regulars

Along with the town gamer, walker, grinner, and researcher, I have become one of the Frankfort library regulars.

The gamer wears a denim flame do-rag and a light blue denim coat and sits tensley in front of his large screen laptop on which he plays various video games. Most of the time he guides his alter ego (a winged creature that hovers at the center of his screen,) through a maze of karsty hills and foggy forests. Sometimes I like to take a break from my work and look over his shoulder at the mystical world he is in, and think 'wouldnt it be fun to be him, and fly at the library?'

I consider the walker a regular, even though her visits are very brief. She is primarily known through town as the walker of the streets, but I have never been through a library visit without seeing her. She speedwalks through the library doors, arms still swinging wildly, straight to the magazine section, and then straight to the 'Health' magazine, where she lifts the lid of the magazine display to check for health magazine extras. All of this happens within about five seconds. Whether or not she finds what she is looking for, she turns around and speedwalks out with perfect form; at least one foot on the ground at all times, arms pumping, and all at a breakneck speed that would probably be hard to keep up with if you were running.

The grinner has become my role model. He is an older man with short white hair and a trim beard and a pointy nose and red cheeks. He sits at the window overlooking the bay with the latest copy of the Traverse City Record Eagle and reads it for hours. With a grin that never fades. Despite the news, his smile shines on like the reflections from the bay, and his apparent joy is contagious.

The researcher and I have quite a lot in common. He sits in quiet concentration behind his small laptop with a frown across his brow that makes you think he is really getting to the bottom of something. On the back of his laptop is a bumper sticker that says "Point Betsie," a lighthouse and nature preserve that is actively managed for invasive species. This is why I suppose we have a lot in common, because I have to assume that he is researching Pointe Betsie, and hence invasive species control, which is exactly what I do.

As you can see, I am in good company. Like they say, Having fun isn't hard when you've got a library card.