one of my favorite places to read was the vista room at sojourner truth library on the suny new paltz campus. there are huge windows there that look out on the shawangunks to the south and catch the sunset, and big cushy chairs where you could put your feet up on the windowsills and feel the heat of the day through your soles. in a stunning example of shitting where I eat, I decided to steal books from there.
it wasn't really an intent for any particular books, it was more a case of whether I could do it. there was a study room on the second floor where about 20 chairs with desks attached had been stored, and I decided to settle in there about an hour before closing time. that was pretty easy; once I was settled in I actually took a nap and woke up just before they turned out the main overhead lights. I gave myself another 20 minutes to be certain everyone was out and then crawled carefully out of the stacks of chairs with my bag.
I'd attended classes and lived in town for nearly a decade by then and I knew that library intimately. the library was built on three floors, 2 of them below ground, connected by a central staircase with wide landings; the 2nd floor was a good place to start since it was nonfiction. I'd make my way down to the 3rd floor, fiction, and then back up the stairs to the main area.
I wandered pretty freely and it was an odd sensation, seeing all those books by the ghostly light of the moon. I hadn't thought to bring a flashlight, so I was limited in my choices to books I could see by moonlight. the stacks were terribly familiar to me but in the dark they were less rows of books and more like walls of bricks.
I'd collected maybe 5 books before the lights suddenly came on.
there'd been no "click" I'd heard, no sound of footsteps from the staircase. I dropped to the floor like I'd been shot, expecting at any moment to hear some armed guard shouting, "freeze!" in my rational mind I knew there was no armed guard--new paltz couldn't have afforded one, and what would have been the point?--but had ratiionality been my strong suit I probably wouldn't have been there in the 1st place. I cursed myself suddenly for not opting to dress in black clothes and having gone there instead in cut-off jeans and sneakers with no socks and a white tee shirt. I might as well have worn blaze orange, I thought.
there was no threatening "stay there!", no menacing click of a revolver. in fact, there was no new sound at all since the lights had come on and I began to wonder if they were on a timer for some reason, maybe to discourage situations like mine. I began to creep slowly back to my hiding place with my bag when I heard voices in the stairwell. they were speaking something asian and as I jumped up and grabbed my bag and got out of sight into the storage room just before they reached the 2nd floor landing, I realized I'd heard the arrival of the cleaning crew.
I dove back under the chair stacks to reevaluate my situation. I had no idea how long they would be there but I was pretty certain I was safe in the storage room--who cleans storage rooms? that proved to be right and I ended up laying on the floor in comparatively full view of the crew--composed of a man and 2 women, all of them middleaged and probably vietnamese--and watching them go about vacuuming the carpets and washing the landing. they spent at least an hour on that floor--I didn't have a watch and couldn't see a clock but I did end up napping for a little bit while one woman sloshed a mop about 10 feet from my nose--before heading down the stairs for the fiction section.
I decided it was time to cut my losses--which weren't really losses at all since I had some books I hadn't had before--and not press my luck any further and head out. I waited until I could hear the fading echo of their voices before leaving the storage room, which was only a couple yards from the landing, and heading up the stairs. on my way I glanced over the bannister and saw the kerchiefed head of one of the women mopping the landing below me. had she glanced up she would have seen me against the railing or between the gaps of the steps.
but she didn't and I crept up the stone steps very, very quietly, to the main floor. I knew there was a rudimentary alarm system that covered the length of the exit from the main library but I didn't know if it was turned off at night. I opted not to chance it and slithered over the checkout counter. I grabbed another couple books from the other side of the counter, not caring what they were, just feeding my sudden chagrin at not having had time to get to fiction, and then dropped first my bag and then myself in the area between the white column of the alarm and the wall. it was snug but I fit. I shimmied through and I was past the alarm.
there was only one more thing to do, which was to leave. I'd figured on going out through the main doors of the library on the first floor, but the cleaning crew had turned on the lights there too. there were 2 sets of glass doors to get through that way and I had no idea if there were any other members of the crew outside smoking or cleaning the front walk or if the armed guard I feared was posted there. there was a 2nd floor exit down another set of steps and under the main entrance where there was only a single door. but for all I knew that had an alarm.
I chanced it. the door was locked but had a pushbar that unlocked it from the inside. I pressed that, expecting to hear a siren at any moment, and shoved the door open and myself outside, where I knew I would be a sitting duck for anyone out there. that exit was in a tunnel under the main floor hallway with cement walls on both sides until the walls gave way to sweeping lawn. I headed not for the lawn but for another set of steps, figuring anyone out there would be more likely nearer the lawn. but there was no one anywhere and I never heard the expected siren and I ran like a fool hugging my swag like a lover all the way into town.
I've only read 2 of the books I took that night but I still have the others.
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