My wife was recently back in Saskatchewan to visit her parents and during her time there, she got her mom's library card number and PIN number so that she could put books on hold for her over the Net.
That's what Shea was doing last night and one of us (I won't say who 
) had the brilliant idea that it would be funny to put a book like Joy of Sex on hold for his mother-in-law as well. This may sound cruel but this is a woman who, when we played Cranium once, acted out “Madonna” by utiliziing two empty glasses to illustrate one of Madonna's most famous outfits. (And on my psychologist's advice, I won't even begin to describe how she pantomimed “blowfish”.)
So anyhow, Shea got home from work today to a message from her mom: “I can't believe you guys! I am so angry and you are in so much trouble!” (Of course, this is exactly the reaction we wanted and expected.)
Shea won't let me post the video clip she took during her visit of her mom dancing to Stompin' Tom Connors in their campsite to help illustrate her mom's humour [Edit: Shea eventually relented and we did upload it!] and I'm not sure if the two Cranium stories are enough. So I'll post this picture of her dad's most recent purchase instead…
Obviously, my in-laws keep life interesting. To finish the story, Shea talked to her mom later today to get the full story.
When she got the call that she had a couple holds in, she went right to the library. She went up to the desk where the clerk gave her the two books (we couldn't remember if Weyburn had self-serve holds or not but having them behind the desk made it even better!) Shea's mom looked at the second book and was like “This isn't for me. I didn't order this.” as the clerk kept pushing it towards her, “Yes, yes, you did. We got your request by e-mail this morning.” That's when it hit Joan what must have happened. After her face went back to its normal non-red shade, she explained to the clerks what a bad daughter and son-in-law she has and promised to report us to the head librarian (a FIMS alum) the next time she was in.
I think she's got a case – I'm pretty sure this practical joke violated some obscure librarian ethics guideline and I'll probably have to say some “Hail Deweys” this Sunday at the LPL's circulation desk in penance.
(Of course, it could've been worse, much worse. Weyburn also has a book in their catalogue called The Lifestyle: A Look at the Erotic Rites of Swingers.)
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