Sights of the Round Table

On the second floor, beneath a large skylight, four light gray armchairs surround a small, white and brown table. The chairs are comfortable enough that they are rarely empty. The table is their connecter and is as busy as the chairs. It's day begins when the library opens, and is busy until the doors close at 7:00 PM.

10:00.  The table begins the day as an empty canvas, waiting and ready for visitors. 

10:30.  First, one pair of Converse tennis shoes, grayish white, laces frayed but double-knotted are propped up, the feet that are wearing them are crossed and light blue-jeans rest on the table. Keeping them company is a pair of expensive looking Bose headphones, large, squishy and black, with a hard plastic connector creating the requisite headphone shape.

11:00.  The feet are gone, replaced by the October edition of Men’s Health magazine. (Get Back in Shape! Kill Zombies!) Next to it is a gray ball-point paper mate pen, cap off.

11:30.  A Men’s Health magazine subscription card has replaced the actual magazine. Sitting next to it is a half-full bottle of Multi-V Vitamin Water, Lemonade flavor (“Vitamin A to Zinc!”)

12:00. The Men’s Heath subscription card is still here, now accompanied by a lime-green faux leather bound journal, weathered and dirty. Careful observation reveals that it is actually a case for a small black kindle.

12.30. Empty except for the subscription card.

1:00. Several books— Aligned, Relaxed, Resilient: The Physical Foundation of Mindfulness by Will Johnson. The soft cover is pale blue and white, looks to be about several hundred pages.  Next to it is The Adventures of Tin Tin: Volume Seven.  This book is thin and bright red, with a hard cover.  The subscription card is gone.

1:30.  Aligned, Relaxed, Resilient: The Physical Foundation of Mindfulness and The Adventures of Tin Tin have been joined by another hard-cover book with an image of a man’s face on the front: Serial Killers: Profiles of Today’s Most Terrifying Criminals by the Editor’s of Time Life. Serial Killers sits on top of another hardcover book, brick red. Some sort of encyclopedia?

2:00. A librarian has cleared the pile of books from the table and put them on a re-shelving cart. Upon inspection of the cart I was able to discern the full title of the brick-red book: Encyclopedia of the Vatican and Papacy edited by Frank J. Coppa.

2:30. A Silver laptop has appeared, with the familiar apple logo emblazoned on top. A soft, camel-colored purse lays open next to the laptop. A phone peeks out of the top—it keeps vibrating, unnoticed by anyone other than myself.  On the other half of the table, several new books: How Would a Patriot Act? Defending American Values from a President Run Amok. The author is Glenn Greenwold. The statue of liberty stares up at the ceiling from the taupe-colored hard cover. Next to this is another book: World War II: A Visual Encyclopedia by John Keegan.

3:00. The laptop is no longer on the table, but a battery-pack is now in its place, along with a cord that runs off and down the side of the table. The purse also remains, as do the patriotic books. An i-pod has joined the mix, taken from inside the purse. It is small and thin, lime-green—it looks like a Nano. Its thin black cord trails along the table.

3:30. The purse and electronics are gone. The patriotic books remain on the table, but they have been joined by something more colorful—The Barefoot Contessa at Home: Everyday Recipes You’ll Make Over and Over Again. A brunette woman beams from the cover, surrounded by flowers and vegetables. She wields a large knife.

4:00. A librarian has emptied the table again. All the books have been carefully placed on the flat gray re-shelving rack with wheels that slowly makes its way around the second floor until it is parked in front of the circulation desk.

4:30. Three new books are on the table,  two soft-covers and one hardcover. The first: The Complete Guide to Working for Yourself: Everything the SELF-EMPLOYED Need to Know About TAXES, RECORDKEEPING, and Other LAWS.  Co-authored by Beth Williams and Dr. Jean Murray.  The book is decorated with pictures of smiling and prosperous self-employed men and women. Apparently a CD-ROM, advertised in the corner of the cover, accompanies the book. The next book is black and yellow, Home-Based Business for DUMMIES . Second Edition. (The fun and easy way to start a successful business in your own home.  A Reference for the Rest of Us!) By Paul Edwards and Sarah Edwards, Authors of The Best Home Businesses for the 21^st Century.  The third book is hard cover and is sparsely decorated. Its title: How to Sue in Virginia Small Claims Court: A Complete Guide to Taking Your Case to the “People’s Court” by J.D.R. M. Goolrick.

5:00. The three books from 4:30 are still on the table, accompanied now by a black, soft cover laptop bag.

5:30.  No change.

6:00.  The books are gone. In their place is a glossy magazine—The November edition of Vogue magazine. Rihanna glares out at the world from the cover, crouching in some sort of wheat field, clothed in bright, angry red. (Red-Hot Rihanna—“I Love to Have Fun”) Also in this issue: Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, and the Funny Business of Politics.

6:30. Vogue is still on the table, now sitting next to an i-phone. Over the loudspeaker, an announcement proclaims thirty minutes until closing.

7:00.  As I leave, I look behind me for once last glimpse of the table. The i-phone is gone,  but Rihanna remains.