My family consisted of avid readers. It was interesting to see them bent over a book full of chicken scratch and getting annoyed when I interrupted them. In my family there was no tradition to read stories to children. Only grandma read novels to us during rare visits on Christmas or Easter. Books came from a mysterious place called public library. I was not allowed to go there by myself but once, at about age of four, my mother was in a hurry and had no choice but to take me with her. It was located on the first floor of building No.6. We were about to enter the library when the door swung open, a man ran out of it chased by a limping gentleman in a long soldier coat who was cursing profusely. My mother jumped aside. I looked at her and said "Hey mom, this is Crazy Lech, our neighbor from the first floor" (we lived on the second floor). "Be quiet. Let me return the books and let us get out of here". Crazy Lech was a well-known character in my neighborhood. He never bothered children but, quite often, would curse adults and try to chase them. Because of his limp he never caught anybody, so I considered him a harmless crazy. Only now I learned there was a purpose in his madness. The Party put him in charge of the public library, the Party taught him how to write due dates, and the Party told him to enforce them. He was just doing his job. Later on I was told Lech played important role in establishing the Government of the People in my city right after World War II. I think he was in charge of security (i.e., secret police) for a while. Due to his illiteracy he was being transferred to lower and lower jobs and, by the time I was 3 or so, he reached the level of a librarian. After a few years the library was moved to a new building and, during the process of moving, the Party managed to reassign him again. He was very bitter afterwards. I do not know what his new job was and my family changed apartments soon after that.
It is interesting to think about the role of place of birth in one's life. If Lech was born in the US, with his work ethic, he would likely be a football coach moving up and up all the way to Alabama or Tennessee. Instead, he had his 15 minutes of fame in my city and, despite of working hard, he was being continuously demoted. Lech had clearly an impact on me. I have never been late with material borrowed from a library. I did pay a few fines for VCR rentals but I always return stuff to libraries on time.