I’ve discovered a new traffic violation that desperately needs to be included in the Minnesota Statutes. I call it DWT (Driving While Thinking.) As you may know, a librarian’s mind is a complex and ever-evolving entity. Oftentimes we are pre-occupied with deep and profound thoughts, and this can lead to problems. For example: Last week I ran over Jim and Gloria’s mailbox. I blame it on a busy mind. I was backing out of my driveway, thinking about the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, when suddenly and without warning, BAM! I hit their mailbox. I heard a noise, but didn’t really grasp the situation immediately. When I looked behind the pickup, I noticed that their mailbox was askew. I couldn’t believe that I had done the damage because it’s clearly out of my normal backing-up path. Eventually I had to admit, yes, I did it. I called Gloria and Jim and left a phone message, describing the bizarre sequence of events. I apologized. I was pretty sure they wouldn’t yell at me, but I wasn’t so sure about the loving husband. So, rather than calling, I sent him an e-mail explaining the situation. I reminded him how nice my dad was when I wrecked something. I’d come into the house crying inconsolably, and he would put his arm around me and say, "That’s OK, Glenda. I think I can fix it myself." Every car I wrecked, he’d say the same thing. He was a kind-hearted man. I fretted all afternoon about the damage I had caused by thinking. My goal that day, and every day since, was to drive the pickup safely home without engaging in thought. Later that evening, I finally returned from work about 8:30 p.m.. Neighbor Jim had called about The Situation. He told the loving husband, "Tell Glenda not to worry. We wanted to get a new mailbox anyway." (Another kind-hearted man.) Just to be on the safe side I’ve dedicated myself to the avoidance of Driving While Thinking. It can be dangerous habit and should carry a steep penalty. As long as I’m safely tucked away in the library I’m free to think, especially about new books. You might want to try "Another Man’s Son," by Katherine Stone. Sam was a wanderer for years. Now he's finally settled down in small-town Oregon, where he's bought an apple orchard and is living a quiet life — until the day he learns the shocking news: Ian Collier, the man who abandoned him when he was four, has died, the man he believed to be his father ... He returns to Ian's house in Seattle, a place he hasn't seen in 32 years, and encounters a situation that's even more complex than he'd expected — because of Dr. Kathleen Cahill, the woman Ian had planned to marry. Within weeks, Sam has fallen in love with her. And then Kathleen tells him she's pregnant. With his baby — or Ian Collier's? In the shadow of Mount Rainier, Sam discovers the truth about his family. In the arms of Kathleen Cahill he finds the love he's always sought. "Absolute Friends," by John LeCarre. Ted Mundy used to be a spy. But that was in the good old Cold War days when a wall divided Berlin and the enemy was easy to recognize. Today, Mundy is a tour guide in southern Germany, dodging creditors, supporting a new family, and keeping an eye out for trouble. And trouble finds him, as always, in the shape of his old German student friend, and one-time fellow spy, the crippled Sasha. After years of trawling the Middle East and Asia as an itinerant university lecturer, Sasha has yet again discovered the answer to life — this time in the form of a mysterious billionaire named Dimitri. Thanks to Dimitri, both Mundy and Sasha will find a path out of poverty, and with it their chance to change a world that both believe is going to the devil. Or will they? Some gifts are too expensive to accept and this could be one of them.
