So, one morning…I come in to work. I and the janitor are the only ones there. I say good morning, how are you, blah dee blah blah; etc. He says, "oh, one interesting thing…somebody left an old mattress in front of the library." Out front? That’s weird, I said, thinking someone had dumped it by the curb for trash pickup. To which he says, "No, it was in the grass, right in front of the branch."
I said, well, that doesn’t make any sense. He said, "Well, the really weird part is that it had, written on it, in big, block letters, NANINI RULES – HIMMEL BITES THE BIG ONE (??)"
I stared at him for a moment. Then, I said, No, I don’t think so, but that’s funny. And he said, "No, really, it did." And I said, Ha ha, right. And where is this ‘message on a mattress’ "In the dumpster over by the pool." On the other side of the park? "Yeah." Okay, wait a minute.
And I proceeded to take a walk across the park to the pool area. And there, leaning against the dumpster is a mattress with, sure enough, printed in giant, perfect block letters, it says, NANINI RULES – HIMMEL BITES THE BIG ONE.
So the next person to arrive is the Branch Manager, Carl Ann Rott. I proceed to tell her about the mattress. She proceeds to say, "Ha, Ha, right." I tell her that it’s the truth. She then takes a little walk across the park.
We never did find out who left it. It didn’t make sense for it to be a member of the public, why would anyone compare the top-circulating branch in the system to little Himmel in the first place. It had to be an inside job. We suspected a couple of our pages. Carol Ann, who managed Nanini just before Himmel, thought maybe it was a personal jab of some kind. We called around. No one ever fessed up.
A few years later, I had moved on to Wilmot library but had been invited to Carol Ann’s retirement party. A day or two before her last day I was driving down the street and I saw an old mattress someone had thrown away. So when Carol Ann came in for her last day, there it was propped up against the park water fountain, and on it was written HIMMEL RULES – CAROL ANN ROCKS.
I said, well, that doesn’t make any sense. He said, "Well, the really weird part is that it had, written on it, in big, block letters, NANINI RULES – HIMMEL BITES THE BIG ONE (??)"
I stared at him for a moment. Then, I said, No, I don’t think so, but that’s funny. And he said, "No, really, it did." And I said, Ha ha, right. And where is this ‘message on a mattress’ "In the dumpster over by the pool." On the other side of the park? "Yeah." Okay, wait a minute.
And I proceeded to take a walk across the park to the pool area. And there, leaning against the dumpster is a mattress with, sure enough, printed in giant, perfect block letters, it says, NANINI RULES – HIMMEL BITES THE BIG ONE.
So the next person to arrive is the Branch Manager, Carl Ann Rott. I proceed to tell her about the mattress. She proceeds to say, "Ha, Ha, right." I tell her that it’s the truth. She then takes a little walk across the park.
We never did find out who left it. It didn’t make sense for it to be a member of the public, why would anyone compare the top-circulating branch in the system to little Himmel in the first place. It had to be an inside job. We suspected a couple of our pages. Carol Ann, who managed Nanini just before Himmel, thought maybe it was a personal jab of some kind. We called around. No one ever fessed up.
A few years later, I had moved on to Wilmot library but had been invited to Carol Ann’s retirement party. A day or two before her last day I was driving down the street and I saw an old mattress someone had thrown away. So when Carol Ann came in for her last day, there it was propped up against the park water fountain, and on it was written HIMMEL RULES – CAROL ANN ROCKS.
No comments:
Post a Comment
What can I post on your wall?
Commenting & Posting Guidelines
Welcome to your library on social media!
Pima County Public Library (PCPL) offers blogs and other social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter for educational, cultural, civic, customer service, and recreational purposes. They provide a limited (or designated) public forum to facilitate the sharing of ideas, opinions, and information about library-related subjects and issues.
By choosing to comment or post on our social media accounts, you agree with the following:
Comments and posts are moderated by library staff, and the library reserves the right to remove any that are unlawful or off topic. Posts containing the following may be deleted:
Copyright violations
Off-topic comments
Commercial material/spam/solicitation
Sexual content, or links to sexual content
Threatening or harassing postings
Libelous or other kinds of personal attacks
Conduct or encouragement of illegal activity
Content that reveals private, personal information without permission
Vulgar language or content
Comments in support of or in opposition to political campaigns or ballot measures
Content that degrades others on the basis of gender, race, class, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability or other classification
P.S. Protect your privacy. Don't post personally identifying information in these public spaces, including details like your library card number, phone number, or medical information, etc.
Young people under age 18, especially, should not post information such as your school, age, phone number, and address.