Books: An Abridged Existence (excerpt)

It is about mid-afternoon when Sid steps outside of the library. The sky is cloudy, and threatens rain, or snow, or whatever sort of precipitation that they are supposed to have at this time of year. He decides to walk to a diner and get something to eat. He reaches into his pocket to see what kind of money he has, and pulls out a business card, which reminds him that he should also call the lawyer to see how his settlement is coming. On the back he notices the contact info for the people he met in the hospital, who also had a near fatal allergic reaction to the airline peanuts. He decides to give them all a call, but not until after lunch.

He finds that he has enough money for a light lunch, and enough remaining in the case of some sort of emergency. Luckily, he also has his bus pass, which will make getting around a whole lot easier. He starts walking down the street until he finds a place to get some food. While he is eating he realizes that what happened in the library earlier that day qualifies as something rather odd. He thinks a little bit more about it, and decides that there must be a first time for everything, even if it involves finding an occult section of the library, getting transported centuries into the past, pissing off an old local wizard, and nearly getting consumed by some creature formed from blood. He reflects a bit more on this, and finally decides that he will file this memory away in his mind, and not forget it. He also thinks that he should not tell anyone, or he may be thrown into an asylum. Which would not necessarily be bad in itself, but it will probably prohibit Sid from receiving any settlement from the airline, not to mention he would not be able to enjoy his settlement if he is stuck in a funny farm.