Checking out (ST)

Estaban walked into the library, dressed as conservatively as possible. He had heard a rumor that the main librarian was getting ready to retire but was having financial problems. Whether it was true or not he had no idea. But it was worth a try. He walked in noticing how many people were not there. He had picked a week after the end of the semester, when fewer were doing research. He walked up to the desk.

"Hello, Mr. Fortunato. I called in to reserve a chance to look at some of the collections?"

He smiled

"Thank you, I will."

He went to where the special collections were, heading to the back. From what he had heard there was a good selection of old books that hadnt been looked at in years. He started looking through it, looking at the titles.

He decided to start with Philosophy. He also wanted to look at religion and history, but philosophy is where much of the mystical new age stuff tended to be classified.

He looked through a couple of the interesting titles, looking for something that could be.. useful even if not magical. He marked down some names and titles and then moved to religion.

He checked the books on Wicca and Magick to see if there was anything of real use, anything more than a modern explanation.

Interesting, but not what he was looking for. Oh well, onto the Historical section.

He would of loved to have some of these volumes in his collection but this was a library and anything he attempted to buy would cost him. Okay, he had the time, he started looking through the rest of the stacks in this collection. These are the older and more valuable books, so maybe something good has just been misplaced. Still, he wrote down the names of the more interesting books in the three sections he had already seen.

So he went through one area after another in the special section. He even looked through literature and fiction.

Then he went through social sciences, technology and science. The opposites of what he was looking for but maybe something would be tucked in there.

Sigh, again, good to know.. but he needed something mystical. He wasn't going to pay for just good library books. After he had gone through all of the special collection, he headed back up to the front desk.

"Excuse me. Do you have anything in the rare books collection not in those shelves?"

He nodded.

"Thank you."

WEll, it sounded doubtful but he tried. He went to go look at the normal shelves in the occult / metaphysical section.

This was just a little frustrating. Still, he walked around, looking for the oldest books he could find.

It was worth a try. He thought for a minute and made a decision. Like all libraries there would be more behind the scene than there appeared to be. He watched who was in front and simply waited till his best moment, sliding behind one of the doors and disappearing when he did.