03/09/04
Throwing The Book At You!

Out of the several dreams I vaguely remembered from yesterday, this one stuck out the most. I can even remember specific titles and snatches of dialogue, which is unusual for me.

I was in a big library. Its layout didn't match any library I can ever remember being in so I'm afraid I can't describe it adequately. The shelves were very tall and would require a ladder to reach the tops, and when I went in their short ends seemed to be facing me. The ceiling was very high and might have had small windows lining the wall just below it; it was kind of dim, yet white light was getting in, so I guess it was daytime. Most of the furnishings were dark and old; maybe dark green carpeting, earth tones and such. I think I might have been with a group of people but I'm not even sure why I was here; I just knew I wanted to look for some good books to read. What exact subject I was looking for, I also don't know; maybe I was just looking for anything I'm interested in--mythology, Ojibwa Indians, dream interpretation, the like.

I approached the tall shelf nearest me and went around to the left side, peering up at one of the higher shelves on it. There were a lot of books here that struck me as potentially interesting--right off the bat! What luck. There were quite a few whose covers I saw--some were shelved like normal library books, spine outward, but a few were face forward and even partly obstructed behind others. The shelved ones were to the right, the face-forward ones to the left of those. I can't remember all the titles and subjects I saw by now. One oversized book with a bright blue cover and some kind of illustration, facing forward yet partly obscured by some books in front of it, was entitled Chippewa Of The 1800's or some such; just my area of interest, yet it was a very thin hardcover, and I guessed it to be written for a very young audience. Too bad. There were also lots of mythology-themed books here too; they seemed to be standing in front of the Chippewa one, and had white covers, maybe with those plastic jackets that the library gives its books. Thicker, and probably for an older audience...I remember one with a title similar to Indian Myths, though I'm not sure if that meant Native American Indian or India Indian. Another one much like this had a similar title with another culture which began with an I, but I'm afraid I can't recall it; the only things I can think of are Iranian Myths or Iraqi Myths, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't either one of those...oh! I bet it was Irish Myths. That sounds about right, since I seem to recall there was something about Celtic mythology. There was also one something like Malaysian Myths or Malaysian Mythology--I'm pretty sure it began with an M and was some culture I never would have thought of reading the mythology of, but I'm not positive that it was Malaysian; it had a different cover from the Indian and Irish ones, so I think it was published by a different company. I think I wondered if I should check some of these out--the Indian and Irish mythology ones looked promising, even though I'm not quite interested in Celtic mythology--but I wasn't decided on anything yet. I had a whole library to browse through, and this was just the first shelf, after all.

Strangely, the titles of the books on the shelf are as specific as this dream got; the rest is rather vague by now. I noticed a young man wandering around the library; maybe a little stocky, dark hair, perhaps similar looking to this man in a chocolate milk ad which really annoys me (in the commercial he scratches a bar code on a bottle of chocolate milk so the cashier will be forced to shake the bottle back and forth in an attempt to scan it properly--I always think, "Why can't he shake it HIMSELF??"). I'm not POSITIVE the guy looked like that, but he might have. Could have been cuter. Anyway I noticed him wandering around and I watched him a bit as I wondered what he was doing. Maybe I had a crush on him. o_o He too seemed to be looking for a book. I can't recall what happened, but I guess he finally selected one and went over toward one of the reading tables to the left of this shelf. And I saw him TEAR A PAGE OUT OF THE BOOK!! :O I could not believe it! He'd just defaced library property! He'd MUTILATED A BOOK!

I stormed away from the bookshelf and made a beeline toward him. The nerve! I had no real clue who this guy was but I tore into him immediately--"Why did you rip that page out of that book? How could you do that? What did you do that for?? Don't you realize that's vandalism?!"

He seemed pretty surprised and flustered by my attack, and hastily tried to explain himself. I don't remember what his explanation was, but it was dumb. I can't say if he tore the page out because he needed to use it for something unrelated to reading or books, or if he just didn't like that particular page being in the book, or what. The reason MIGHT have boiled down to him not liking some aspect of the book, and so attempting to remove it; at least this is what I get based on how I reacted. I calmed down somewhat as at least he had tried to explain himself, but I was still very angry that he'd torn the book. Not only was it not his property to destroy, but...it was a BOOK! You don't just go around ripping up books unless you have a damn good reason.

Sitting at this reading table was a young, plain-looking woman with long straight blond hair parted in the middle, a book open in front of her; she was staring over her shoulder at us, as we were right beside and behind her. She seemed more curious about the confrontation than irritated. I sensed we were all college students or something. After the guy tried explaining himself, as I said I calmed down, but I was still bothered by his reason. I threw my hands up in the air in frustration.

"That's no reason to tear up a book! That's like seeing a Picasso and then--spitting on it!" And as soon as I said this aloud I thought, "Oo...I should have come up with a better analogy." I had wanted my comment to convey the thought that what he'd done was like spiting art for art's sake, or hating art just because it's art--maybe a better analogy would have been, "That's like seeing a Picasso and then complaining that it looks too much like a Picasso!" But oh well, what was said was said, and I guessed it was clear enough what I meant. He had no right to be destroying this thing, and he should be doubly ashamed for treating the arts so shabbily, was my point. He seemed to get it, and nodded quickly, probably thinking, "Anything to get me away from this crazy woman!!"

The whole time this blond girl was watching us with open amusement. "You'd better behave yourself from now on," I said to the guy, who just nodded and nodded and nodded. "No more destroying books! I can't keep an eye on you all the time, I have my own things to do!" I turned to the blond girl and then gestured at her. "Could you make sure he doesn't do this again? You look as if you would be able to handle him well enough!"

Now--I had MEANT that as a compliment. Yet when I said it, I immediately felt she would take it as an insult--what did I mean, she LOOKED as if she could handle him? Was I saying she looked like a tomboy, or tough, or butch, or something? Aagghh!! >_< Yet the girl's look of amusement only grew and she nodded. I think she found the entire incident too funny to bother being offended. I was relieved that I hadn't upset her, and I actually felt a little proud of myself for resolving the situation in this way--taking the guy to task for destroying library property, and giving the girl something useful to do. And looking like I was pretty good in charge while doing it. ^_^ Even if I do think I came across as a little bit psycho. What can I say, I love books.



2004 Dreams
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