --> 00:10:22.360 Wednesday for another. Libraries do that to you, days blend. 163 00:10:22.919 --> 00:10:26.799 But then I remembered my system, every event, every snack, 164 00:10:27.240 --> 00:10:31.960 every meeting, jotted in exacting order. Even the paper was familiar, 165 00:10:32.240 --> 00:10:35.279 a creamy, off white, faintly rough where my old pen 166 00:10:35.440 --> 00:10:39.360 type would sometimes snag. But none of this, I told myself, 167 00:10:39.559 --> 00:10:43.440 could possibly be my writing. I've never seen these pages before. 168 00:10:44.559 --> 00:10:47.039 I closed the book gently and set its spine out. 169 00:10:47.519 --> 00:10:52.759 The title flickered vanished to blank. Irene wandered by clutching 170 00:10:52.799 --> 00:10:55.600 a pen and her genealogy binder, and I must have 171 00:10:55.639 --> 00:10:59.799 looked guilty. Lose something in there, she asked, eyebro co 172 00:10:59.799 --> 00:11:03.879 off just finding old notes I didn't know I'd written, 173 00:11:04.200 --> 00:11:08.960 I replied, not quite joking. She laughed softly and pressed on. 174 00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:13.039 I spent the rest of lunch pacing between tables, checking 175 00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:18.159 my planner, replaying yesterday's slow unfurl. I leafed through receipts 176 00:11:18.159 --> 00:11:22.600 and EMIL time stamps. No tea, no elusive meeting. The 177 00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:26.240 entry was detailed, but my lived week refused to rearrange 178 00:11:26.279 --> 00:11:31.120 itself around the memory. By early afternoon, I'd grown impatient 179 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:34.799 with my own caution. I cornered Irene near the copier. 180 00:11:35.759 --> 00:11:39.279 You don't remember having tea Tuesday afternoon? Do you with me? 181 00:11:40.440 --> 00:11:43.960 She looked, puzzled, shaking her head. Not unless you entered 182 00:11:43.960 --> 00:11:47.200 my dream. You were elbow deep in archive boxes as 183 00:11:47.240 --> 00:11:50.559 I recall a pause. Are you sure you're not mixing 184 00:11:50.600 --> 00:11:54.200 me up with missus Brodie. She's every one's secret tea supplier. 185 00:11:55.279 --> 00:11:58.159 Annoyed with myself for letting an odd book creep under 186 00:11:58.159 --> 00:12:03.000 my skin, I shrugged it off. The details though my handwriting, 187 00:12:03.080 --> 00:12:06.440 my way of putting things, events I should remember, an 188 00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:10.720 intriguing friction rather than a threat, the grown up version 189 00:12:10.759 --> 00:12:15.159 of a puzzle box, quietly waiting for a solution. That night, 190 00:12:15.279 --> 00:12:18.360 alone in my kitchen, I jotted a moment's note into 191 00:12:18.360 --> 00:12:22.440 my battered planner, keep watch on book catalog to morrow, 192 00:12:22.840 --> 00:12:27.519 the practical solution. But I also wrote one more line, sheepish, 193 00:12:27.559 --> 00:12:32.039 but sincere? What do books remember that we forget? If 194 00:12:32.039 --> 00:12:35.639 it was a trick, it was well played. If not well, 195 00:12:35.679 --> 00:12:38.080 that was a story I'd follow, so long as it 196 00:12:38.159 --> 00:12:42.960 remained gentle and strange. Over the next few days, fascination 197 00:12:43.159 --> 00:12:47.159 overtook hesitation. I found myself returning to the reference aisle 198 00:12:47.240 --> 00:12:51.240 with unusual frequency, drawn not by duty but by that 199 00:12:51.399 --> 00:12:55.639 quiet anomaly gleaming at the end of the row. Each morning, 200 00:12:55.720 --> 00:12:58.200 the book was there, as untouched as if it had 201 00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:01.679 been newly shelved by invisible hands. The title on the 202 00:13:01.720 --> 00:13:05.000 spine never