Paris or the Back Yard

Story ID:	1838
Written by:	Betty (BJ) Roan
Story type:	Musings, Essays and Such
Writers Conference:	$100 Prize - Shannon Hyle Memorial Contest – “For the Love of Books"
Location:	Cumberland County IL USA
Year:	1960

I grew up during a time when television sets still had tubes which constantly blew out, leaving us without a TV to watch for weeks at a time. Winters were long and cold, keeping us inside with little to do, so I learned to read for entertainment.

During summer vacation, there was nothing I enjoyed more than sitting under a tree in the back yard with a good book. Fiction or non-fiction didn’t matter, as long as the book had words I would read it.

I often rode my bicycle two miles just to go to the library. Which sounds simple enough, however the road was made from layers of oil, which grew soft in the hot summer sun. The trip was comparable to riding two miles up a steep hill.

Peaceful, serene, quiet, shelves filled with fantasy and fact, the library was my favorite place in the world. Sitting on the floor between the book stacks, I could become a detective, a movie star, or Queen of the Universe. Without spending a penny, I could visit the watery canals of Venice, tour the Pyramids of Egypt, and travel to the moon. I could peek inside the lives of people I looked up to: Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, and Albert Einstein, and people who horrified me: Jack the Ripper, John Wayne Gacy, and Charles Manson. I could admire the works of the masters: Picasso, Renoir, and El Greco. I could become someone else, or improve the real me.

Even today, if I had to choose between springtime in Paris, or sitting under a tree in the back yard with a good book…well maybe I would choose Paris, but I would certainly take along a few good books!