Big Brother???

Today I went to the library to return a couple of books, which I’d checked out two weeks ago. Recently, our library installed self-checkout machines, where you can checkout, return, or renew books yourself. So, I walked straight up to one machine and hit the ‘return’ button. A second later, my two books appeared on the screen.

It took me a second before I realized something was wrong. I hadn’t scanned my library card. I hadn’t even taken my wallet out of my pocket. Moreover, I had not taken the two books out of my bag...

I looked around in the way you do when something isn’t right, as though you expect to see your friends hiding by the corner of a bookshelf laughing and pointing. There was nothing.

I can only assume that, somehow, the scanner managed to pick up my two books through the bag. It’s a weak answer, but it’s the only one I’ve got...unless the machine is reading fingerprints...