The Cool College Sister

As you may recall,  I recently had to upgrade my cookbook deficiency as I tried to overcome severe defeat in the form of a French pastry. My "after bills" salary is...well ...meager to say the least, so instead of ending up with another dud from the bookstore, I went to the library to take a different recipe for a test drive. My sister was with me for the weekend, and she came along, obligingly.

I found my book and we headed to the counter. On our way, I casually mentioned that I may have a late fee or two, and that she should just play it cool. Her eyes narrowed, suspiciously. At the front desk, the librarian smiled her stiff-mouthed smirk as she scanned my libary card key-fob. She told me that I had $3.50 worth of late fees, which I happily agreed to pay. I looked at my sister and smiled. She sheepishly smiled back, somewhat embarrassed.

All of the sudden, the librarian grimaced and began to and look concerned. She told me to wait at the counter, she'd be right back. I smiled, trying to act cool, like I didn't know what the problem was. What I actually did know, that my sister probably suspected right about then, was that I didn't just have $3.50 in late fees. No. In fact it wasn't a late fee at all. My sister looked at me again, miserably. I could tell what she was thinking, "my supposed-to-be-cool-but-might-as-well-be-wearing-mom-jeans older sister is going to be  scolded by a librarian in my old neighborhood where there are probably kids that I used to go to highschool with standing around every corner watching and laughing in hilarity."
 
Yup, that's what she was thinking. I know. Her eyes said it all.

Another librarian came out to assist the other customers that had been lining up behind us since we got to the counter. My sister looked like she was going to be sick. Finally our librarian returned to the desk. She looked at me and held up the back of the green and white hard-backed cookbook that I returned a few weeks ago. The cover was still torn in half and crudely put together with clear packing tape, and the corner of the spine was chewed into oblivion. I looked up. She looked back at me, wordlessly, like "so, what the hell am I supposed to do with this?"

I started to chuckle nervously and tried to crack a few ridiculous jokes about my dog, and a chewing factory,  and other nonsense. The other customers started to roll their eyes while I cracked a few more awkward jokes and pulled out my debit card. "I'd be glad to pay for the book," I said. Without much of a comment, she accepted. I though it would be a clean getaway. But alas, the once confident librarian became flustered when she had to figure out how to use the credit card machine, cash register, and computer all at once. She scanned and re-scanned my key-fob, and ran and re-ran my credit card. At that point I didn't care how much the book was or how many times she charged my account, meager income or not. My sister's body language was utter misery and my shrug-it-off resolve was beginning to crumble. After several painstaking minutes we walked out of the library with my new $35 chew toy, our eyes not meeting until we were buckled in the car.

I suppose I have lost my status as the cool college sister. I am now the awkward, library outcast. Now she is the cool college sister, and there is nothing I can do about it.