When I started talking my moher got a break from “entertaining” me, but then she had to listen as I chatted all day long – with short breaks. My father was away for weeks in his military exercises, so she couldn’t share the joy of listening to my stories with him. But she did share it with her co-workers. She brought me to her office quite often, joking that I could do the talking for her if they felt she wasn’t socializing enough.
I became quieter when I began school and started to read. As the books filled my thoughts, I didn’t feel the need to talk anymore. I read everything within reach, from school manuals to both children’s and adult books in our library. Even at meal times, I got immersed in reading food labels and bottle instructions. My father tried to impose some order in my reading chaos by segregating our library into children’s and adult sections, telling me to stick to children’s books as adult ones were “boring” and too complex for me to understand. However, after finishing the children’s books, I secretly switched into the adult section. My exploration of the forbidden territory went smoothly until my father caught me reading “The Decameron” (Infinite Laughs). He promptly locked the adult section and borrowed some children’s books from the city library. This move generated a new problem. When he tried to return the books, I resisted, convinced that any book I read automatically belonged to me. Despite his efforts to explain me library procedures, I stood firm in my belief. To help me grasp the concept, he took me to the Central Library, where librarians introduced me to the catalog system, took me on a tour, and guided me through the registration and borrowing process. Believing that I finally understood the concept, my father sought my confirmation; I said: ‘if I read all the books, the library will become mine.’ After several attempts and accumulation of late fees, he decided it was more practical and cost-effective to buy the books for me, giving the central library a break for a while. Infinite Love.