Rod Kackley's Blog: St. Isidore Collection - Posts Tagged "library"
St. Isidore's Library Man By Rod Kackley
Gerald Johnson never missed a day of going to the St. Isidore Library. He would take books back and bring books home. Some days just one book. Other days two or three. Some days he would fill two book bags.
Gerald never missed a day. Take books back to the library. Bring books home.
Gerald Johnson watched his neighbor’s children digging holes to China, then years later posing for pre-prom photos and years later finally bring their own children back to the neighborhood to visit their parents.
And they watched him. Every day. Going to the library with books, coming home with books. Year after year.
One day Gerald didn’t go to the library. That day he went to the funeral home.
His daughter, Sarah, went to the library the next day and returned the last of the books Gerald had borrowed.
“Your father did love to read, didn’t he?” said Alice the librarian.
“Oh no,” said Sarah. “He figured out the system you used to send books to the basement if they had not been checked out often enough.”
“He never read the books. He just wanted to make sure none of them wound up in the basement. Ever.”
Gerald never missed a day. Take books back to the library. Bring books home.
Gerald Johnson watched his neighbor’s children digging holes to China, then years later posing for pre-prom photos and years later finally bring their own children back to the neighborhood to visit their parents.
And they watched him. Every day. Going to the library with books, coming home with books. Year after year.
One day Gerald didn’t go to the library. That day he went to the funeral home.
His daughter, Sarah, went to the library the next day and returned the last of the books Gerald had borrowed.
“Your father did love to read, didn’t he?” said Alice the librarian.
“Oh no,” said Sarah. “He figured out the system you used to send books to the basement if they had not been checked out often enough.”
“He never read the books. He just wanted to make sure none of them wound up in the basement. Ever.”