repeated, shifting with a logic that defied my 203 00:13:05.080 --> 00:13:11.399 catalog's instincts. Sometimes a phrase possible afternoons twice remembered, or 204 00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:15.279 once simply once. It bore my own initials in the 205 00:13:15.320 --> 00:13:19.200 same block lettering I use on the donation ledger. By 206 00:13:19.240 --> 00:13:22.320 now I'd established a method. I kept my own log 207 00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:26.679 date title as seen first entry inside. Every time I 208 00:13:26.720 --> 00:13:29.519 opened it, fresh entries met my eye, all in that 209 00:13:29.720 --> 00:13:33.600 uncanny handwriting that could have been mine, but not quite. 210 00:13:33.639 --> 00:13:37.480 Some pages described that morning's little events. When I arrived, 211 00:13:37.799 --> 00:13:41.600 what color scarf missus Brodie wore? Irenes muttering over a 212 00:13:41.639 --> 00:13:46.600 stuck microfilm spool. Sometimes the entries referenced things that had 213 00:13:46.600 --> 00:13:49.600 not happened yet, a planned meeting with the friends of 214 00:13:49.639 --> 00:13:52.919 the library, an overdue repair to the reading room clock, 215 00:13:53.399 --> 00:13:58.159 small anticipations that sometimes did and sometimes decidedly did not 216 00:13:58.639 --> 00:14:03.360 come true. One Thursday morning, the book described a routine 217 00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:06.720 fire drill for the staff, naming the exact time and 218 00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:11.000 noting my irritation with the alarm's shrillness. I rolled my eyes. 219 00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:14.320 Surely a joke of the mind, a pattern seeking brain 220 00:14:14.440 --> 00:14:18.240 tricked by suggestion. Later that day, however, we did have 221 00:14:18.279 --> 00:14:23.240 a surprise fire drill just as the entry predicted. Other times, 222 00:14:23.360 --> 00:14:26.919 the book spun out possibilities that fizzled. It described an 223 00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:29.480 afternoon when no one came into the building at all, 224 00:14:29.879 --> 00:14:35.080 a perfect, unbroken silence. Instead, we received three deliveries, and 225 00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:39.759 the preschool story hour invaded with full, glorious chaos. My 226 00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:44.480 log noted every discrepcy. Just when I had convinced myself 227 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:47.519 it was all a grand mnemonic game, I found another 228 00:14:47.679 --> 00:14:51.720 entry bored votes to delay the window upgrades, community room 229 00:14:51.799 --> 00:14:55.679 to stay closed until autumn. I blinked there had been 230 00:14:55.720 --> 00:14:59.679 no such meeting on my calendar. But consulting the library files, 231 00:15:00.039 --> 00:15:03.320 I found meeting minutes on my office computer now reflected 232 00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:06.279 exactly what the book had predicted, though I could swear 233 00:15:06.320 --> 00:15:11.159 they'd previously read otherwise. My confidence in dusty order began 234 00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:15.720 to erode, replaced by keen skeptical interest. The book was 235 00:15:15.759 --> 00:15:19.759 not merely echoing my life, nor simply predicting it. Sometimes 236 00:15:19.759 --> 00:15:23.320 it wrote in alternative threads, mingling the possible with the 237 00:15:23.360 --> 00:15:26.960 actual in a way that neither matched nor wholly diverged 238 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:32.399 from memory. I needed other perspectives. It started with Missus 239 00:15:32.399 --> 00:15:36.919 Brody On Friday afternoon. I tiptoed into the local history room, 240 00:15:36.960 --> 00:15:41.240 where she was perched peering over a pile of yellowing newsletters. 