By Mike Zonta, BB editor

December 5, 2022

Yesterday, I returned my Stranger Things DVD to the San Francisco Public Library. It was supposed to be a 2-disk DVD but when I opened it up a few days earlier, there was only one disk (Episodes 5-8) inside.

I feared there might be some problem when I tried to return this DVD, and there was. After I returned the DVD in person, the library claimed online that the DVD was still outstanding. It was after hours and I had no way to contact them. And even if I did contact them, what chance did I have against the authority of the San Francisco Public Library?

My fury began to grow. I was reviewing the arguments in my defense in my mind over and over again. And getting angrier and angrier

Then I realized: Wow. I don’t usually get this angry. Maybe this anger relates to some other time in my life where I felt unjustly accused of something with no feeling of recourse.

Maybe this anger relates to a time in my life when it didn’t feel safe to let it out. And maybe it wasn’t safe.

It’s much easier to get angry with the public library than it would have been with my father.

So this gives me something to work with that I’ve never been in touch with before.

The next day I went to the library. The librarian asked me, “Did the DVD come with one disk or two?” I said, “One.” He said, “Okay.”