When I was really young, the library was downtown, a tiny building next to the tiny Detroit Edison building. I think you could stand in the center of the room and touch all four walls with your hands.

Later, it moved into a house, right across the street from where I grew up, on Baker Road. It was small, too, and by the time I was about 16, I think I had read about every book in it.

I remember fondly the very kind Mrs. McKillen, who encouraged me in reading throughout my kidhood (and never charged me a single late fee!).

As I enter the final phase of my promotion to 9th Degree Black Belt, I remember being in 3rd grade. The Dexter Library had one Martial Art book.

No matter how many times I tried to check it out, it was always checked out to a kid named Chucky Kolander.