241 00:15:41.799 --> 00:15:45.879 Missus Brodie, have you ever noticed i hesitated books turning 242 00:15:45.960 --> 00:15:51.240 up in unexpected places, or say, library records that edit themselves, 243 00:15:51.840 --> 00:15:55.960 She grinned, without looking up. Oh, love, the library keeps 244 00:15:56.000 --> 00:15:58.639 better track of some things than we ever will. It 245 00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:01.320 likes to put its house in order quietly when we're 246 00:16:01.360 --> 00:16:05.159 not paying mind. Do you mean? I groped for words? 247 00:16:05.519 --> 00:16:09.799 Unwilling to mention magic, She closed a folder and leaned in. 248 00:16:10.240 --> 00:16:13.039 You ever look at a yearbook photo and remember it differently? 249 00:16:13.480 --> 00:16:17.200 Sometimes the building does that for us, the records, the stories, 250 00:16:17.519 --> 00:16:22.519 little kindnesses, sometimes little corrections. Her tone made it sound 251 00:16:22.600 --> 00:16:27.159 less wild than comforting, if still impossible, I retreated with 252 00:16:27.240 --> 00:16:30.360 a new question. Was the book part of this personality, 253 00:16:30.799 --> 00:16:34.879 the old building's tendency to tidy, as missus Brody suggested, 254 00:16:35.320 --> 00:16:39.679 or something else? Next I enlisted Tom, who, for a 255 00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:44.960 high schooler, maintained a kind of glum, perpetual skepticism. I'm 256 00:16:45.039 --> 00:16:48.600 checking some dates, I said, casually at the desk about 257 00:16:48.679 --> 00:16:51.799 last week's awards ceremony at your school. Some of the 258 00:16:51.840 --> 00:16:54.799 local papers recorded it one way, but I've heard it 259 00:16:54.879 --> 00:16:59.840 might have gone differently. Tom pulled out his phone. Yeah, okay, 260 00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:03.120 Coach screamed at us for spelling the principal's name wrong 261 00:17:03.200 --> 00:17:05.960 on the program, so I remember it. But the write 262 00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:09.880 up in the courier says something different. This morning always does. 263 00:17:10.359 --> 00:17:13.599 Can't trust the town paper. Maybe they're just that lazy. 264 00:17:14.680 --> 00:17:17.799 We looked up the event together. His version differed from 265 00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:21.079 both the paper and a recounted entry I'd seen in 266 00:17:21.119 --> 00:17:25.480 the book. Later, hunting for gaps, I asked Irene for 267 00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:30.319 a favor. Do you remember that civic society debate last month? 268 00:17:30.759 --> 00:17:33.759 Did we ever decide to host the poetry reading after all? 269 00:17:34.799 --> 00:17:38.599 Irene frowned, rifling through her battered folder. I thought we 270 00:17:38.759 --> 00:17:41.640 canceled for lack of interest, but the town website says 271 00:17:41.680 --> 00:17:45.640 we picked a November date. Her voice grew uncertain. I 272 00:17:45.720 --> 00:17:49.559 have the Emil chain somewhere. A wait, she stopped. Didn't 273 00:17:49.559 --> 00:17:52.400 we decide that over the phone? Or did I dream that? 274 00:17:53.599 --> 00:17:57.640 For one hanging moment, her certainty bent, narrowed, and then broke. 275 00:17:58.240 --> 00:18:00.519 Give me a day to check. Now you've got me 276 00:18:00.599 --> 00:18:05.279 second guessing myself. I felt a strange relief. It wasn't 277 00:18:05.279 --> 00:18:09.400 only me. Over the week end, I doubled down. I 278 00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:12.640 attempted to move the book, checked it out, scribbled its 279 00:18:12.640 --> 00:18:15.960 details on a slip, even tried misshelving it among fiction. 