Public library and other stories

I bought very few books when the girls were young. We went to the library. And nobody bought books when I was young either. I went to the library.
It was what we did, Helen said. It was a habit, a ritual. You borrowed it, you read it, you brought it back and chose something else, and someone else read whatever you read after and before you. It was communal. That’s what public library means: something communal.

The doctor looked again at his computer screen. He clicked his tongue.
And life generally? he asked. How’s life?
Fine, I said.
Nothing out of the ordinary? he said.
No, I said, not really, well, my dad died and my siblings went mad and we’ve all stopped speaking to each other and my ex-partner is suing me for half the value of everything I own and I got made redundant and about a month ago my next-door neighbour bought a drum kit, but other than that, just, you know, the usual.