Man Returns "A Dog of Flanders" to Library After 76 Years - What's the Fine?

MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. (CBS/AP) What do you think the late fee is for returning a library book that's 76 years overdue?

Mark McKee is lucky that a Michigan library isn't doing the math, after the 89-year-old man wrote a letter explaining he just found a book he checked out when he was just 13 - back in 1934.

You know, when people read books.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president when McKee checked out "A Dog of Flanders" by English author Marie Louise de la Ramee from the Mount Clemens Public Library. He says he just recently happened upon the book and mailed it to the library.

"My conscience took over," wrote McKee in an accompanying letter from Chandler, Ariz., where he spends his winters.

"I was entranced by the book and kept it with my prized possessions, intending to return it forthwith," McKee wrote. "Thus began a 76-year odyssey of missed opportunity and intention."

Library Director Donald Worrell Jr. said he was thrilled to get the book back from McKee.

"He spent a great amount of time in here," Worrell said. "He was very supportive. He was very generous to the library."

In his letter, McKee said he estimated the fine on a book overdue for 76 years could total thousands of dollars. But Worrell said McKee doesn't have to worry; there won't be any fine.

"We figure the story is better than the money," Worrell said.

Instead, the library plans to display both the book and the letter, and send a fresh copy of "A Dog of Flanders" to Mr. McKee.

Please keep an eye on it this time, ok?