A chat with my aunt about a train ticket in a library book

I was helping my aunt clean her attic last month and we found a box of old books. In a copy of 'To Kill a Mockingbird' from 1972, there was a one-way train ticket from Chicago to St. Louis dated 1974. I was about to toss it, but she stopped me. She said, 'That wasn't just a trip. That was someone's whole day, maybe their whole life changing.' It made me stop and really look at the ticket. The price was $8.75, and someone had written 'see you soon' on the back in faded blue ink. I used to just see these things as neat trash, but now I try to imagine the story. Who were they going to see? Did they make it? It's changed how I look at every little scrap I find now. What's the most personal thing you've ever found tucked in a book?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_anthony2d ago

Found a grocery list in a cookbook once that felt like a whole life.

mila_brown102d ago

Always wonder if they got the stuff or if life got in the way.

terryk102d ago

My local library had a display of found bookmarks last year. A pressed flower from 1989 had a full name on the back, and I actually found her still living in town. Honestly, it makes you realize how much history is just sitting on shelves.