How many people are running for president, anyway? I lost track. Is young George going for another term? I don’t know if term limits apply to American presidents. I don’t know much about politics, in fact. And I sure can’t keep up with this musical chairs election. Who will be left when millions and millions of dollars has been spent?

I’m more concerned right now about the loss of “a few hundred books” from the local high school library. I have lots of questions on that news item. How many are a few hundred? Obviously, it’s more than 100. Does a “few” mean two or three or more than that? And is this an annual loss? Never mind the obvious question, how does it happen that no one keeps track of where the books are.

I am one of those readers and library patrons who always has overdue books. But I also get calls from the library and in extreme cases, a post card. I know telephone calls take time, but the public library has thousands of patrons. I doubt if I’m the only procrastinator.

A few hundred books, at the average cost today of a college textbook ($60) means thousands of dollars of taxpayer money lost. Old-fashioned arithmetic comes into play here – the kind of “do it in your head” figuring. A hundred books, around $6,000 – a few hundred, lots more money.

Is anyone besides me concerned about this? Are these lost books replaced each year and at what cost?

One more question for our municipal leaders: If the public library lost a few hundred books each year, and had to replace them, how would this affect its budget request? I’ll bet the Town Council would want some answers.

Perhaps one of the candidates for the next School Board can delve into the mystery of the missing books.

Years ago, the summer after my son graduated and went into the Army, I got a bill from the school department for a missing book. I tore the house apart looking for it and did find the tome and returned it. Do people get bills for missing books nowadays?

I am really out of touch with both the local school department and national politics, but I will see you next week.