Under the Blue Moon

Prologue

It is quiet in the main section of the library tonight. You look up at the clock above the double doors that lead out to the lobby of the library. The clock reads 2:00 AM. Only one more hour to go, until your work study shift is over. This is the second year of your work study assignment in the university library.

The library closes at 3:00 AM on school nights and usually none of the other work study students wants the late shift, except you. So, you usually can pick up at least three shifts per week, eight hours per shift, and the hours and the money add up. You love the closing shift because there isn't much that you really have to do, other than to put away the returned books, tidy up around the periodical section and fulfill any interlibrary requests.

Even on the busiest nights, you are usually done with all of your responsibilities approximately three hours into your workday. And the rest of the time, you are free to study or do your homework. Essentially, you are getting paid to do your schoolwork.

In the beginning, you were concerned about how your sleep was going to get affected by working late nights. However, even before you started working nights, you normally stayed awake until 1:00 or 1:30 most night. That meant that on the night that you worked, you only had to stay awake for couple more hours past your normal bedtime, which really wasn't that difficult to do.

Your friends would often ask if you ever get scared or lonely working in such a huge building all by yourself. But the fact of the matter is, you are very rarely alone. There are always one or two students that are there, trying to cram for an exam or finish a last minute project or a research paper. And of course, there are at least 2 security guards that are on duty that late at night. The two security guards that you usually work with the most are Jasmine and Renaud. Throughout the night, one of the guards will do a security check every couple of hours, and with everything in the building lit so brightly, you are never scared. 

When you first got appointed to the library as your work study assignment, you were a bit disappointed. You were hoping for something where you could have more interaction with other people. But when you started working at the library, you realized that this was really the perfect job for you. So, you end up working at the university library your entire freshmen year and recently started your second year of the library work study assignment. 

You declared Political science as your major at the beginning of this school year, in preparation for going to law school once you are done with your undergrad education. Your father, who worked as a private investigator for a large law firm, would often encourage you to become a lawyer.

He would say to you, "I find it fascinating how an attorney, that is worth his or her salt, can look at a problem. How they construct a case and look at different angles that most of us don't even think to look for. Honey, I think you would be an excellent lawyer. You have the brain that was built for it if you ask me. And they make a really good living."

Your father, who started his career as a police officer and had retired in his early forties, decided that his second career would be as a private investigator. When he got his PI license and started his own business, he was so proud. And when one of the defense attorneys had recruited him to work for their law firm, he decided to take it on as a consultant, keeping his own PI business on the side.

When your father had a massive stroke at the age of forty-six, it really was the lasting anyone had expected. The man took his physical health seriously and used to run for 5 miles, 4 – 5 mornings a week, and weight trained regularly. The morning he had his stroke, it was your mother that had found him on the floor of their bedroom incapacitated.

Knowing his schedule, she expected him to come downstairs for his morning coffee before his run, but when he didn't, she decided to go and check on him. Thankfully, because of your mother's decision to check on your father, he did not have to be in that state for too long. When your father was rushed to the hospital, the doctors found a congenital defect in one of the blood vessels in his brain that finally gave out and caused the stroke.

The first year after your father came home from the hospital was the most difficult. Your father's mobility on the right side of his body was almost completely gone, so he had to learn to do everything with his non-dominant side. After the stroke, the man who has always been good natured, funny, and kind, started having bouts of angry outbursts, and aggressive behaviors, such as throwing things, and screaming abusive things at his wife and four children. The longer your mother had to be his only caregiver, the more depressed she became. Eventually, your mother became so poorly that without regular in-home nursing care for your father, she wasn't going to last. 

Financially, your father still had his police pension, but with five mouths to feed and 4 kids to send to college very soon, money became tight really fast. When your father had his stroke, you were 16 years old, and you immediately started working a part time job. 

Because most of your mother's time was spent caring for your father, you were enlisted to caring for and raising your three younger brothers. At the time of your father's stroke, Peter, who was the oldest boy, was 14. Warren was 12, about to turn 13, and Tanner, the baby, was only 8 years old. Luckily for you, all three of your younger brothers were well behaved and sweet.

All of you knew that the four of you were mostly on your own and unless all of you pulled your weight, things at home may fall apart. Because of this, the four of you became very closely bonded and looked out for each other. You loved your brothers dearly and toughest part of being away at school was being away from those little monsters.

Over the last few years since your father's stroke, his health continued to decline. And last spring, he had finally succumbed to a pulmonary embolism. You would have never admitted to anyone out loud, but your father's passing was somewhat of a relief. No more verbal attacks, no more things being thrown at you, and no more of physical aggression towards the rest of your family.

Sadly, your mother continued to have issues with depression and anxiety. You and your brothers were hoping that when the stress of having to take care of your father was gone, she would be able to get back to her old self. However, the damage that was done by your father's rage was evidently permanent. But by that time, you and your brothers were pretty much self-sufficient. 

In your eighteenth summer, you left home to go to college. Your mother's mental health at the time was, at best, touch and go, and you were worried about how your brothers would do without you. You remember spending more than one night crying yourself to sleep because you missed your brothers. But like they always have, they surprised you. Peter stepped right into "the head of the household" role at 16. Warren, who was only 15 years old himself, practically raised Tanner who was 10 at the time. Their ability to work together and take care of each other was astonishing and you were so proud of them.

By the time you started college, your mother was a shell of the woman that she used to be. But when you left for school, she got a little better and did more around the house, taking some of the burden off of Peter and Warren. You went home as often as you were able, and some of the money you were earning from your work study, you sent home to your brothers, so that they could have some spending money.

You knew that being teenage boys, not having a little cash would be quite demoralizing. You told your brothers that you didn't want them working, that you wanted them to focus on school only. Peter fought you bitterly about that one. But he knew why you were telling the boys that. You said to them, "I only have school four days a week and that's not even all day. I can work. You 3 are in school most of the day and are involved in after school activities. I need all three of you to focus on doing well in those." And they listened. Although, you knew that Peter hated taking money from you. But you'd say to him, "Listen, I am thinking of this as an investment for my future. You are going to have to make a ton of money, so that you can take care of your aging sister in her later years." So,you worked 3 – 4 days a week at the library, going in to start your work after dinner at 7:00 PM and working until closing time at 3:00 AM, all the while maintaining a GPA of 3.89.