Baskins Library, Vera’s favourite place to go when she was in need of an adventure. And right now, she truly needed an adventure to help her escape from her eternal boredness. There was no work to do, nothing good on TV, no one to play outside with. Her last resort was to walk the short distance to her favourite library, Baskins Library. 

In she went, and immediately, she began to search through the library, looking around for any interesting books to read. Nothing appealed to her. Everything was the same old stuff. There were the history books, the Children’s Fiction books, the Children Nonfiction books, the Young Adult(YA) books, the International books, and so many more. The library seemed endlessly, yet still Veda felt bored and she couldn’t find anything to read. 

Until, Veda noticed something sticking out from in between two books on religion. Veda’s eyebrows furrowed and she looked at the slip of paper, curiously. Finally, she pulled it out and read the little line of writing in a language unknown to her. 

COGITA

  ERGO

   SUM

Veda stared at the piece of writing in confusion. Slowly, she looked around herself, hoping to see whoever wrote this small little note. Once again, she moved her gaze back to the note and stared at, anticipating for it to reveal its deep dark secrets somehow. Then, she realised something. “I’ve found my adventure! I need to research more on… Cogito ergo sum,” Veda thought to herself as she found herself a completely empty table to begin her research. 

Slowly, she sat herself down onto a chair and stared down at the paper, hoping it would reveal something or that she’d at least get some idea of what to do next. But, nothing. Her usually energetic and imaginative mind, which was usually full of adventures, couldn’t think of anything. Veda was about to give up and go throw the slip of paper away, when she heard someone breath behind her back. 

“Whatcha lookin’ at?” Veda turned around and was immediately face-to-face with the librarian, a large husky looking woman, who nobody would have expected to do such a quiet and timid job. Veda flipped the slip of paper upside down and turned around to the librarian. “Nothing.” “Hey, you know I don’ like liars. Now, tell me what you’re doin’?” Veda swallowed in and stared back at the librarian again. Quickly, she made up a lie and mumbled, “I was researching a project I have in school on this…band. They-They’re motto was..um. It was this.” Veda flipped the slip of paper she had previously found in between the books and handed it into the librarian’s big strong hands. 

The burly woman stared down at the slip of paper she had just been handed and stared at it intently. She studied the paper for quite a while and then, after what felt like hours to Veda, handed it back to her. The librarian cleared her throat and proclaimed loudly to Veda. “This phrase or motto, as you say, seems to be from the Latin language. I believe we have quite a few books on famous phrases in Latin. Over there, near the adult fiction section.” The librarian pointed one of her muscular fingers near the adult fiction section. 

Veda got up off the chair and walked over to the adult fiction, glancing once behind herself to make sure the librarian wasn’t following her. Once she was sure, Veda slipped the piece of paper into her back pocket and looked around the Languages Section for a book on Latin. She walked past translating books on Hindi, French, Spanish, and so many other languages. Finally, Veda found the book she was looking for. “English to Latin Translator with famous phrases.” 

Veda found herself another empty table to sit at and began to translate the slip of paper she had found. Word by word, Veda translated the phrase or sentence written on the slip of paper. She started with “cogito”, which roughly translated to, “think,” or “I think.” Then, “ergo” which translated to, “therefore.” Finally, to end off, Veda translated, “sum,” which meant, “I am.” 

Veda put these few words together as they were on the slip of paper, and “Cogito ergo sum,” became, “I think, therefore I am.” 

I think, therefore I am

I think, therefore I am

“I think therefore I am,” Veda thought to herself as she continued to stare at the phrase. “Why have I heard that before? I’m sure I’ve heard some sort of famous person say that, but who could it be? Was it a writer? Was it a man or woman? Who said, “I think, therefore I am” and why would someone leave a note of this phrase?” 

Slowly, Veda got up and began to search through what seemed like the librarian’s endless shelves. She looked through book after book, shelf after shelf, section after section. Veda looked in places nobody would expect to find anything. From under the bookshelves to behind magazines. She kept on looking and looking and looking. But, nothing seemed to be found. Nothing, nada, zero, zilch, zip. There was nothing. 

That was until, something unexpected popped up. Veda sat herself down again on the same chair she was sitting on before and stared at the book she had used. “English to Latin Translator with famous phrases.” As she had already given up, Veda mindlessly flipped through the book, not expecting to find anything of interest or importance. Until, she got to the “famous phrases” part. On the first page of this section of the book, Veda found what she had been looking for and thinking about for the past hour or so. 

“Cogito ergo sum, meaning, I think therefore I am,” were the words written on the page. Veda sat up straighter and smiled at the book as if it were a Christmas present. Right next to the Latin and English words was what Veda had been looking for the whole time. 

“A quote often said by the famous French philosopher, Rene Descartes.” 

“Yes!” Veda said out loud, her mind having a little triumph dance party. Everyone in the library turned around and stared at Veda and her little outburst. Slowly, Veda sat herself back onto her chair and mumbled apologies as her face started to turn red. “Sorry about that,” Veda mumbled one last time as she got up and began to look in the Autobiography and Biography Section. Veda walked through the section, trying to look for an autobiography or at least a biography on Rene Descartes. Veda was hoping to find something which would help her figure out why a person would leave a note on this quote and who this person could possibly be. 

