secret 20 - why i stopped going to the library

warning: disturbing, not necessarily for children content ahead.....

it's ok to turn back now.


although it takes place in a library, this gets a bit ugly.


you have been warned.


continue at your own risk...

when i was at university, i spent lots of time in the big main library. lots of time. i had a favorite spot on the 3rd floor, near the PG stacks. i was there late one afternoon, sitting at my usual table, head bent over the books. i glanced up and saw an overweight, sweaty, rather greasy guy in a sweatsuit, peeking around the corner. this wasn't really that unusual, it being a big ten university in the upper midwest, so i didn't think that much of it.

i got up to go get some book or other and went down the aisle just adjacent to the one he was lurking towards he end of. i was reaching for some book or other and caught sight of him again, peeking around the corner. and now it seemed he was behaving rather suspiciously, because he seemed to be actually watching me.

again, i just thought, "loser, get a life," and went on looking for references to bakhtin and menippean satire. a search which took me to the other end of the aisle he was in and so i went around the corner and glanced up and realized that he was indeed watching me and that he had his sweatpants pulled down and was...you guessed it...having a lovely time with himself (note: not using the correct technical term to avoid coming up in creepy searches and getting a whole bunch of new followers that i wouldn't be that keen on having). right there. in the library.

i must admit that i totally freaked. so freaked that i didn't even shout at him or scream or anything or make fun of him for being small and pathetic (i only thought of that afterwards). i actually ran back to my table, grabbed my things and fled the library. i went directly over to the campus police station, which was nearby and reported him.

i went back to the library together with a police officer and the guy was, of course, long gone, tho' the evidence was right there, clear as day on the floor. ew!! yuck!!!

it turned out i wasn't the first to report such activity by a person fitting his description. i never did find out whether they caught him. luckily, it was almost the end of the semester, so i didn't really have to spend much time there again for several months. because i can tell you it definitely put me off the library.

i never did feel the same studying on that floor again. i'd go get the books i needed and study in a totally different spot. you just never knew after that...

p.s. i didn't really think a picture of this one was appropriate...i hope you agree.