A little later in the conversation she reiterated her desire, “When I grow up I really want to be a Barbarian.” She had our attention this time, “Honey, why do you want to be a barbarian?” I asked. “Welll,” she said with her newly developing high Cambridge accent, “I want to look aftah the books.” Little thought bubbles with light bulbs of understanding appeared over our heads. “Do you mean librarian?” I asked, and she nodded with her bright eyes twinkling. Jim explained to her that barbarians are the ones who burn up the books, but it would be just fine for her to be a librarian.
Our collective genetics might have historically included burning a book or two (specifically non-King James versions of scripture…), however, we have managed to develop a love of books and reading in both sides of the family. Both Jim’s sister and my brother have pursued degrees in library science. Of course we would be proud to have another librarian in the family.
Librarian would be a good choice in Cambridge. There are over a hundred libraries here in a twenty five square mile area which the city encompasses. At night, (which happens in the middle of the afternoon here in the winter, no joke, it is dark by 4:00) it is fun to walk around the city and take note of how many libraries you see through the windows. We do a lot of walking here and our focal point for figuring out where we are is the imposing Cambridge University Library, the tallest building in Cambridge, which is only a half a mile from our house.
2 comments:
This is a very cute story. It reminds me of my youngest, our son and his "church shoes". I had purchased a very nice pair of penney loafers at a friend's yard sale and put them up waiting for him to grow into them. It didn't take long, and his grandpa gave him two very shiny, new pennies. Therefore, we always referred to the shoes as his "Penney Loafers". One Sunday morning I said, "Go get your church shoes so we can put them on." He stayed in his room a long time and came out empty handed. I said, again, "Go get your church shoes. We need to go." He went back into his room. I yelled after him in few minutes, "Bring in your church shoes." Finally he came in with a confused expression and said, "Mama, are you talking about my Penney-Costals?"
I love it! between the two of us we could probably write a book on 'wrong word' stories! My son used to say 'dig bozer' for bull dozer and 'smy flatter' for fly swatter. My eldest confused 'tomato' and 'tornado' as well as 'dizzy and 'busy' on a regular basis. Add 'pennycostals' and 'barbarians' and we're off to a good start!
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