Fined Out the Truth ~ Steven's Small-time

Today I remembered something and I don't know why. It's quite common of me to forget why I've entered a room, only to remember upon exiting, and other things of that sort, but something important slipped my mind the past few weeks. I suppose I've been preoccupied with projects and whatnot, but as soon as I remembered, I knew exactly what would be awaiting me.

A fine. And a big one too.

A while back I went to the local library to stock up on reading material. And sure, I felt accomplished and motivated, thinking that I'd burn through my collection of books even with other things to do. So I did finish the books I had checked out. And I applaud myself on that. Now what I don't applaud myself on was neatly stacking these books in a corner of my room, at an angle they weren't really visible, and forgetting about them.

I had several opportunities to return these books, but since I couldn't see my neat stack save from a specific vantage point, I didn't bother. Unfortunately, my lack of remembrance caused an unpleasant surprise to build up, that is, a fine of over twenty dollars. And I know that doesn't seem like a lot of money (and it isn't), but that's what my lifetime supply of gathered pennies and loose change just about amounts to, and I'm not ready to throw my life savings away to an overdue library fine. Now the local library is quite clever with their fine policy, because if a library-goer has a fine of over ten dollars, (that's me), they are no longer able to check out books.

Which means I can't. (I'm assuming other libraries have a similar policy?)

Now what can I do to scrap together those twenty dollars? I have a few options:

And with that decision, I'll either be neglecting my brain by not reading, be on the run from the local police, or just loan books from one of my sibling's library accounts instead. I'm probably going to go with the latter, but if for whatever reason you ever catch me in the local prison, you'll know why.

What's the biggest library (or other) fine you've had? Let me in the comments below!