One.
Pashko. I was going through my stuff the other day, and I ran across this.
Libuse. “The Selected Writings of Edgar Allan Poe.” It’s a pretty old copy.
Pashko. Open up the cover.
Libuse. “Klara Deen, 424-7086, R.U., Mr. Berkey.” Previous owner?
Pashko. An English teacher from high school lent me this book to write a paper on Poe. I’ve been borrowing this book for twelve years now.
Libuse. I think it’s beyond borrowing. You’ve stolen from Ms. Klara Deen.
Pashko. I think Klara’s the name of my English teacher’s wife.
Two.
Klara Deen. Honey, I’m trying to find my Edgar Allen Poe book. I can’t find it.
Scoville Kavcic. It’s not in the bookcase?
Klara Deen. Nope. You know? I can’t remember the last time I saw it.
Scoville Kavcic. This was a while ago, but I remember letting one of my students borrow the book once. He was having trouble with a term paper on Poe. I’m trying to remember, but I don’t think he ever returned it.
Klara Deen. I wanted to read my side notes on his poetry. I thought it would help me with this verse I’m working on.
Scoville Kavcic. I wonder if he still has your book. I thought it would have helped him.
Klara Deen. Did it?
Scoville Kavcic. He never finished the paper for me.
Three.
Pashko. I never did finish that paper, and I ended up getting a miserable grade that quarter. I could never show that report card to my parents, so I thought of a place where no one could imagine a report card would be.
Libuse. Where’s that?
Pashko. Rolled up in the guest room’s window shade. It’s funny why I didn’t just think of burning it or throwing it away. Instead, I had to hide it. I kind of wonder if knowing exactly where it is gave me some sort of calm about my grade.
Libuse. But your parent’s found out about it, right?
Pashko. Being a failure to my parents was always tough to confront.
Libuse. When I was young, it was difficult for me to return library books. For some reason they would run overdue, and I would have to pay five cents from my allowance each day it was late. I don’t think I could handle the impact of my saved money leaking nickel by nickel. So I responded to the stress by hiding the book behind the stereo speakers and hoped that such a random place would be enough for the library to forget about the book and the overdue charges. It didn’t dawn on me that simply returning the book would have been the best solution.
Pashko. Yeah, returning this book was really difficult for me to do.
End. Books Kept and Hidden
Pashko. I was going through my stuff the other day, and I ran across this.
Libuse. “The Selected Writings of Edgar Allan Poe.” It’s a pretty old copy.
Pashko. Open up the cover.
Libuse. “Klara Deen, 424-7086, R.U., Mr. Berkey.” Previous owner?
Pashko. An English teacher from high school lent me this book to write a paper on Poe. I’ve been borrowing this book for twelve years now.
Libuse. I think it’s beyond borrowing. You’ve stolen from Ms. Klara Deen.
Pashko. I think Klara’s the name of my English teacher’s wife.
Two.
Klara Deen. Honey, I’m trying to find my Edgar Allen Poe book. I can’t find it.
Scoville Kavcic. It’s not in the bookcase?
Klara Deen. Nope. You know? I can’t remember the last time I saw it.
Scoville Kavcic. This was a while ago, but I remember letting one of my students borrow the book once. He was having trouble with a term paper on Poe. I’m trying to remember, but I don’t think he ever returned it.
Klara Deen. I wanted to read my side notes on his poetry. I thought it would help me with this verse I’m working on.
Scoville Kavcic. I wonder if he still has your book. I thought it would have helped him.
Klara Deen. Did it?
Scoville Kavcic. He never finished the paper for me.
Three.
Pashko. I never did finish that paper, and I ended up getting a miserable grade that quarter. I could never show that report card to my parents, so I thought of a place where no one could imagine a report card would be.
Libuse. Where’s that?
Pashko. Rolled up in the guest room’s window shade. It’s funny why I didn’t just think of burning it or throwing it away. Instead, I had to hide it. I kind of wonder if knowing exactly where it is gave me some sort of calm about my grade.
Libuse. But your parent’s found out about it, right?
Pashko. Being a failure to my parents was always tough to confront.
Libuse. When I was young, it was difficult for me to return library books. For some reason they would run overdue, and I would have to pay five cents from my allowance each day it was late. I don’t think I could handle the impact of my saved money leaking nickel by nickel. So I responded to the stress by hiding the book behind the stereo speakers and hoped that such a random place would be enough for the library to forget about the book and the overdue charges. It didn’t dawn on me that simply returning the book would have been the best solution.
Pashko. Yeah, returning this book was really difficult for me to do.
End. Books Kept and Hidden
