Library Parking Only

My little family was en route to the local farmer's market just before the vernal equinox. It is a tidy and lively affair with perhaps twenty tents this early in the season... and very little parking.

The event takes place a block from City Hall, adjacent to the public library. Ours is a small town but one contiguous with a large one, so a much more important city hall is only a few miles away. But our town is cleaner, lower in crime, and happier by an order of magnitude.

We needed a place to park our minivan--somewhere close enough to the action that we wouldn't have to lug our three beautiful children an exhausting distance. Fortunately, the library has sufficient parking for the bazaar's patronage this early in the year. Unfortunately, every parking spot is marked with a post and placard reading "LIBRARY PARKING ONLY."

Defiantly, we parked in a restricted spot and made an excuse that we would go to the library, too (and we did). But the best part of this brief story came from an elderly woman in the parking lot who noticed our picnic blanket and stroller. She was wise to our scheme, and pelted us with a scolding I will never forget:

"If you can't read, this is for the library!"