4 - Surprises
The children kept us busy for the better part of an hour, and when the class left behind an exhausted teacher, the library got busy with older customers. Marjorie asked me to rearrange the sitting cubes and stow the books the kids had left on the tables while she took over the front desk and Conny retreated to the office.
When I finished towards eleven, I was determined to seize the opportunity to question Marjorie about the Butterfly and the Cheshire Cat. I joined her at the reception, where she was busy scanning the returns of a customer and placed the books in the return basket. The lady left, and the librarian pointed to the sitting area.
"Thanks for cleaning the mess, and sorry I didn't help much." She checked her watch. "I have a doctor's appointment in the early afternoon and should be on my way. We close between twelve and one thirty, so you can get lunch or go for a walk if you like. I asked Conny to explain to you whatever you need to know in the afternoon."
I nodded, but kept myself from telling her I didn't look forward to being left alone with my grumpy coworker. "Will you be back later?"
"Its possible, but I doubt it. This is the last briefing before the surgery, and my doctor wants to do a thorough checkup. But I'll see you tomorrow morning, if you still want the job."
"Of course I want it, as long as you'll have me."
She patted my arm. "Oh, don't worry, we are excited to have you. Could you fetch Conny to take over here?"
Conny looked up from her screen when I entered the office. "Marjorie asks if you could take over the front."
She squinted at the time in the corner of her screen. "Does she already have to go? I'll just save these and be with you in a second."
While I watched Marjorie slip into her coat and wrap the scarf around her neck, my feelings switched back and forth between exhilaration about securing the job and anxiety about being abandoned by my fairy godmother with an unfriendly coworker.
Conny stepped up to the reception desk. "Take care, Marj, and see you tomorrow."
"I will. Have a great day, you two." With these words, she was out the door, and while I listened to the fading notes of the chime, I steeled my nerves. I wouldn't give in to my worries, not now I had found a job. Instead, I asked my colleague what I could do to help her.
"Since you already mastered the chaos in the children's corner, could you do me the favour to clear away the returns from this morning? If we start early, the stacks will be more manageable tonight."
"Of course." Glad I was tasked with something simple, I picked the top five books from the return basket and was about to carry the heavy load to the shelves when she called me back.
"No, Lynn, wait. We have a special trolley for this. No need to break your back." She pointed out a small serving trolley fitted with adjustable bookends. "There. If you arrange the books by number first, it will also be easier to sort them back."
I placed my books on the trolley. "Thanks, that's a neat construction."
"Very helpful, and it prevents you from walking several miles a day just to rearrange the books." She winked. "You're still young, but my older bones are grateful for all the support they get."
I wasn't sure if she was joking—she had to be, right? She wasn't that old after all, but I was lost for an answer. So I just followed her instructions and went on my errand while she assisted a woman in a wheelchair with the catalogue. A couple of students already queued at the desk with several books to check out. On this Monday morning, the place was busier than I had anticipated.
At twelve, Conny sent the last customers out and picked up her coat with a deep sigh. "I have to run a few errands in town. Do you stay in, or are you going to have lunch outside?"
I hesitated, but thinking of my encounter with the Cheshire Cat facilitated my decision. Who knew what else lurked in the depths of this library? "I think I'll go out and see if I can find a nice place to eat something."
"Good." She ushered me out of the door into the grey daylight. At least the snowfall had ceased. Conny turned to the left, but stopped after a few paces and turned around. "I heard there is a new coffeehouse down this way which should be rather nice." She pointed to the right. "See you in an hour?"
"Thanks, looking forward to it." To my surprise, I meant it, even if it would be just her and me to cater to the customers in the afternoon—and the Cheshire Cat.
Conny had been right. The small coffee shop she had pointed out won my heart at first glance with its friendly ambiance. That the barista was hot didn't hurt, either, and they served a selection of fresh salads for lunch. I passed an agreeable break. The unobtrusive decor but comfortable furniture made the place a candidate for becoming my new favourite hangout.
Back at the library, Conny greeted me with something I hoped was a tiny smile. "Welcome back. So, are you still determined to stick with the job?"
I tried to keep my face straight and not show my annoyance. Why did all middle-aged people believe the younger generation couldn't stick with a decision once it was made? But since her words might also be a clumsy attempt at being friendly instead of looking down on me, I gave her the benefit of the doubt.