280 00:18:16.640 --> 00:18:19.839 But by closing, every time I rounded the corner, there 281 00:18:19.880 --> 00:18:24.319 it was, standing cleanly among the reference giants. Titles shifted 282 00:18:24.359 --> 00:18:29.240 as always as if it had never moved. Curiosity trumped confusion. 283 00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:33.359 I became a detective phone at the ready, logging anomalies 284 00:18:33.400 --> 00:18:37.359 as soon as they happened. My catalog searches, all fruitless, 285 00:18:37.559 --> 00:18:40.720 turned up nothing. Even the implied call number on the 286 00:18:40.759 --> 00:18:44.079 ever changing spine never matched any used in our system, 287 00:18:44.359 --> 00:18:48.799 nor any dewy or loc standard I'd seen in forty years. 288 00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:52.000 By now, the itch had become an obsession. The book 289 00:18:52.079 --> 00:18:56.799 revealed new variations each day, future events that sometimes materialized, 290 00:18:57.000 --> 00:19:01.640 sometimes did not. Entries describing previous days differently than I recalled, 291 00:19:01.920 --> 00:19:05.359 which matched official files, and sometimes the memories of others. 292 00:19:05.960 --> 00:19:09.119 It was neither oracle nor archive, but something in between, 293 00:19:09.640 --> 00:19:13.039 a record keeper with a scattered, shifting allegiance to what was, 294 00:19:13.400 --> 00:19:16.720 what could have been, and what might never be. The 295 00:19:16.839 --> 00:19:19.680 question gnawed at me is the book merely observing me? 296 00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:22.839 Or reflecting and inventing all at once. Does it write 297 00:19:22.839 --> 00:19:25.240 my memories or does it let me write my reality? 298 00:19:25.680 --> 00:19:29.160 The style was always my own, the memories sometimes familiar, 299 00:19:29.319 --> 00:19:32.279 sometimes foreign, but always plausible in a way that made 300 00:19:32.319 --> 00:19:37.160 second guessing myself all too easy. And were others Missus Brodie, Irene, 301 00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:41.599 Tom quietly experiencing something similar? Or was the book only 302 00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:46.480 for me? At last? My curiosity spilled over caution. Closing 303 00:19:46.559 --> 00:19:50.400 time approached. A brisk wind rattled the side door, hinting 304 00:19:50.440 --> 00:19:53.920 at early autumn. I made my decision. I would share 305 00:19:53.960 --> 00:19:57.880 the oddity, not the legend, just the fact. A librarian, 306 00:19:57.920 --> 00:20:01.759 after all, does not hoard knowledge, especially when knowledge refuses 307 00:20:01.799 --> 00:20:05.000 to stay in one place. I waited for a Monday, 308 00:20:05.039 --> 00:20:08.039 when the building was quiet, when both Irene and Tom 309 00:20:08.119 --> 00:20:11.599 were likely to be free. I caught them together, Irene 310 00:20:11.640 --> 00:20:15.079 head down at the reference table, Tom loitering in the carol. 311 00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:18.799 I tried to sound off hand. Could you too give 312 00:20:18.839 --> 00:20:23.000 me a hand with something peculiar? I asked, voice deliberately, casual. 313 00:20:23.599 --> 00:20:27.480 There's a book reference, no sticker, funny title. I'd like 314 00:20:27.559 --> 00:20:32.440 your opinions, just to rule out a catalog glitch. Tom grinned, 315 00:20:32.559 --> 00:20:37.000 shoving papers aside. Something haunted. The lightness of his tone 316 00:20:37.079 --> 00:20:42.359 steadied my nerves. Irene closed her binder, eyes narrowing, show me. 317 00:20:43.400 --> 00:20:47.160 We walked together to the shelf. I pointed at the anomaly, which, 318 00:20:47.240 --> 00:20:50.519 even as I gestured, displayed a new title, this time 319 00:20:50.880 --> 00:20:55.279 all turn it days in delicate, looping script. Look at 320 00:20:55.319 --> 00:21:00.960 the spine, I prompted, What does it say? Irene squinted, curious, 321 00:21:01.240 --> 00:21:06.440 Mine says the first attempt. Tom snickered. Now mine's just blank. 