Long Overdue

The stairs to the college library spooled down in hypnotic circles, as if to entice young freshers into the virtues of reading. Rohan stood at the base uncomfortably. The novella felt heavy in his hand. It had been months since he had issued it, but thanks to hectic college schedules and strict deadlines, the classic had slept well past the due date under the cobwebs of his cupboard. Rohan ascended with great apprehension. The fine would be enormous.

"Hello! How are you?"

Rohan had reached the top and had bumped straight into Dr. Mukherjee, a senile old professor and the exemplar of annoyance in academia.

"Look! We're returning the same book! How lovely! Tell you what, I'll be right back."

And with a whoosh, he disappeared into the restroom that sat in odd conjunction with this temple of knowledge. Rohan glanced at Mukherjee's copy of the book that now lay unattended on top of the shoe rack, then back at his own. The latter had lesser scratches on its cover, a problem that was slyly remedied by a casual slash of Rohan's unmanicured fingers. After a lightening-quick prayer, Rohan swapped the copies and dashed into the library.

The librarian squinted at him through her half-moons. Rohan smiled back innocuously. She handed him back his card, then placed his book on a shelf behind her. Rohan heaved a sigh of relief and turned to leave.

A calculator was noisily placed on the librarian's desk. Rohan wheeled around. A brief crackling of keys later, his sentence was read out: "That'll be 600 bucks for 2 years". As Rohan stared in disbelief, a second copy of "The Time Machine" was placed on the desk from behind him. A voice squeaked irritatingly in his ear, "Gosh, that's bad! Luckily mine's only six months past."