In the wake of her father's death, Spencer Edwards' mother packs up their lives from Oxford, England, and moves them to the middle-of-nowhere Texas. With an agitation for agriculture, and a distaste for anything farming, the small town of Cherry Spr...
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She reads book as one would breathe air, to fill up and live. - Annie Dillard
Chapter Song - Fade Into You by Mazzy Star
A library can mean of many things to someone. The wielder of answers. The containment of worlds. The home of short-coming joy. But it is all a special place to everyone - whether they admit that or not.
To me, a library is a wonder of the world. It holds everything, and sometimes nothing all at once. You can find exactly what you're searching for, or find the ashes of its death.
But in the walls of libraries, no matter where in the world I am, it acts as a sort of portal. Whether I skip to another time in the past or future. Or if I sail through the stars into another world a part of me wishes to of been born in.
You tend to fade away into the pages of a book. Almost as if the ink is printing itself onto your skin. Sinking, sinking, sinking to the depths of the gravest of happiness and despair. Books are a bubble of something we wish more of, more for.
But bubbles rise and burst.
And a book ends.
The library closes.
And back to the real world we go.
"I'll admit, I forgot to return a few books to Oxford before we left." Mum admits sheepishly.
I huff out a laugh. "Knowing those librarians, they may actually fly over and track you down."
"Oh dear," she laughs, shaking her head. "Well, there isn't much I can do about it now. I guess they're mine forever."
"I guess." I lean my head back against the car window, vibrations of the tyres against the bumpy road running through my head.
Mum sighs. "The library will be good. It'll be nice to be somewhere somewhat familiar." Her soft hand rests on my knee, her hope so big I could catch it like a cold, but my immunity defences against anything bright.
I hum in response, and remain staring out the passenger window. Farmland flying by as we pass some cows, horses, sheep, and other farm animals busy doing nothing. Sometimes I wonder how nice it would be to not be aware at all, for my brain to be mushed on the information on human life.
As they say; ignorance is bliss. That is luck.
The town over holds a mere hustle and bustle I miss compared to quiet little Cherry Springs. The bigger town has more shops, more buzz, more everything - including their big library. Well, it's not massive, not compared to the ones at Oxford, but it'll do.
It's a library, and thats what I need right now.
Home away from home.
"I'm gonna sign us both up for library cards, I'll find you when I'm done. Alright, Duckling?" Mum says, and I nod before she heads off to the main reception desk.
