Throw Back Thursday

I have decided that each Thursday, I will publish a blast from the past. Stories from my life that may or may not be of value to anyone, (Me included.) This might be a fun way to write my history. I may have to use 'Journal in a Jar' Prompts to get my brain going.
   I am going to start the week off with library memories. I remember the dimly lighted library at the old Stoker school. The shelves looked like they were as tall as the entire school. I remember the library bindings on the books and pocket in the back of the book that held a card. We would choose our books and take them to the librarian. She would have me write my name on the card with the date beside it. On a corresponding card in the back of the book, she would stamp the due date of the book. Sometimes the stamp was a large intimidating looking appliance, filled with gears and wheels and a long clang as it stamped the date. Other times the stamp was firmly attached to a pencil in the spot usually reserved for an eraser. I remember how nervous I was that I might not bring the book back by the date inside the back cover. Or worse yet, I might lose or damage the book. I remember one day being quizzed about some pencil markings in one of the books. They had been there when I got the book, but I could tell the librarian thought I had written in the book. I still hate that feeling of guilt to this day.
    Some of my favorite books from my elementary years were: Are You My Mother? Spilled Milk, Make Way for Ducklings, Ellen Tebbits, all the Beezus and Ramona books. I also loved the Boxcar Children and Laura Ingalls Wilder series.
   In the summer, our neighborhood had the joy of the Bookmobile. We loved Wednesdays when the Bookmobile was parked by the church. I remember the high steps that lead into a library on wheels. There was a very friendly man that waited as we made our choices and handed them to him. Our mom always did the check out process and we went home to find a cool place to snuggle up and travel to a far off place and time, made even better if there was a summer thunder storm and some penny candy from the drug store.