Mr Jim is in the office.

Just as I started worrying that I will have nothing to write about other than my kids' antics (no lack of material there), somebody provided me with a very interesting blog entry. (You see, you worry, and good things happen, so once again I am resolved to not having any good, happy thoughts.)
For the past two weeks, someone at work has been bringing their old books, mostly fantasy and mysteries, and leaving them on the lunchroom's counter for grabs. I have browsed the selection, and didn't find anything to my taste. But little by little, all the books except for one have been taken by people.
When I came into the lunchroom on Friday for my morning cup of coffee, I noticed that there were two books on the counter, one of them I was the mentioned above reject, and the other one was lying face down. When I turned it over, I understood immediately why it was lying that way. The title said: "The best of American Erotica 2003". Hmmm.... I had to share the news with our secretary, and she immidiately checked out the table of contensts. Unlike me she wanted to give that somebody the benefit of the doubt. Maybe, she said, it was fiction with this name. Table of contents didn't show much, so she opened the book at random and started reading it out loud. Not a good idea. She read half a paragraph, then stopped mid-sentense and bursted out laughing. "Apparantly, some people call it Mr. Jim."
Later in the day I popped into the lunchroom twice to fill up my water bottle. Maybe it's my dirty mind, but I saw two different people have the same absent-minded smile while they were waiting for their lunch to warm up. I think it's either Friday having its effect on people or they have seen the book too. Maybe even more than seen.
When I spoke to our secretary, I said I didn't understand why someone would bring such a thing to work. It was bad enough that someone read such stuff and thoroughly enjoyed it for four years, but wishing to share this with co-workers is another story completely. Can you spell inappropriate??? I don't want to have a debate on what's art and what itsn't here, but based on that half a paragraph I was read aloud, I can attest that there's no redeeming literary merit to those works of fiction, and if this is the best of American erotica, then Americans should stick to other genres.
Secretary and I chatted for a few minuted entertaining thoughts of who actually had brought this smut into the office. Is it the same person who brought the other books in or someone different? Is it a prank? And in the middle of that conversation, I realized that whoever that is, I still have to work with this "someone," and that could be anyone. And that made me think, is it safe to stay late? At any rate, now I have an excuse not to, hehe.