Inspired Dreams

Have you ever looked at a building under construction and wished you could see what goes on inside? The city of Richland is expanding the public library and a patron complained there was no place to sit and watch the progress. She recalled how other cities furnished bleachers for the curious. All an onlooker can do around this site is cling with arthritic fingers to the steel links of the security fence. She had the disfigured digits to prove she did it.
This morning when the sun failed to peek through rumbling clouds and freckling raindrops I got a tour with the library director – hard hat and all. I frequented the library often in my past 30-year residence and was familiar with the general layout. I witnessed rearrangement each time new technology demanded space. We stood inside a skeleton of squares and rectangles of steel girders marking new walls - different dimensions that define spaces for familiar uses in efficient ways. Only a few old walls stand to substantiate its history.
Renovating began with tearing out rusty water pipes and antiquated electrical system after the books were moved away. Some unwelcome surprises came up with the old floor, features not documented on engineer's drawings when quick fixes were necessary over the past 50 years. Oddities brought change orders and construction slowed.
On the newly poured floor I saw steel girders supporting more steel against the open sky. Workers operated massive machines to lift and move materials, not pushing wheelbarrows. Buzzing tools riveted and bolted instead of hammers and saws. Deep powerful footings were visible where a second floor will rise for quiet reading beside the branches of stately sycamore trees. I was impressed.
When I stand in the completed building in 2009 I will remember the skeleton and expect new walls to welcome dreams and aspirations of many happy readers for another 50 years.
Naomi Sherer