"Yes, I like this place and am super grateful to Marjorie for offering me this opportunity." I suppressed a sigh, deciding that honesty might be my best bet with Conny at this point. "Look, I was aware it would be a challenge to secure a job straight from university with a degree many employers declare as useless. Right now, after writing job applications for several months, I was close to losing hope. So yes, I want this job, and I need it, and I'll do all it takes to keep it."
A shadow crossed her face, and she stared at her hands. "Whoa, sounds like things haven't changed to the better these last two decades, right? Well, if you're serious, it's probably best if we profit as long as we don't have many guests. I'll show you the ropes with the computer system first, if this is fine by you, so you can do the loans and the returns on your own as soon as possible."
I hoped she took the surprise on my face as eagerness. "That would be nice, thanks."
It turned out Conny was a gifted teacher and had more patience than I'd have attested to her after our first encounter. Perhaps we'd just started on the wrong foot this morning?
After her thorough instruction, I was proud to serve my first customer, a grey-haired man with a face engraved with the wrinkles of a long life spent outdoors. He could have been my grandfather, and like grandpa, he had all the patience of the world and didn't mind my snail's speed.
After I checked his book out, he took it with a trembling hand and stowed it in his cotton shopping bag. "Thank you, miss, and have a great day."
"You too, and thanks for visiting." With a proud feeling of achievement, I watched him totter out the door.
Conny nodded her approval. "Well done. Now, how to issue a new library card."
"That's a great idea. Can we make one for me, please?"
She raised a brow. "Don't you have one? Then it's high time we change this unfortunate situation, before Marjorie finds out and gives you the boot."
"Do you think it would be a problem?" The last thing I wanted was to be fired for not being registered as a customer in this place.
Conny's lips twitched. "No, silly, I just pulled your leg. It's true that Marjorie loves the library and cannot understand why not everyone frequents it, but she is far too kind to hold something minor like this against you." She took a sheet from a drawer and slid it over her desk, a pen on top. "Here, this is our application form."
While I filed my name, birthday and address in the correct spaces, I tried to come to terms with the fact Conny had deemed me worthy of a joke. She doesn't hate me after all. Even if we were still far from being friends, I was now convinced we could get along.
The picture of grandma popped up in my mind, telling teenage-me I didn't need to be besties to work together with a girl I despised on a school project. She had been right, too, and when we won a prize for our essay, we became friends after all.
Once I held this job for a few weeks, it would be easier to secure another one. Even a few odd events, like meeting a glowing cat or an illusory butterfly, wouldn't drive me away from this place—it was the portal to my professional future. Perhaps the animals had just been mirages of my mind, products of my imagination, triggered by the stress of my complicated entrance into adulthood.
I wondered if I should ask Conny if she had observed similar appearances in the library, but didn't want to risk our newfound truce. Instead, I was determined to ignore all illusions in the future.
With all the new stuff to learn, the afternoon passed in a breeze, and when the door chime sent the last customers out into the chilly evening air, I was tired, but content. All that remained to do was prepare the library for the cleaning staff. I sorted the last load of returns by numbers onto the trolley, like Conny had taught me, and ordered them back into place on the shelves. In the meantime, she retreated to the office to wrap up the paperwork for the day.
It was already dark outside when only a copy of Cervantes's Don Quixote remained to be stowed. For a few seconds, I stared at the classic, not sure if I was prepared to brave the back of the library again after my experience from the morning. Had this been just a few hours ago? Determined not to give in to the primeval fears raised by the encounter, I pushed my trolley towards the classics section and peeked in. It was as empty as I could wish and brightly lit, of course.
But the moment I turned down the aisle, the broken lamp dimmed again and left me in near darkness. With everything going on today, I had forgotten to tell Marjorie about the antics of the lighting. More annoyed than frightened, I stepped forward. "Cat, is this your doing?"
I waited in the dark, my hands clamped around the handle of the trolley in an iron grip, and tried again when nothing happened. "Cat? I know you're playing tricks. Please stop."
There was no answer, and no Cheshire Cat appeared grinning on a bookshelf. Muttering a subdued curse, I dug my phone from my back pocket to use it as a flashlight when I spotted a slim figure in dark clothes at the end of the aisle, holding an open book, reading. I relaxed, glad it was just a human customer I had to deal with, even if I didn't understand how I had missed a late visitor lingering. Besides, how could he make out the print in this gloom?
"Sorry, but the library is already closed. Do you want me to check out this book for you?"
The man lifted his head from the pages and turned to face me. I gasped as the gaze of his eyes met mine. They glowed like two blue flames in the darkness.
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