"Old as Books" by Mike Shultz

A neat story that comes with a nicely implied and rich background set in a library that contains books on magic and sorcery. Into this steps an old librarian who is unhappy that his own son wants to remove him from the post as the son feels he is no longer suitable. In the midst of his depression, the old man thinks of some way to pay back his son but, as it turns out, the resolution may involve him doing something else that he loves but has not occured to them before.

• Read from Fantasy and Science Fiction, July 2005