The New Town Librarian by Kathy Anderson

Author:Kathy Anderson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: contemporary, lit/genre fiction, humorous, lesbian, LGBTQA, library, librarian, small town, East Coast, New Jersey, second chances, starting over, over 40, book clubs, readers, friends as family
Publisher: NineStar Press, LLC
Published: 2022-12-31T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

IT WAS THE best kind of day to be walking to work, Nan decided. Not too hot, not too cold, the sun on her face making her feel like only good things could happen today. Her rib didn’t hurt too much, a little throb to remind her of how wonderful it was to still be in this body, in this beautiful world. She had left home early so she could dillydally.

She watched a pair of cardinals hop from branch to branch on a dogwood tree in full pink bloom. They seemed to live there; she saw them almost every day. She swore they cocked their heads and looked at her like they recognized her now.

The breeze lifted the hair from Nan’s neck like a caress and tickled the hair on her legs which she didn’t shave, to make a statement: I am not the usual kind of woman in this town. I am not straight. I am not well-groomed. I am my own special self.

It was May. She had survived a crash. She had fun programs to organize. She could smile at dogs, babies, the old guys in front of the VFW Hall playing cards, and the road workers not even pretending to dig, just leaning on their shovels and shooting the breeze. It didn’t mean anything, her smile. It was the euphoria of spring reminding Nan that her body was a marvel, and her life was a trampoline of pleasure.

When she got to work, their student worker, Amo, was waiting to talk to her by the front desk. That was unusual. He was a silent efficient machine, usually gliding around the library, shelving books so fast that he made it look easy.

“Remember when those kids screamed bad words into the library?” Amo leaned in to ask, his eyes locked on hers.

Nan had forgotten all about them. “Now I remember. That was a ridiculous way to start a new job.”

“They’re sorry,” he said. “Somebody dared them to do it. They were just being little jerks.”

“You know those kids?”

“No, I know of them. I heard about it,” he said. “I just thought you’d like to know.”

She wondered if it was one of his siblings or two of them, neighbor kids, or his cousins. This place was a hotbed of connections, pointless to figure out.

“Who cares now? If they’re sorry, they’re sorry,” she said.

“One of them is on the honor roll now,” Amo said proudly. “The other one, almost.”

From foul-mouthed jerks to A students, now that is a transformation.

“They’re not bad kids, is all,” Amo said softly.

It was important to him that Nan knew. That was obvious. Suddenly, the story became a funny one to her, one that she could tell about her first days at work. That felt better than it had at the time, when she could taste her own fear in her mouth and picture herself being fired over it. She came, she saw, she conquered. The tomato hurling, conceived in desperation, had turned out to be the perfect response.

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