![\"dsc_0078\"](\"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/DSC_0078-300x199.jpg\")
There was a cell phone bleating in the stacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t they ever read the sign?\u201d I thought to myself.<\/p>\n
WELCOME TO FREEPORT COMMUNITY LIBRARY. PLEASE SILENCE YOUR MOBILE PHONE BEFORE ENTERING THE BUILDING.<\/p>\n
Then I realized it was my phone, hidden at the reference desk. If it was ringing, it was Jeff.<\/p>\n
I ran from Large Print as quietly as I could. Thankfully, a line at Circulation started buzzing as I got to Reference. Surreptitiously extracting my mobile, I pushed the answer button as I strolled with imaginary purpose to non-fiction.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey. How\u2019s my favorite librarian today?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m good. How\u2019s my favorite ex-con?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got good news. I met with the doc at the VA today. They\u2019ve concluded I\u2019m a sociopath, not a psychopath.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s that difference?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, a psychopath will kill you then go get groceries. For him it\u2019s just another Tuesday. But a sociopath will kill you then feel bad about it afterwards.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWould he still do his grocery shopping?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, just without his regular joie de vivre. Anyway, because I\u2019m capable of feeling remorse, Doc says that\u2019s a good sign. When I broke that guy\u2019s nose, I did offer to set it for him after I unlocked the door. That showed I was concerned about his well being.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo what happens next?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI keep seeing the Doc and making my probation appointments. I need to get an apartment. I\u2019ve been sleeping on the table at the tattoo parlor.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t realize that, \u201cI said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I like the small space.\u00a0 Everything feels too big since I got out of jail. Hey, I\u2019ve gotta go get some smokes. Later.\u201d<\/p>\n
The call ended. He\u2019d shared his news and that was it. I would wait and wonder until the phone rang again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I ran from Large Print as quietly as I could. Thankfully, a line at Circulation started buzzing as I got to Reference. Surreptitiously extracting my mobile, I pushed the answer button as I strolled with imaginary purpose to non-fiction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12147,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[112],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fiction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12146"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12148,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12146\/revisions\/12148"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}