seniority rules.

if there were such a thing as a moral scale, my behavior during the past couple of weeks would register slightly below "questionable."

i visit the library regularly to check out books for work. all the books we have in my classroom have been shredded to pieces and gnawed to death. kids these days have no respect for the written word.

i tell you this so you know i have not been making special trips to the library to find harry potter.

but while i'm there, i look.

a week or so ago i checked, and numbers 3 and 5 in the series were there. not 4.

so i checked them both out.

i read 3, and finished it.

i returned it.

i checked for 4.

still not there.

so...

i did not return number 5. even though i can't read it yet.

because i just knew that as soon as i did, number 4 would be returned, and then whatever snotty kid had it would check out number 5. then i'd have to wait on it too.

so i held onto it. strategically.

i used my superior mental capabilities to cheat some 7 year old out of reading a book for fun.

i also got online and requested the book be held for me. which is a perfectly acceptable thing to do. waiting lists are used in every library in the world. probably.

and today, i got to check it out.

but don't worry, 7 year olds. i also read really fast. i'll be done before your attention span has moved on to hannah montana, or whatever.