Monday Evening, 5:54 pm 

Location: Local Public Library 

As I sat at a desk inside my local public library, it felt like my ‘almost’ perfect dream. I say ‘almost’ because in my perfect dream, instead of the public library it’s more of a space at home, a cozy space with a Barcalounger, a small table with a cup of tea, and books all around, including one in my hand. To make it an even more beautiful of a dream, I sometimes look towards the right and have a shelf containing books written by me! 

Aah what a dream! What a sight! 

Back to reality, when I look towards the right, I am seated in the corner almost aligning perfectly with the shelf marked: 

 ‘MYSTERY’ A-F 

Does that mean the title of the books kept here start with letters between A and F? Yes, that got to be it.  

“OR”, I thought to myself. “Is it the name of the author that begins with letters between A and F?” 

As I leaned towards the right to see which one of my hypotheses was correct, all I could see were books starting with ‘The’. That would have to be a ‘T’ which is nowhere near my range of A through F. “This requires further investigation”, the mystery writer in me thought as I rose up from my chair to investigate the shelf titled ‘MYSTERY’ A-F! 

Oh well, that wasn’t easy. I could see books ranging from titles starting with A, M, H and even a T. The name of authors too started with A, M, H and even a T. 

The Mystery of the library shelf A-F remains unsolved for now. To think of it, this seems like a great title for an investigative mystery novel! 

I wonder if I ever publish a book with that title, will it end up in a public library? And if it does, will it end up on a shelf marked ‘T’ with which the title of the book begins or a ‘P’, the letter with which my name begins? Guess we’ll find out in due time!

– Prateek Godiyal