Finally, after a short while of looking, Veda found it. “Biography of Rene Descartes.” Veda brought the book back to where she was sitting and began to skim through it. On her first round through the book, Veda found nothing of importance. Everything just seemed to complement what Rene Descartes had believed and how modern his philosophies were. The only thing which Veda found a bit interesting was how the Church found his philosophies “threatening” and “illegal.” But that wasn’t enough information for Veda to go off of. So, she kept going. 

Veda skimmed through the book quite a few times, but couldn’t seem to find anything. Until, she began to read through the lines in the book. “If Rene Descartes wasn’t approved of by the Church, and most people in Europe at the time believed the Church over anyone else including him, how has he become so famous? Because people surely would have not bought or read up on any of his philosophies. So, how is he so famous?” Veda thought to herself, her mind now starting to form up another idea. “Unless, he did have people behind his back. Like a community or a group or a…” Veda stopped for a moment, and waited for the words to come to her. 

“A secret society. What if Rene Descartes was part of a secret society of philosophers who had different theories or controversial theories which were against the Church? What if…What if the person who left this note is an ancestor of Rene Descartes? Or another member of the society?” 

Veda smiled to herself, excitedly. She was so glad that she had just come up with the most perfect theory to explain this note and all of the rest of her research. “This is perfect,” Veda thought to herself as she positively hopped over to the History Section to look for things on secret societies, philosophers and Descartes. 

Veda looked through the section and found bucketloads of books on secret societies and philosophers especially. She only found a couple on Descartes. But, Veda grabbed as many books as she could hold in her two small teenager arms and walked over to the desk she had been working on. With a “plunk” the books fell onto her table and she sat herself in between her four enormous piles of books. Then, Veda began. 

One by one, Veda looked through each and every book, hoping to find somethings connected to a group, Rene Descartes, philosophers and the Church. But, she couldn’t find anything that made any particular sense to her. Everything was the same old stuff. Most of the things in the books, especially the ones on philosophy were confusing and were making Veda lose her train of thought. But, Veda pushed through. She was extremely determined to figure out where the paper came from, from who it came from and why it was left there. 

But, the later it got, the less determined Veda became. She wasn’t getting anywhere from mindlessly searching through books,most of which she barely understood. Finally, after boredom had finally hit her, Veda picked up the slip of paper which had led her on this ludicrous hunt in the first place. Veda stared at the paper for quite a long time, when she noticed something she hadn’t seen before. It was a small little symbol which was on the back of the slip of paper. The curious girl brought it closer to her face and tried to understand what it was. It was a cross, with a fancy little rose in the middle. 

Veda’s eyes widened in surprise and realisation and she, hurriedly, placed the slip of paper back on the table. Veda pulled out a book she had previously been reading on secret societies in Europe and quickly flipped through it. Then, all of a sudden, she stopped. Eyes open wide, Veda stared first at the book and then at the slip of paper, both of which contained the identical rose crosses. 

“This is perfect!” Veda thought to herself as she leaned in close to read what was written in the book. But, unfortunately, it was nothing of importance. All that was written in the book was a caption for the picture, which quite literally said, “The Rose or Rosy Cross.” 

Disappointedly, Veda slumped into her chair and stared up at the ceiling of the library. “I do all of this to figure stuff out about this paper and nothing? This is so stupid,” Veda thought to herself as her eyes began to droop. “And it’s getting so late too.” Finally, Veda decided to pack her stuff up and leave. Slowly, but surely, Veda began to put all the books she checked out away and she decided to check out the book she got on Rene Descartes’ life. 

As she was about to walk to the self checkout, something totally unexpected happened, which led to a ridiculous series of events. 

First, as she was about to checkout, a boy, around her age bumped right into her left shoulder. He was walking extremely fast and didn’t even look back to apologise to Veda as he bumped into her. The moment he bumped into Veda, she got angry and was about to angrier at the fact that he hadn’t apologised when she saw something. On the back of his neck, there was a tattoo. It was a tattoo of the Rosy Cross. 

Veda’s eyes widened in shock and, at first, she didn’t know what to do. But, after a quick moment of thinking, she decided. “He’s got all my answers!” Veda left her book on Rene Descartes on a random table and began to slowly follow him. 

Veda stayed as quiet as she possibly knew how to and followed the tattooed-teenager through a large wooden door, Veda had never noticed. He walked so fast and with such determination, that Veda had to start jogging to stay close behind him. But, she made sure, once again to make no noise at all. At one certain point, the tattooed boy looked behind himself to make sure no one was following, at which moment, Veda hid behind a bunch of boxes. Finally, the boy came to a stop in front of another wooden door and took a deep breath in. He closed his eyes and walked into the wooden, revolving door. Veda stared at the now closed door, thinking to herself. “Should I do this? I couldn’t possibly get hurt, could I? I’ll be fine, right? Right?” Veda waited and waited, as if expecting someone else to say something and then, after taking a deep breath in, walked through the revolving doors. 

“Welcome, Veda to Rosy Descartes. Cogito ergo sum.”