I Am Not Sheldon Cooper

Honestly, I’m not.

I’m on this new-found kick of late. My favorite library in the county is open from 1 to 5 on Sunday afternoons. Now that there’s no more football, I like to go there, by myself, for those four hours, with a current book and my laptop. It’s peaceful, near-silent, and I can get a remarkable amount of thinking, outlining, planning, and writing done. I’ve even written this post here at my library.

The problem is, I have to get there by 12:59 precisely, and I asked my wife to slightly rearrange our Sunday morning schedule to allow for this.

Why? she asks.

Well, I say ...

I have to get my seat. My special seat at the library.

What’s so special about it?

A lot. It’s a semi-private cubical that’s all the way in the back. Like sitting at the very back of the classroom. There’s a wall behind me – no one looking over my shoulder. A socket for the laptop is right next to me. The desk has a commanding view of the entire building, because to my right is an open expanse which shows the entire mezzanine below (hung paintings on makeshift walls surrounding by the 700 – 900s and Biographies) and the upper floor above (000 to 699 plus Oversized Books). There’s a railing there where I can comfortably and commandingly rest my arm. To my left are the Science Fiction and Short Story Anthology shelves, and beyond them, bathrooms and a water fountain. In front of me are several large tables and a bank of computers, and straight ahead are the Periodicals. The reference librarian is diagonally off to the side, so I feel safe if I need to get up and walk around, leaving my books and laptop in the cubicle desk. Seventy-five feet to either side are long-vertical rectangular windows, which allow me to gauge the time by the sunlight I can see on the buildings beyond them.

See why it’s so special?

And see why I have to sit there, if I am going to go through all the trouble of driving there when I could be safe at home?

“Oh my God,” my wife says. “You are Sheldon Cooper.”

No, I’m not!

Honestly!