They call to me, with voices of many genres, their due dates adding an extra whine to their plea. They wobble and sway in the winds of indecision of who to choose first. I can’t recall how many times of renewal I’ve invoked for each one. My chipped memory of delayed holds soon-to-be-released clinks against the ruined sides of a bottomless well of library requests.

I have too many interests.             

William Kent Krueger’s latest mystery is cradled in one arm, finished just this afternoon. Still satisfied by the heady tension of a story perfectly paced and revealed, is the very human, very real interweaving of a losing, but necessary, moral battle against oil pipelines across sacred land, with violence, sex trafficking and racism, lived by characters and families whose voices still warm and caution. Not quite ready to let go.

I cradle this book in one arm, which needs to be returned to other readers who wait, and I reach out with my opposite hand for Kuang’s “Yellowface,” which will be another kind of challenge. I wince apologetically at the polite calls of two poetry collections from an acquaintance, knowing that because I own these two, they stand behind the stacks of other borrowed books. Standing in line.

These are only books to be read. There are financial and governmental paperwork to be gathered and filed, bills to be paid, ever-expanding budgets to be estimated, and yes, writing to be done. These types don’t like to stand on ceremony, or in line, and they push themselves to the front, their voices nasal and their elbows sharp. They feel so entitled…and so they are because they have the power to punish if their needs aren’t met. They have deadlines that are a lot more complicated, once their crisp paper is peeled back, than one could ever imagine.   

© Liz Husebye Hartmann (2025)

Just Jot January Day 25 and SoCS 4– Prompt:IN LINE. Be sure to visit their blog to read or just say hi!  See what other folks have done with the prompt, or add your own!

https://lindaghill.com/2025/01/24/the-friday-reminder-for-socs-jusjojan-2025-daily-prompt-for-jan-25th/