Pages of History
Chapter Four
Warm, golden sunlight came floating in between closed blinds at an all too early hour for the weekend. If only the sun would sleep in on the weekends, I thought sleepily, knowing that I would never get that lucky. Rolling over lazily towards Camden’s side of the bed, I felt his side of the bed, empty and cool. Expecting as much, I smiled and rolled back over, content with laying in our warm bed for a few more minutes before stretching my sleepy legs out and getting up officially.
Camden was truly a farmer at heart. Even though it was our weekend, he still got up with or before the sun to tend to his chores with the animals and the property. I guess farmers never really got a weekend, per say. But Cam loved it, and it brought him joy so I had no argument for it. And it certainly wouldn’t stop me from sleeping in, I thought as I pushed my face deeper into the soft, warm pillow.
Drifting in and out of consciousness, I let my mind retrace the scenes that were stuck in my memory from last night. Mostly they focused on Kathy, the news lady who delivered the shocking blow that all libraries across the country were to close. I wondered what was happening with the digital conversion issue across the rest of the world? What about the countries that didn’t have any digital technology anyway? They were better off not having it, I replied to my own thoughts.
As I began to toss and turn in frustration as my thoughts mounted into anger against the precious “S.O.P.S.” group, I was silently agreeing with Camden’s earlier statement that it was much more like another set of letters. Finally resigning to the fact that I wasn’t going to get any more relaxing comfort in my warm bed while I thought of the current issues facing the country, I threw my legs over the bed and marched to the bathroom to freshen up before heading downstairs.
After brushing my teeth, washing my face off with cool water to wake me up a little more, and running a brush through my unruly morning hair, I slipped on some rubber boots and threw a sweatshirt over my head. Time to go find Camden.
I made my way down the stairs, through the kitchen and out the back door. The air was still crisp and a bit chilly in first few days of April, and I pulled the sweatshirt closer around my neck. Green grass was beginning to shoot up through the brown, spongy earth, between a few clods of mud and numerous patches of grass that had died off last fall and during the harsh winter months.
Spring always brought a certain freshness to the air, and was like a beacon of hope to look for during the long, grey winter months. Birds were chirping merrily from the tops of trees that were working on pushing out more leaves to fill its branches for the summer season. A light breeze was rushing across the ground, dancing with the leaves and shifting over the morning air. It was going to be a beautiful weekend, I decided quickly, drinking in my intoxicatingly beautiful surroundings.
Marching across the somewhat soggy ground, still damp with the morning dew, I made my way towards the back of our property, towards the barn where I figured would be the most likely place that Cam would be at this time of the morning.
I reached the barn quickly, and pushed one of the old, fading red wooden doors to the side. Our barn had been build almost two hundred years ago, and was still in extremely good condition. Mostly due to the countless hours Camden had put into refurbishing and making improvements to the barn when we moved here. He had slaved over making the nearly run down barn into a structurally sound and useable establishment that he could run his farm out of. I walked inside, breathing in the musty smell of damp wood mingling with hay and farm animals. I could hear a few of the horses neighing and sighing with contentment at the far end of the barn.
“Cam?” I called out, my voice slightly echoing in the return absence of Camden’s response. I walked into the barn farther, looking around a few of the corners to see if he had resolved to take a quick nap propped up on the of the side walls. It had happened before, and I laughed in remembrance. I didn’t see him against any walls, and walked all the way to the back of the barn by the horses, but Camden was nowhere to be found.
Patting one of our thoroughbred horses on it’s soft muzzle, I shrugged and began my trek back towards the house. I glanced from side to side occasionally, to see if Camden had wondered off to another area of the property to do some odd chore or project.
I was almost all the way back to the farm house without spotting Camden anywhere, and suddenly I remembered that I had stuffed my phone into my sweatshirt pocket. I pulled it out into the sunlight, and touched the screen to resurrect it to life. Brilliant color and light spilled onto the screen, and I silently typed a message and sent it to him. A few seconds later, I felt the phone vibrate and I pulled it out.
“I’m inside, I finished a while ago.” Camden’s voice was laughing out through my phone. I smiled and pushed the phone back into my pocket and closed the distance between me and the house in a few more seconds. I made my way into the living room, and sure enough, there was Cam, spread out over the couch with pieces of newspaper spread out on the floor in front of him, and one in his lap that he was currently examining.
“I thought maybe you had taken a little snooze with the horses again.” I teased him as I stepped through the maze of papers on the floor to give him a quick kiss good morning.
“What’s all this about?” I asked him after sitting myself on the one corner of the couch that wasn’t covered in newsprint, pointing to the mess of papers surrounding us. “Redecorating?” I smiled at him again, and he set the current piece of newspaper he was pouring over down to look at me.
