Clarence and His Books

                  CLARENCE AND HIS BOOKS

Clarence turned the lights off in the main room and slowly walked down the hallway, tired from the day’s work. It was exactly 9:00 PM, and his cleaning for today was finished. 

Well past retirement age, he worked only three hours a day, three days a week, keeping the books dusted and performing general maintenance duties - a far cry from his former high school physics teaching career. He was loved by his students, their parents, and the faculty. As the only black teacher in the entire school system, he had overcome obstacles not presented to other teachers. He was proud of his accomplishments. He was proud of himself.

Having nothing more to prove professionally, he could now relax, and so he grew to love this job and looked forward to coming in, and seeing old friends, the books that took him to places far beyond his imagination. He lived alone now since his wife Jean passed, and would bring home a new book every week to keep him company.

One day, the librarian informed him the library would be relocated at the end of the year.  He began to worry he would lose his job. The very thought of it made him sad. 

On this particular night, he put his equipment away neatly in the broom closet, donned his jacket, pulled a cap over graying black curls, then double-checked to ensure he had keys. Giving one last look around, he headed for the double doors, stopping to set the alarm.

Exactly two minutes after Clarence shut and locked the doors, Chinese Regional Cooking jumped from the shelf and onto the large wooden study table. He was joined by Freedom from Fear three bookshelves over, Winston Churchill, an Intimate Portrait, next to him, and Bonsai from the end bookshelf.

Because there wasn’t enough room for everyone, the rest stayed on their shelves, but certainly not quietly. Soon everyone was talking, and Cooking couldn’t be heard over the chatter.

“Attention, Everyone! Could I have your attention, please?”

Books were still talking, so Cooking had to yell louder and stomp on the table.

“Please, we must have it quiet! This is a library, remember!”

The books were at last quiet.

“As I am sure you are all aware (since we are after all professional eavesdroppers) the library will be moving at the end of the year.” 

(Low chattering)

“All right. All right, Everyone. Calm down!”

“Excuse me,” said Anne of Green Gables. “As one of the older books here, I want to express my concern for the probability that we will not all be taken along. Those who are tattered may be discarded for newer versions of ourselves. I’m just so worried I may never see you all again!” And she began to cry.

The others on the shelves started to cry, and soon everyone was crying.

Webster’s Dictionary shouted in a deep, authoritative voice, “What if they decide they don’t want us anymore, huh? Then what? What will become of us?

Word Processing for Dummies said, “Yeah. What if they decide we’re useless? Computers will take over everything!

“Sure. We were good enough years ago when people were just starting out, but now they know what they’re doing so we’ve become useless?”

“What, has my time passed?” inquired “Dreams from my Father” Have I been relegated to Kindleland forever?”

“What about books like me that people don’t read anymore,” asked 15th Century Maps of Australia. “Just because I’m not checked out regularly doesn’t mean I don’t have something to offer someone someday, right?”

Betty Crocker chimed in, “Sure. Nowadays, everybody has a microwave, and they buy ready-to-eat meals. How do you think I feel, only looked at once a year if I’m lucky?”

Modern Architecture-1950 piped up from the back bookcase and complained, “How do you think I feel? I haven’t been off this shelf in five years! If it wasn’t for Clarence picking me up to dust, I would be buried in old cobwebs!”

The books voiced their opinions and concerns, but by the night's end, they still had no plan. Even the books on moving and storage had no suggestions. It all seemed inevitable. Try as they might, they couldn’t agree.

The books met several more times and could not come up with anything that would work. Their first problem was they didn’t know who would be discarded and left behind. 

Old books? Torn books? Out-of-date books?  Politically-incorrect books? History books?

Second, what would be the safest way to travel without being seen?

And third, how could they be sure they would be put back on the shelves once they got there. How could they be sure someone wouldn’t recognize them as having been in the discard pile?

The books could not agree on anything. They held onto their own opinions and would not waiver. Dictionary said it was impossible to work with them; Thesaurus said it could not be done.

At the end of the year, a final meeting was held to ensure everyone was set to go. There were lots of hugs and tears with everyone wishing the best for each other.

The next day movers packed most of the books and left the ones they didn’t want on the shelves for disposal. Their worst nightmares had come true! They weren’t taking all the books! Oh, no! 

Poor Lion in Winter was half under the bookshelf, and the Wives of Henry VIII was kicked into the hall.

That night Clarence came in to do one last cleaning of the building. When he got to the books scattered about, he carefully placed them in the three empty cartons he found thrown in the corner by the packers, all the while speaking softly to each book as he put it in the box.

“There you are, my friends. Don’t worry. I won’t let them leave you behind. We’ve all spent many nights together, haven’t we? You are far too valuable to be thrown in the trash bin. 

“Each and every one of you is a treasure and should be treated with respect. You all have so much to tell us. Who would dare throw you away?”

He taped up the boxes, then wrote on the tops with magic markers, and stacked them with the other boxes for the move.

The next day they were moved to their new home across town. All were put on new shelves, and not a single book was left behind. And to everyone’s surprise, Clarence came to clean that night.

“Good evening, my dear friends. So nice to see you. As you see, they’ve kept me on even though I was worried they would leave me behind. I hope you like your new accommodations. I promise to do my best to keep you looking beautiful and in top shape.” 

Clarence smiled at his books. He didn’t know it, but they smiled back at him.