February 23

‘Bogey!’

    An odd statement for a library. It came from the Children’s section but it didn’t come from a child.

    ‘Bogey!’ Louder this time. A teenage male voice like the first one.

    ‘Bogey!’ this third teenage male voice growls the word loudly. Now people in the library are looking over at the children’s section where a gang of tall, thin, swinging bodies are moving.

    ‘Bogey!’ the first voice shouts it this time.

    ‘Bogey!’ Louder - obviously a competition.

    The gang moves out of the library, followed by two middle aged librarians, requesting with middle aged politeness for them to ‘go quietly’.

    They do not go quietly. They shout louder and louder, laughing as each of the teenage boys tries to out-shout the other, a couple of teenage girls giggling nervously. They roar at the top of their voices, trying to shock the adults with their brave childishness.

   ‘Bogey!’ ‘Bogey! ‘Bogey!’

    They leave the library filled with tuts and shaking heads. The normal bookish silence settles again and everyone there thinks bad thoughts about teenagers.