General Pardon for Offenses

Oh, sweet memories of Amnesty Day! The sweet feeling of reprieve. Bold smiles, not because we were guilty, which we were, but because we beat the system. We were avid readers and we were proud of it! We would read – and read – and read, only to realize too late, that once again our books were overdue. Would we return a book unfinished just to minimize the fine? Never! We would say to heck with the fine – the book must be read to the very end!
We couldn’t renew on-line, if we were running out of time. This was life before computers. There wasn’t a $10.00 fine limit before borrowing privileges were revoked. No. That overdue book fine would just grow and grow and grow. We could return the book and pay more than the book was worth new. Or, we could wait for Amnesty Day. The day all lost and overdue books would make their way home to their library, without penalty, or loss of cash. Amnesty Day was always a busy day at the library. Lots of happy, sometimes sheepish, faces entering and then leaving, looking like a huge weight had been lifted from their shoulders.
We readers had been given a second chance. We would try again. We would reform. We left that library burdened with novels, not fines. We promised to read and return on time. But we knew, the addicts that we were, if we should fall off the wagon again, we could always hold out for Amnesty Day.