The Lost Book Blues

I lost my library book from school.

I’m not exactly sure how many days it was gone before I realized it; all I know is that one day, my mom told me to go to my room and read (I have to read at least thirty minutes a day for school), and when I looked for my book in the last place I remembered having it, it wasn’t there.

My mom is always moving my stuff around, so when she said she cleaned the house that day, I figured she put it somewhere.  I asked her where it was.

She said she didn’t know, and I guess she couldn’t help herself by trying to teach me a lesson: “It’s not my book; if you would have put it away like you’re supposed to, you’d have it.  You need to keep track of your stuff.”

So annoying.

I looked in my room, and it wasn’t there.  I started to get scared.  Overdue books are five cents a day after the due date; if I couldn’t find it, this was going to get expensive, and I was in trouble.

Middle school isn’t that hard work-wise, but it sure is a lot of stuff to keep organized.  I never really had to keep track of so much school stuff before; how do they expect us to remember everything?  Adults are so confusing; one day, they treat you like a kid; the next, you’re expected to be perfect at everything and if you’re not, you’re in trouble.  It’s a lot of pressure.

I hated it, but I started to cry.  I didn’t know what was going to happen.  Would I get detention at school for losing my library book?  Will I be able to check out books again?  I’m on the Reading Olympics team, and mom already told me that we’re not buying all the books we have to read.  I have to read at least ten books.  What if I’m not allowed to get them from the library?  

I told mom again that I couldn’t find it, and she fired off a list of places that I could look.  She told me to stop crying, that it “doesn’t do any good.”  Well, I know it doesn’t, but I couldn’t help it.  I started yelling because I was mad at her for making me feel worse, but mostly I was mad at myself for losing the stupid book in the first place.

That was the wrong thing to do, because before I knew it I was really crying and my nose was running and I was yelling and whipping pillows around and slamming doors.  It’s not my fault; someone probably stole it, it got thrown in the garbage, it fell out of my backpack on the bus, it got kicked down the hall.  My mom doesn’t go for excuses and she started to raise her voice and I knew I was in for it.  I don’t even remember what was said, but after a while we calmed down and I asked her to help me look.  She did, and even gave me some ideas on other places to look for my book while I was at school.  I was still worried, but not as much as before.

I thanked her and apologized for my blow-up.  I asked her if she had ever lost her library book when she was a kid.  She said she hadn’t, but that she had lost plenty of things and that it happens to all of us.  She told me that if I couldn’t find it, that I’d have to pay for its replacement with my own money, but we’d worry about that only if we did everything we could to find it.

I still haven’t found my library book, but just thinking about all those other places I might find it makes me feel better.  I hope I find it tomorrow.

It's gotta be here somewhere.  It's just GOTTA.

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This post is inspired by:

Mama Kat's Writing Workshop 

Writing prompt #2:  What was the last thing your child threw a temper tantrum over? Write a blog post from his/her point of view.