322 00:21:06.799 --> 00:21:11.759 Wait no, it says drafts like rough drafts. My pulse quickened. 323 00:21:12.160 --> 00:21:16.200 That's odd. We're all seeing something different. I slid the 324 00:21:16.200 --> 00:21:19.359 book free and laid it on the study table. Tom 325 00:21:19.559 --> 00:21:24.200 the Boldest opened it first. He blinked, then laughed, Is 326 00:21:24.240 --> 00:21:27.640 this a prank? It's my handwriting? Well close enough. Look 327 00:21:27.880 --> 00:21:31.000 it's even got that weird way I always write capital gees. 328 00:21:31.759 --> 00:21:34.920 He laughed again, louder this time, and geez, did I 329 00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:37.880 really say my kem teacher looks like a sad penguin. 330 00:21:38.160 --> 00:21:40.839 I never wrote that down, but that's something I'd think. 331 00:21:41.920 --> 00:21:45.240 He kept reading. Hey, it says I failed the last test, 332 00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:49.119 and then a bit later, wait, retake score eighty five percent. 333 00:21:49.799 --> 00:21:52.640 I haven't gotten a retake date yet either this is 334 00:21:52.680 --> 00:21:56.640 a really mean joke, or he trailed off. Suddenly uncertain, 335 00:21:57.680 --> 00:22:01.079 Irene reached over, drawing it to her with careful hands. 336 00:22:01.519 --> 00:22:05.880 I could see her eyes widen a fraction genealogy results. 337 00:22:05.920 --> 00:22:09.039 She murmured, it's all here, people. I haven't even cross 338 00:22:09.119 --> 00:22:13.000 referenced yet notes in my short hand. She looked sharply 339 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:16.759 at me. How did you do this? I shook my head. 340 00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:19.720 I promise I have not written a word of it. 341 00:22:19.720 --> 00:22:22.440 It did the same for me, my notes, my language. 342 00:22:22.640 --> 00:22:25.880 But events that sometimes didn't happen or are still to come. 343 00:22:26.440 --> 00:22:30.000 I hesitated. Tom's version didn't show up when I opened it. 344 00:22:31.000 --> 00:22:36.279 They looked at me, suspicion merging with fascination. Let's try something, 345 00:22:36.519 --> 00:22:39.960 I said, Read aloud together, I want to see what happens. 346 00:22:40.039 --> 00:22:44.000 Then we huddled around the table, each holding a corner 347 00:22:44.039 --> 00:22:47.559 of the book. Tom began, but as Irene chimed in 348 00:22:47.839 --> 00:22:50.880 the text beneath their finger tips seemed to shift, words, 349 00:22:50.920 --> 00:22:55.359 merging and recombining. Now, instead of distinct entries, the lines 350 00:22:55.400 --> 00:22:59.680 described moments we had shared quiet library hours, group debates 351 00:22:59.720 --> 00:23:03.559 about shelving strategy, the time the fuse box failed and 352 00:23:03.599 --> 00:23:06.440 we spent half an hour arguing over the right screwdriver. 353 00:23:07.480 --> 00:23:10.759 Yet as we read, details didn't match our memories exactly. 354 00:23:11.240 --> 00:23:14.279 A shared tea break, none of us clearly recalled the 355 00:23:14.319 --> 00:23:17.200 power outage described with timing. None of us agreed on 356 00:23:17.680 --> 00:23:21.160 a group photo taken in the stairwell, which, to our puzzlement, 357 00:23:21.519 --> 00:23:24.680 none of us remembered posing for Yet there it was 358 00:23:25.119 --> 00:23:30.880 briefly described in loving detail. We paused, hearts racing, glancing 359 00:23:30.880 --> 00:23:34.200 at one another. Each time we read. The book's entries 360 00:23:34.279 --> 00:23:38.960 updated in real time, new lines appearing, some old ones vanishing. 