20 Minutes in the RSM Library

Posted on March 21, 2009 in Daily Life Writing Exercises

This is an exercise in which I wrote about what I saw at [[Rancho Santa Margarita]] Library as I scratched at my [[pen tablet]] for about 20 minutes. Could be done anywhere.

Before me on the burgundy-colored table: a printer, a maze of surge protectors, and an ankle-high tower into which eight plugs have been installed. To my left, the bookshelves; to my right, several computer stations, some with users attached. Here a most rotund man wearing a mocha-colored dress shirt explores the net. A mother leads a crying child down the line of computers and through the stacks, keeping a book just out of her reach. Now the mother arrives at the front desk and gives the book to the kid who begins to laugh. The little girl sticks one of the white corners into her mouth. The object has been acquired — the mind-suck can begin.

The security guard comes by. Here’s an interesting fellow. Not very tall, maybe five four. Vietnamese. Wears the official blue shirt and black pants of his office. Black hair sticks straight up on all sides. Dark glasses. Can expect him to appear every ten minutes or so, his hands clasped behind his back. Heavyish but not fat. I saw him outside when I came in, eating a sandwich. He walks by again, flashing his watch. Has a radio in his belt. Walks fast now. Usually he is slow. When kids get chatty at the computers, he stands behind them until they notice his presence and desist. The large man is advising a woman with a silver-blonde pony tail how to access her terminal. Her tiny son knows the tricks already and has locked in. The security guard has stopped to watch her as she chats in Spanish on the phone.

Now who is this? A bald handyman raises an orange ladder and does something with the light over my table. He takes out the old lamp and puts in a new rod. A pained look crosses his face as he fiddles with the cover. Now he climbs back, sure of his balance, stands on the second to the top step – he’s read the [[Occupational_Safety_and_Health_Administration|OSHA]] warning. Puts light cover in its place with a noise not dissimilar to the creak of a squeezed balloon except louder. Grabs his ladder and the new box of bulbs, then goes a-hunting between the stacks for the next item on his agenda.