121. Squozed
Amy decides to take the initiative and charge at the librarian. He seems frail enough, she can probably overpower him. She begins running down the aisle between two shelving units.
Unfortunately, her maneuver does not go unnoticed. Seeing her charging down the long corridor, the librarian gets a wicked gleam in his eyes. He moves to the end of the shelf on Amy’s right and begins cranking something.
“Oh NO!” thinks Amy. She skids to a halt, then frantically tries to turn and run back the way she came. Too late, Amy realizes that these shelves are compactors, similar to the kind at the university library. When libraries have too many books to hold on regular, free-standing bookshelves, they install compactor bookshelves. Compactor shelves are stacked one immediately next to the other, with no space in between, except one three-foot gap for every six to ten shelves. One accesses the books in compactors by turning cranks at the ends of the shelves that move the bookshelves back and forth. Now the librarian is cranking the shelf next to Amy, causing it to move in and crush her.
Amy scrambles backward as the walls slowly close in on her. At last-*SCRUNCH!* as if a rubber band had snapped, the shelf next to her smashes in with incredible force. The two shelves crunch together with barely a millimeter of space between them. The librarian turns the crank the other way to admire his handiwork. There he finds Amy in profile, still in a running pose, smashed to the size of a sheet of paper. He chuckles as he takes her back to his desk, then glues her to a large piece of poster board. He pulls out a calligraphy pen and, after a moment’s work on the board, he steps back to admire his handiwork. “SHHHH!” it reads, “Please be quiet and respectful and allow others to study in peace!” The librarian hangs Amy up prominently over his desk. At least now Amy will be able to spend even more time in the library!
Amy is in no state to continue this adventure or her life.