361 00:23:38.960 --> 00:23:43.680 As fingerprints passed the margins. The recollections blurred, plausible, but 362 00:23:43.759 --> 00:23:48.400 never settling on a single undisputed version. Tom snatched his 363 00:23:48.480 --> 00:23:52.079 phone and snapped a photo, the result a blurred white 364 00:23:52.200 --> 00:23:58.480 rectangle no text. Irene's curiosity overcame her skepticism. Let's check 365 00:23:58.599 --> 00:24:04.000 microfilm in see if any written record has changed. We 366 00:24:04.079 --> 00:24:08.480 scanned back through the public minutes for last week's power outage. Unbelievably, 367 00:24:08.599 --> 00:24:12.359 the time and circumstances now matched the book s shared entry. 368 00:24:12.680 --> 00:24:15.359 Yet when asked separately, none of us had the same 369 00:24:15.480 --> 00:24:20.680 clear memory. Even emails our group thread contained subtle edits 370 00:24:20.680 --> 00:24:25.079 to timing, like the library itself was nudging us toward consensus. 371 00:24:25.720 --> 00:24:29.319 Tom grinned, why diyed, What if the book is writing us, 372 00:24:29.559 --> 00:24:33.440 not the other way around. Irene shook her head, but 373 00:24:33.519 --> 00:24:36.119 her lips quirked in a grin she'd never wear if 374 00:24:36.160 --> 00:24:40.279 she doubted entirely. For my part, the world shifted out 375 00:24:40.319 --> 00:24:43.480 of its usual groove. I had assumed the strange book 376 00:24:43.599 --> 00:24:47.799 was observing me, perhaps reflecting me, possibly tricking only my memory. 377 00:24:48.559 --> 00:24:51.279 Now it appeared anyone who looked into it saw themselves, 378 00:24:51.279 --> 00:24:55.519 mirrored their handwriting, their alternative and possible lives, and that 379 00:24:55.559 --> 00:24:59.480 the effect became something else entirely when shared a record 380 00:24:59.519 --> 00:25:03.359 not just one life, but of lives, negotiating memory together, 381 00:25:04.400 --> 00:25:08.480 it wasn't just personal, It was communal. And, perhaps, though 382 00:25:08.480 --> 00:25:12.160 the idea seemed impossible, the very mechanism by which the 383 00:25:12.240 --> 00:25:16.279 library and the community around it chose and preserved their reality, 384 00:25:17.279 --> 00:25:20.279 the question that had governed my curiosity was too small. 385 00:25:20.960 --> 00:25:23.960 The reality, if what we were seeing was real, went 386 00:25:24.039 --> 00:25:27.319 well beyond a misplaced volume or a trick of the mind. 387 00:25:28.359 --> 00:25:33.039 And the book, still clean, still eerily present, sat quietly 388 00:25:33.079 --> 00:25:35.880 at the center of it all, its blank spine, ready 389 00:25:35.880 --> 00:25:39.960 to become whatever title the next reader would give. Tom's 390 00:25:39.960 --> 00:25:43.880 hand hovered uncertainly over the pale page, fingers shining against 391 00:25:43.920 --> 00:25:47.839 the unblemished cream as sunlight angled in from the tall windows. 392 00:25:48.400 --> 00:25:50.960 The book seemed to pulse beneath our touch, not with 393 00:25:51.039 --> 00:25:54.480 any warmth or tremor, but with a low, persistent tension, 394 00:25:54.880 --> 00:25:57.920 as if it anticipated what we do next. I tried 395 00:25:57.920 --> 00:26:02.039 to steady myself, focusing on tom quickening breath and Irene's narrow, 396 00:26:02.039 --> 00:26:05.759 wide study rather than on the strange dance of words. 397 00:26:06.319 --> 00:26:10.160 The feeling wasn't fear. It was a sharper cousin to excitement, 398 00:26:10.440 --> 00:26:14.200 an alertness that bordered on giddiness. We have to know 399 00:26:14.279 --> 00:26:18.480 what's actually happening, Irene said, her voice brisk but betraying 400 00:26:18.519 --> 00:26:22.480 a rising note of wonder. If everyone sees something different, 401 00:26:22.960 --> 00:26:26.680