“Well, you know black and white is always in, some newspapers could add a certain…something.” He laughed, trying to sound serious, but not being able to come up with a good interior design term blew his cover quickly. I laughed and rolled my eyes at him. It was a good thing he was the farmer and I was left to decorate and furnish the house.
“No, just kidding.” Camden said, as if I needed reassurance that he was kidding, I would be horrified it he wasn’t. “Actually, I went out this morning, while some people were sleeping the day away, and bought a few of the local newspapers. Well, ours local, and a few other close town’s newspapers as well.” He continued, gesturing towards the massive amount of paper again.
“What for? You know if you were looking for something to fuel the fire place, I’m sure cutting down another forest would have sufficed to cover all this paper.” I teased back at him for the playful jab he had thrown at me about sleeping in. He just smiled his warm Camden smile and continued to explain himself.
“Well, that announcement on the news last night got me thinking. What are they going to do with all of those books that they turn digital?” His eyes were beginning to twinkle with excitement, and turn an even brighter shade of green.
“They could use them as fire kindling?” I threw in, going with my earlier idea of the newspapers as fire fuel. It was Camden’s turn to roll his eyes as me. He picked up the newspaper that he still clutched in his lap, and turned it towards me. I glanced down at it. Nothing popped out at me, it was just the local news section, complete with obituaries and movie information. I looked up at him, still puzzled and not knowing where he was going with this.
“It took me forever to find, I had to scour through all of these papers to find anything about it. But I finally did.” He pointed to a small ad at the very bottom of the paper, nestled in between a SanTech advertisement for a Document Tablet, and another for a local department store sale.
“Contact the local library at this number for information on acquiring paperback and hardback books after digital conversion. All others will be relocated indefinitely.” I read the small blurb aloud, still entirely confused at what Camden’s relentless search and noticeable enthusiasm was about. “So?” I probed, hoping for a clearer definition as I searched his bright, excited eyes.
“I was thinking about what they were going to do with all of these books, so I bought all of these papers trying to find any clue about that. It took me forever. Most all of these papers are raving over the digital conversion, ecstatic that they don’t have to deal with paper records and the shelf space anymore. They think of it as ‘de-cluttering’ society and making it simpler.” A look of disgust crossed over Cam’s face as he explained.
“But I did a search on the internet to find out anything, and again, barely anything about what is happening to the physical books. No one really cares. I came across a little statement on a random site saying that most libraries would be offering their books up for sale after the conversion is completed. So I scoured the papers to try and find out if that was true, and if our libraries were offering that. And then I found this tiny ad, and Jenny, I think there may be some hope!” Camden’s eyes were positively glowing with excitement, and I could tell there would be little I could do even if I wanted to, to budge him from whatever he was making a decision for in his mind right now.
“Hope for what?” I tilted my head, still trying to fully grasp where Camden was going with this. Was he hoping to stop the digital conversion or take over the libraries? With Camden, I really wouldn’t put any idea past him, no matter how grand or elaborate. Or impossible.
“For us. For our kids. For society, even if it’s a small, minute hope.” He replied, clearly puzzled that I hadn’t caught on by now, but I still wasn’t understanding.
“Cam, hun, I really don’t know where you’re going with this, so why don’t you just tell me point blank.” I finally laid it out on the table for him, hoping to get a clear answer this time. Camden stared back at me blankly for a few seconds, not saying anything. I was about to probe for an answer again, but he suddenly blurted out.
“I want to buy the books.”
Not quite what I was expecting. It wasn’t bad news, it actually wasn’t as far fetched as I thought it was going to be, or could have been. I just didn’t really understand why he wanted to buy the books. They would be available on the digital database, just like we heard on the announcement last night. Camden read my undecided face like a book.
“Jenny, I know this sounds crazy…” He shoved over some newspaper pieces and scooted closer to me, leaning in to drill his intense stare deep into my eyes, trying to persuade me with every fiber of his body. “But, I mean, when we have kids, do we really want them to grow up reading from a digital database? That’s absurd. And you know it.”
“Yeah, but-” I began to interject, but Cam cut me off right away.
“What if they never get to hold a real book in their hands? What if it’s only something they’re vaguely taught about in school? Think about it…there’s just something in having a physical book in your hands. Something substantial you can thumb through, dog ear the pages, smell the musty paper.” Camden was on a roll, and I knew there was no stopped him, so I sighed and leaned back into the sofa and let him continue his lecture. I tried to think through all the possibilities and options as he continued.
“I mean it could even like be an investment. You know some day someone else will get over this ‘digital database’ crap and want a real book again. They’ll pay anything to have one. Come on, you have to see this is a good idea.” Camden slid closer to me again, and took my hand in his. I looked into his bright green eyes that were deep wells of fiery persistence right now. He looked like a kid begging to have a treat before dinner, and it was always hard for me to say anything but yes to him when he gave me that look.
