“Everyone has been made for some particular work,

and the desire for that work has been put in every heart.”

– Rumi, 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, theologian and Sufi mystic.

“So?” she asked, “are you ready for Asimov?”

“I think so,” I replied. “I’ve made my way through Bradbury.”

“And a good number of Heinlein and Sturgeon, too,” she noted.

“Oh, and you were right: I really liked Synthetic Men of Mars.”

“Every good library must include Edgar Rice Burroughs.”

I had become good friends with the school librarian. I had spent a lot of time in the quiet confines of the bookshelves, reading, daydreaming and generally avoiding the world.

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