A Really Good Scent

Growing up, our mother wanted us out of the house as much as possible.  Her OCD forced her to clean every day and she simply couldn't allow kids running in, out, and around.  Her method was to feed us breakfast, throw us outside, lock the door and threaten us with our lives if we came back before lunch.  Sometimes she didn't let us come inside even then.  Sometimes she packed our lunches and we walked or biked to our neighborhood playground and ate there.  If we ate lunch at home, we were tossed back outside, door locked, and allowed to freely roam the neighborhood or, in the summertime, stay at the pool all day.  I remember riding my bike for miles.  If mom knew the places I roamed, she would have had a fit!  Therefore, many lies were told.  And you know all about the lying because we walked that road a month or so back.  Mom also liked to take us to the library because she perceived it as a safe, educational dumping ground.  We would get dropped off, enter the building, climb the steps to the children's department, and get lost in the fantastic, magical world of books for several hours.  I loved that place.  I could have gone there every single day of the week.  Miss Brown was the children's librarian and she was always excited to introduce a new book.  She also had a knack of knowing what you might like to read, yet she also enjoyed challenging you to check out a book that would be above your reading level.  The library was an old building and the children's room was a very large, high ceilinged room with a wonderful scent - the scent of books.  To this day, I sniff books and magazines before I read them and yes, I get odd looks when I do this in public.  In the summertime, there were large fans blowing hot air through the room, but I didn't care.  I was too wrapped up in roaming the shelves, looking for the perfect books to borrow for two weeks.  Once I got the books home, I would read after supper and at bedtime.  Every now and then, I would sneak and read under the bedcovers with a flashlight.   I participated in the library reading program every year, and one year I won an award for reading more books than anyone else in my school.  My mother was too busy cleaning to come to the ceremony, but I still have the pin and certificate to prove that I can read and did read all those books.  To this day, I love children's books, particularly the old ones, and I love great illustrations that accompany a good story.  I found an illustration a few years back and felt the need to draw it.  Does anyone know his name?  He's just so cute!