The town library had been abandoned for years. It’s doors were shut and the windows were boarded up, promising a demolition in the future. When the construction crew came to tear it down, they found fresh footprints in the dust and lights flickering in the reading room.
At the center of the room sat an old woman no one recognized, turning pages in a book no one could read.
Steven, the site manager, decided to tackle this problem personally. He walked across the dusty floor, and took the chair opposite the woman at the reading table.
“Good morning.” He started.
“Is it? Already?” The woman looked up. Her eyes held no surprise, no anxiety. Just a blank look that told him nothing.
“What are you reading?” Steven asked.
“I’ve always liked it here. You may not remember when they first built this place, but it was so impressive. Time has a way of making things… less so.”
Steven wasn’t sure if he was supposed to feel sympathy. He had trouble keeping his temper. He had just realized that there was nothing on the page the woman was reading.
“Are you mocking me?” Steven hid a fist under the table.
“Not at all, young man.” The woman closed the book and finally looked at him. “You can walk away from this. You don’t have to tear it down. What if you restored it?”
“What if I tore it down and rebuilt it in every detail?” Steven wasn’t sure where that thought came from. “I have a job to do, ma’am, do I need to call the police?”
“They’d be right here, I’m sure. I can’t believe I’m holding a one-woman protest in the digital age.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Didn’t you notice that you couldn’t read the pages of my book?” The woman looked at him sympathetically. “No, of course you didn’t. Why do you think that might be?”
“I don’t-“
“This is a world-building computer game. I am a player, and I have decided you will not tear this building down.”
Steven was alarmed that he took this news so well. This was going to be a long day.