It happened in the library: the laughter. The great, hoarse cackle (although some will say it was a cough) seemingly suspended in the old, 70's-carpet air; strung between the dust motes that flaked from pastry-paperbacks; detonated like a clap of thunder, the vibration ricocheting angrily throughout the canals of the inner ears offending every cell in its wake-- yes they laughed at me, even in the library.