Between the Stacks

Chapter 23

"Emma, so good to see you. Do you have a minute?" Lakshmi was so breathless when she saw me that it went out in one endless word: Doyouhaveaminute?

"Sure," I said, trying to play it cool. Lakshmi and I had danced around each other since the performance improvement plan, and this was the first time she seemed happy to see me. I wondered if she heard about last night's debacle with the dog treats.

I still smelled like miniature steaks. That stuff really sinks into the skin. Despite scrubbing myself raw in the shower, I still caught a whiff of myself now and again, and it somehow vaguely smelled like wet dog. Perhaps Wesley had emailed Lakshmi, and maybe I was about to get fired, and I would be The Galaxy's Biggest Loser-

"Great," she said. "Let's go to one of the study rooms." Most of the bigger rooms were booked at this time of the day - early afternoon, when the toddler and senior groups warred over space - so the two of us squeezed into a private study room that was usually only meant for one person. There was only one chair and a small desk facing the wall, so Lakshmi dragged over a second chair.

"Sorry for the tight squeeze," she said, closing the door behind her. "Anyways, it's good to finally talk to you. We've all been so busy lately. How have you been?"

I flashed back to being almost crushed to death by a pack of over-friendly dogs. "Great," I croaked. "The usual."

The usual: highly stressed, strung out, surviving off Pop Tarts and discounted vitamins from the pharmacy. Somehow I had lost the ability to chill out. I seemed to have misplaced that skill somewhere between Wesley's betrayal - the hiring of Mr. Oodles of Noodles - and the mistake with Ms. Linaberry. I wondered if there was an Anti-Employee of the Month. I would be the clear winner.

Then Lakshmi said something completely unexpected. Her knee bumped mine under the table. "I want you to know that I see how hard you've been working." Her smile seemed like a benediction, and I may or may not have heard angels singing. "You've been doing really great work lately."

"Thanks," I managed to say somewhat normally, even though I wanted to burst out crying. So many things have been going off the rails lately that this one nice comment felt like a lifeline.

She placed a bright green folder on the desk in front of us. This close to her I could see the bags under her eyes. I'd been so caught up in my own life that I hadn't thought about her own struggles. She'd been bouncing between here and the Main branch, doing her best to advocate for Northern Ridge.

"We've been given an opportunity," Lakshmi said, opening the folder. Bright stock images of libraries and books greeted us. "I wanted to know if you would consider representing us."

Inside were promotional materials for this year's ALA Conference. I held in a gasp, as if I had just met a celebrity. Not just any celebrity - something like Justin Bieber signing my non-existent baby.

The American Library Association is the god-like entity that rules over the library world. The group does everything under the sun: they advocate for more funding, promote public policy, hand out grants and awards, and help libraries function despite politicians rubbing their hands together and chanting the words "budget cuts."

A light bulb suddenly turned on above my head.

"Are they handing out money?" I asked, with zero tact. Dollars signs floated in front of my eyes.

"They are." I could see the stress dissipate from Lakshmi's face as she smiled. "I've been in touch with the conference organizer. They're handing out grants to libraries that do a themed presentation. I'm jumping at the opportunity."

Somewhere a heavenly chorus broke out into song. "What type of theme?" The word "theme" always brought to mind charity dances at my old high school: beach theme, underwater theme, casino theme.