Year: 2007

I have this “librarian stereotype” (not sure, if it is “stereo”, but it’s a “type” alright). A thin woman in her middle ages, wearing glasses, simple summer-time dress, and always with a book. Something like that. Of course, there are people of other professions who look like this, and there are definitely librarians who look different, but that doesn’t matter for now. What matters is that the first thought that I get in my mind when I see someone looking like that is “A librarian!”.

I often see one of these “librarians” in the zoo. Every weekend Maxim and I go to the zoo, and there is this woman, who always reads a book, waiting for people who are happy to pay two pounds to have their kids photographed together with a nicely dressed pony. The animal is usually wearing pink feathers on the head, while eating grass nearby.

Today, the “librarian” was there again. As usual. Reading the book. But today she was dressed differently. She has her jeans and some sort of a short t-shirt. Nothing special. But…

When we were passing by, I noticed that she had a tattoo. It was one of those party girl tattoos on her back just above the jeans belt. Hmm… While I paused there for a second, I noticed another tattoo – some Chinese saying down on her leg…

She was reading a book, paying no attention to me. Which was good. Because I was staying there like a guy with one of his childhood stereotypes shredded into pieces.

This was no regular librarian. This was a party librarian. Or she was no librarian at all. Boy! A train of thoughts went through my mind.

And then Maxim called me to see a camel.