books and dad

I love reading and I love books. I think this is a well established fact about me. Well, my parents are in the process of trying to get rid of some of their stuff. I told them I would take any books off their hands that they didn't want. (The books are part of my inheritance from the padres anyway.) A few days ago, I was with my dad and without any warning he asked me, "Why do you want those books?!" The question surprised me as well as his tone. He asked me the question with something nearing contempt. It was the same tone that he might have asked me, "Why did you steal my identity?" or "Why did you sleep with my best friend, thus ruining his chances of becoming a minister?" It almost made me feel like I'd done something wrong by wanting those books.

Luckily, I know my dad pretty well and I know he didn't really mean it like that. Lots of times he just doesn't realize how things come out. He probably thought that we'd talked about me taking books before and that I didn't give a satisfactory answer, so he needed to ask again. (This happens with dad a lot - he thinks he talked to you about something, but really he was just thinking about it. He's not spacey; he's an engineer. I really do think that is an adequate explanation.)

The answer I gave him was something about how books are expensive and I liked having a lot of books because when I have kids I want them to have ready access to books and to know that reading is important. (Bringing theoretical grandchildren into the argument is a sure win with dad. How can he let these little guys down? He just loves them too much.) He thought about that for a second and seemed to accept it. Then he asked, in a milder tone, "But you don't want those old text books for anything do you? Those things are worthless." (Aha! The crux of the matter!) I didn't even realize old text books were up for grabs and to make him happy I said I didn't want them. (Of course I probably would take them; it might be interesting.)

Dad continued, "Okay.... well, at least now I have some idea of what to keep and what to chuck." I thought the only thing we established was it was okay to not keep old textbooks. That's not a very big category of books, but again - whatever. Then I realized that he'd used the word "chuck" to describe what he was going to do to books. This kind of makes my blood run cold. I said, "But, you don't really mean, 'throw away' right? You'll at least give them to Goodwill, right?" He replied, "Who wants old textbooks?"

Man, sounds like dad is hiding something. What's in those old books - Sectumsempra? I'll have to check them out before they get chucked.

(ps. Don't forget to check out kristin and erin's online bookclub. The new book for July has been selected.)