“Cam, it’s not like I don’t agree with you. I get what you’re saying. But buy the books? How many? Where are we going to put them? What will we do with them until we do have kids?” So many questions were running through my mind like a speeding bullet, and I unleashed them onto Camden. His eyes still shone with a fire, and I could tell there would be no deterring him from his decision.
“As many as we want. Like I said, it could be an investment. Think about it, Jenny! The classics, kids books, resource books…whatever we want! It will be like we have our own library for our kids and our family for generations to come. We have some extra money stored away that we didn’t use this winter, lets use it on the books!”
Dropping my eyes to my hand intertwined with Camden’s, I let my mind swirl around the option of buying an “investment” of books from the library. It seemed absurd at first, and a little unnecessary. We had our own books, a little meager “library” of our own already. Of course, it wasn’t anything spectacular, and there definitely wasn’t any reading material for kids. Unless they were interested in the anatomy of a cow, horse, or the mechanics of running your own farm. Most unlikely at the eager age of beginner reading or bedtime stories.
In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I could sense that Cam was onto something and was right. This would be a special treasure for the family we would one day create. It was a way to preserve history. To be a part of something special that could span over who knows how many generations. I let these thoughts float slowly across my mind as my fingers numbly played with the edge of my uninteresting sweatshirt.
By now I had made up my mind, but I thought leaving Cam in suspense for a few more minutes wouldn’t hurt, and might be fun. I let a small, devious smile turn up the side of my lips that Camden couldn’t see, dropped his hand and walked to the kitchen door, pausing as I leaned against it. I let an over exaggerated sigh escape my lips. Chancing a quick glance over at Camden, still frozen to the couch, I could tell he was on edge waiting for an answer. It was all I could do to keep from letting out a giggle. He should know by now that he almost always got his way with me when he was keen on something like this, and it wasn’t too out of reason.
“What do you think?” Camden said slowly, unsure. The fire was still blazing in his brilliant eyes.
“I don’t know, Cam…” I tried to look indecisive again, and knowing that my face would give me away after a few seconds, I turned and walked into the kitchen, pretending to look interested in some odd receipt that had been pinned to the refrigerator who knows how long ago and for what reason. I heard Camden’s heavier footfalls follow me into the kitchen and stop behind me.
“Please?” He breathed out softly next to my ear. It tickled, and I couldn’t hold my serious face any longer, so I let out a laugh and turned into him, looking up into his eyes.
“Did you really believe I hadn’t decided yet? Yes.” I laughed again as relief washed over his face, and the excitement seemed to spread over his entire face, bursting from every pore. Camden pulled me into one of his death grip, bear hugs that almost squeezed even the breath and life out of me.
“Excited much?” I gasped out as he released me.
“You have no idea!” Camden responded and went to pace the room, thinking about the next step to take in his brilliant scheme.
“Actually, I think I do.” I smiled at him, watching him wear a path into the wooden floor boards of the kitchen. A few wooden beams groaned and squeaked in protest as he passed over their smooth surfaces again and again. I pulled out one of the chairs at the kitchen table and took a seat. I could tell I was in for a long day full of many details and “what if” questions and researching plans and options for how Camden and I would go about buying library books the best way.
Truthfully, I didn’t mind it. Camden could be an extremely passionate person when you got him going, and I knew this project would be no exception. He interrupted my thoughts mid stream as he continued his fervent pacing.
“I mean, we could even build on an addition to the house for the library if we wanted! We could maybe even open it to the public, you know! Make our own library for those people who don’t want to use that dumb digital database. Well, maybe we shouldn’t do that for everyone. Could get some shady people in here. Eh who knows, maybe yes, maybe no! There’s so many things we could do, Jenny! I need to go find a number for the libraries near here to see when they’re converting their books and when they will sell them to us. And for how much.” Camden spoke in what seemed like one long, run on sentence, barely pausing for a breath in between at all.
I could see the wheels turning in his mind, ablaze with a fiery passion and missions to conquer the world by saving the library books. I just shook my head and laughed as if to say, yes dear, I know. Cam came and kissed me quickly, and bounded off like an excited little kid to go research his options. Chuckling again to myself, I got up and decided it was time to make breakfast and get this interesting weekend started.
The weekend passed in what seemed like a blur, filled mostly with Camden tapping away on our touch screen keyboard, trying to find out the options and procedures we had to take in acquiring the books from the library. He made at least a dozen calls to all the libraries that were within a fifty mile radius of us, asking for their list of books that were being offered up for sale after the conversion. Camden then went on to print out those lists, and shoved me stacks of paper to sift through and mark up which books we might want to have for our own “library.” I also had the honor of going through Camden’s financial “statement,” also known as his proposed book buying budget, which totaled the amount of savings we could take out, along with our left over winter budget. It all added up, and we did have room to use the money.
