As I sit here I am inundated with inane conversations from every side. And it’s the one time I can honestly feel invisible. As long as I keep my head down, and as long as I’m looking at my phone while I piece this post together, I will continue to be so. And the things I hear!
To my right are two what I could only describe as old friends having a chat about getting old. I have found out both of their ages, their medical conditions, and the fact that one of them is going to a party for a 107-year old relative next weekend. All in the space of five minutes.
Not to be outdone, the three fellas to my left have been having a loud discussion about females (and no, they didn’t call them females), obviously forgetting that they are in a public venue, that or just not caring. I think it might be the latter. No indoor voices in that bunch.
Then there’s the cafe behind me where a patron is drinking coffee and talking about being a quarter native American. I cannot see her, so I don’t know if she looks it, but from the reaction of the proprietor, I don’t think she does.
At the circulation desk, a man stands, shifting his weight from one foot to the other as he waits for his book to be checked out. He sports a black backpack and a winter cap on his head. As he turns to walk out the door, the crew to my left draws him in. He is one of them. I would have never guessed. He seems so quiet, well-dressed, and he is a reader. You see, you never can tell. Perhaps they come from the same neighborhood, maybe a couple of blocks away, somewhere near the barber shop that also sells bean pies. Homemade.
He leaves the library with one of his buddies, and I can now hear him get louder. Peer pressure at work, or maybe it really is his personality too, when he is with others.
And I sit here still. Invisible.
Sam
Sam's Online Journal 
A café at the library? Seems like that would be dangerous for the books.
I am really of the old school where one did not talk at the library unless in hushed tones saying something like it’s time to go now, Mom is here to pick us up.
Well, the cafe is set off in a separate room (hence, why I could hear but not see them). And the food and drink is relegated to that area, so the books are relatively safe. I agree on the volume, as well. Libraries should be quiet places. And those guys were using language liberally laced with profanity, too. Not cool.