A Bird's Eye by Cary Fagan

Author:Cary Fagan [Fagan, Cary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction, Coming of Age
ISBN: 9781770893108
Publisher: House of Anansi Press
Published: 2013-07-12T04:00:00+00:00

Miss Pensler had told me to come during regular hours, but I would wait for her instead at the end of the day so that the two of us could have the library to ourselves. I think that it was already becoming my way, to operate in secrecy, in the shadows of near dark, and somewhere between the rules. Miss Pensler herself must have enjoyed our little conspiracy for, despite sighs and eye rolling, she always let us back in.

It says something about my feelings that, instead of keeping these visits always to myself, I decided to bring Corinne with me. And Corinne was eager to go. She liked reading much more than me; I wasn’t interested in any story but the one I was trying to write for myself. But really she wanted to come because she was suspicious of this Miss Pensler who didn’t mind spending some of her free evening hours with me. “Just don’t tell me that she’s got literature on her mind,” Corinne said, stretching out the word: lit-a-ra-toor. This jealousy by my sixteen-year-old lover made me uncomfortable and proud at the same time, and I didn’t know if I should reassure her or encourage it, but in any case I was far too inexperienced to attempt either.

And so one evening Corinne trailed behind me, suddenly unsure, as I went up to the door just as Miss Pensler was coming out.

“I brought a friend with me,” I said.

“Now Benjamin, you know the library has closed. Letting one person in is bending the rules enough. If Mr. Clare finds out, I could be dismissed.”

“Who’s Mr. Clare?”

“The head of the branch.”

“Aren’t you the head?”

“I certainly deserve to be. Well, come in, then, before somebody sees.”

Corinne followed and I could feel her wariness even without looking back. We went through the workrooms to the stairs and up into the reading room.

“Go turn on the lamp and I’ll get Professor Hoffmann for you.”

After she left us, Corinne said, “I saw it.”

“What?”

“In your hand. The coin. It caught the lamplight.”

“Ah, damn.”

“How long have you been doing it?”

“Maybe half an hour. Passing it back and forth.”

“Pretty good. Anything else?”

She never asked to see what I had been practising and I suspected she was trying to get on my good side. But I opened my hand to show her the quarter. Then passed my other hand over it and the coin was gone. Corinne nodded solemnly.

Miss Pensler returned. “Here you go. We can’t stay too long, I have an engagement this evening. Would your friend like something to read? I’ve got a lovely illustrated book of Aesop’s fables just in. They’re very short.”

“I’m a good reader,” Corinne said, sounding more herself. “I just read Daphne du Maurier, and before that Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings.”

“I see. Then I’ll point you to our latest fiction.”

I watched them go off. Corinne looked back at me and stuck out her tongue.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.