Most of the people that we were able to get a hold of at the libraries were agents from S.O.P.S., which didn’t thrill Camden, but got him the information he needed none the less. The agents informed Camden that the average price of the books, and it was dirt cheap. From what they told him, the majority of the books were running at twenty five cents a piece. Camden said that he could practically hear them drooling through the phone when he told them he wanted to buy a large amount of books. While I had no doubt that Cam was exaggerating on the S.O.P.S. saliva output, I didn’t doubt that they were thrilled about having a good amount of their books taken off their hands and not having to deal with carting it away themselves.
When Sunday evening rolled around, Camden and I had set aside a solid three thousand dollar investment for a hefty amount of books we had picked through. We were both exhausted, surrounded by scraps of paper that had been marked with possible titles, absolute yes books, and definitely not books. In the end, we had one neat stack of papers surrounded by the chaos of scribbles. Our three thousand dollar investment would produce a sizeable library of twelve thousand books.
Twelve thousand books seemed incredibly daunting when I started down at the five digits I had scrawled out in red ink and circled on the very first page of our chosen titles. Camden had promised to handle the whole affair, however. The books would be converted in the next two weeks, and in three weeks, they would be boxed up and ready for Camden to pick up from six different libraries in the area.
In those three weeks, Camden would be transforming a substantial portion of our bare basement into a library. He would build the necessary amount of shelves, and prepare the essential framework. I was left with the decorating portion, which I agreed to happily, already thinking of cozy armchairs, plush rugs, and warm lamps that would be highly conducive to a comforting reading space, even in our currently cold, damp basement. We were both excited, but exhausted by the possibilities, and the task of cramming everything into the next three weeks before the books arrived.
Camden and I were back on the same couch we had been on when Camden had first proposed his idea of investing in a library. It seemed like ages ago, I thought, as I took a deep breath and tried to relax my frantically running mind. So many ideas and “what if’s” had been up for grabs, discussed, shot down, put into action, or put on the shelf this weekend that it was all I could do to concentrate on a single thought. Camden’s face looked the same, exhausted, but he still had a glow in his eyes, and I knew that this project was going to be his baby. That even when he was eighty, he would take a grandchild on his knee and say “You know, your grand-daddy thought of this. I wanted you guys to have these books. Do you like it?” I smiled at the thought, and turned my weary head towards him.
“Is it really Sunday night already? I feel like this wasn’t a weekend at all.” I pouted playfully, trying to get some sympathy for my busy weekend and little relaxation. In truth, I had loved it. Working with Camden when he was passionate about something was contagious. But still exhausting.
“I know, it went by fast. The next three weeks are going to go by fast too, you know.” He took my hand in his gently, resting his head on the back of the couch.
“Don’t remind me.” I groaned, leaning my head back as well. “I’m not ready to go back to work tomorrow. Are you?”
“Yeah.” I picked my head up quickly and stared at him, not believing he had said yes. Wasn’t he just as tired? My eyes betrayed my confusion, and he explained. “I’ve been thinking more about Alex.” How did he even have time to think about that with all this library stuff? Weren’t guys not supposed to be able to multitask? I shrugged my quick thoughts off, resolving that Camden seemed to just be in a separate category all his own, anyway.
“What about him?”
“I’m going to ask him if he wants me to go with him when he sees his dad in the hospital.” Camden replied nonchalantly, continuing to stare up at the ceiling, pensive.
“Really?” I added, hoping for further details.
“Yeah. Why not?” He turned his brilliant green eyes onto my own light brown ones, searching for something.
“I don’t know, I mean…I thought you didn’t even know if you could? What if it disappoints Alex?” I struggled trying to find an answer.
“He can hold his own, I want to ask him to see if he would even want me to. If he does, we can go from there and talk to his case worker and everything else. One step at a time, I guess. But I really feel like I should.” Camden’s eyes were blazing with determination again. I didn’t understand how he could carry it all, after such an exhausting weekend. I just sighed and smiled at him knowingly.
“I know.” We stared at each other for a few moments where words were unnecessary. I continued after a yawn broke through. “Well, that’s my cue to go to bed. Coming?” Camden nodded and we trudged up the stairs and quickly crashed into the ridiculously soft and warm bed. It seemed like nothing could feel as amazing as my body stretching out slowly and relaxing quietly into that bed after such an exhausting but exhilarating weekend.
Silently, I let my mind wander lazily, pausing over the next three weeks. Wondering how our library would be. Skirting over armchair cover patterns. Flitting in and out of enchanting adventures in the pages of the new books. And slowly, my mind closed on the thought of my unborn children playing in our library, finding and cherishing their own special books. I slipped into a deep slumber thinking that the next three weeks would hold exciting possibilities indeed.
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