Every day on the way into work, I show my badge, put my bag on the conveyor belt through the X-ray machine, and walk through a metal dectector. Every day on the way out, I hand my bag to a guard, who inspects it briefly and unseeingly -- or so I thought -- and then I walk through a metal detector.

They're looking through my bag more carefully than I thought. On every trip in and out yesterday one unlikely item of mine was inspected with particular care: my library book. But it's not so unlikely, is it? I could smuggle out the Gutenberg Bible if I had a big enough tote.