Stiff Punishment

The Surprise library--Northwest Regional Library officially--is usually quite uneventful. Filled with an assortment of old people (snowbirds), mothers with little ones in strollers,and a few strays, it is often anything but library-quiet. There is always a din., but never anything shocking.

The Twin Falls Public Library was quiet with marble floors and an air of antiquity. It was a no-nonsense, keep-it-quiet collection of books, computers, and community information.

The Surprise library has soda machines, snack dispensers, and a neon palm tree sign that flickers "Teen Oasis" above one section where slovenly youth slump over keyboards. It's a somewhat chaotic place with hundreds of computers lined up in the middle, multiple self-check-out stations, a cadre of three librarians languishing behind a rope barrier in case you have questions, and, oh yes, a security officer.

Yep--there's a security guard who rests behind a table by the upright crime detectors. If your book selections "beep" as you leave he glances up from his book or computer and nods to indicate that he knows you're obviously not stealing. That's all I've ever seen him do--just sit there at his desk and look up and down. He has on a uniform, but I've never really noticed if he's armed. Maybe I should have checked.

Yesterday I was pausing at the computerized book-check-in conveyor belt that pings and prints out a receipt. There were two portly people with a massive stack of videos in front of me so I had to wait. Turning a bit to my right I saw three men walking side by side. Then I realized that the far person was the security guard. He had his fingers through the elbow of the middle man who had his hands behind his back. A third guy held the opposite elbow of the center. As they passed I noticed that the insider was in handcuffs. Handcuffs! I did a double take.

They were talking quietly among themselves but I couldn't hear what they said. What the heck? An arrest at the library? I was intrigued.

The man in custody was white and probably in his fifties. I assumed he wasn't one of those pesky illegal immigrants that Arizonans worry about. He didn't look dangerous, but obviously he had done wrong at some time in his life. Did he owe a fine? Was he a pedophile who approached one of those in the "Teen Oasis"? Was he viewing porn on the public computers?

I made up the tale that the third man in plain clothes was a bounty hunter. He'd followed the felon into the book repository and, aided by the library lawman, had detained this bad customer. I'm certain there was a sizable sum of money on his head.

After checking out George W. Bush's Decision Points which had been held for me, I realized the posse was sitting on the stone bench outside the front door waiting for the police ( I suppose) to come get the offender.

You never know what you'll come across in the big city of Surprise. (population 117,000 on its present 50-year anniversary) This is an urban, cesspool of crime evidently. I must watch where I go and stay alert. You never know where evil lurks in Arizona.