As I walked back inside I swear I heard the guinea pig laugh at me.

The past week at work has been just a touch stranger than usual.

The other day an elderly patron asked me if I could help him find The Gift of the Magi to read to his ESL students.  Because we had a few copies on shelf I took him to the kid's section and found everything available and handed him the stack.  He started flipping through the books and one by one he handed them back, each time making noises of disgust.  I asked him what was wrong and he sighed and said that Della's hair just wasn't pretty enough in any of the books.  So, after 20 minutes of searching the internet we found the Della with the prettiest hair.  

Yesterday a coworker asked me if I knew anything about the guinea pig in the corner.  Thinking this was code for a poop-related incident (we've had two in the past week) or something equally scary, but sincerely hoping she was just being funny I shook my head no rather uncertainly.  Turns out that we really did have a guinea pig hanging out rather discreetly just inside the doors.  After a little investigating we discovered that the guinea pig belonged to a tutor.  Yes, that person that coaches your kids in whatever subject they're struggling with, the person that your kids look up to - that's the guy who brought a guinea pig to the library, not as a prop or a learning opportunity (probably not allowed I'm guessing), but simply as a buddy.  

During the guinea pig fiasco a very distraught patron came up and asked me rather loudly, "Do you know what pisses me off?" Oh boy oh boy, does it have something to do with a guinea pig hanging out in the library? I thought.  But nope, it wasn't that.  Before I had a chance to ask why, she continued on with her rant.  "You know those two guys that live here?" Oh, we have much more than that, I thought.  "And do you remember how I told you that they were begging cigarettes off patrons last week out in the parking lot?  Well you aren't going to believe what they're doing today!" This time she had me stumped.  I had guesses, but all of which were just going to feed her anger, so I kept my blank face steady.  "They're out there offering mechanical services to people!  Seriously!  They're changing someone's oil as we speak!" It took a lot not to smile, but I maintained composure and told her that the parking lot wasn't within my control and that if she had a problem she could call the police.  Naturally, she huffed and stormed off.  

I did duck my head outside, prepared for a spectacle and fully ready to ask a manager if what I said was the right thing to say, but I only saw the two gentlemen leisurely smoking together as they rested in the shade.

As I walked back inside I swear I heard the guinea pig laugh at me.  

I'll leave you with a beautiful moment shared by two books that may or may not have been a random pairing depending on whether you believe in soul mates or fate or love at first sight.