"Miss Flora?"
"Yes?" I smiled at Vivian standing in front of my desk. She was a regular at the library even though she was a preteen.
"I was wondering if there was a copy of Jane Eyre currently in the library? My teacher says he'll give me extra credit if I do an extra book report." She glanced up at me hopefully.
My mind spun. As far as I knew, all the copies of Jane Eyre, save one, were checked out.
I stalled for time. "Why do you need extra credit, Miss Vivi? Aren't you getting straight A's?"
She frowned slightly, hurt clouding her eyes behind her glasses. "I am, but Mom says I need higher percentages."
A touchy subject.
I was sympathetic to Vivian, but I couldn't let her have the only copy of Jane Eyre in the library. Besides my own personal feelings, there was library policy that at least one copy had to stay with the building at all times.
I explained that, minus the personal bit, to Vivian, expecting her to be disappointed, but on the contrary. A smile split her serious face.
"Really, Miss Flora? Oh that's great. Now I can tell Mom that I can't do the extra credit! And I can go to Julie's party this weekend."
"Well, I'm glad to have been the bearer of 'bad news'." I crooked my fingers to signify the quotation marks.
She fluttered her fingers as she ran out the door. I waved back as I treaded to Thomas Paine and Charles Dickens.
YOU ARE READING
Meeting in the Margins
Short StoryCassidy and Drex are strangers. They've never met, they don't know the other's last names, and they don't know the other's age. But they share one thing in common. They converse through the pages of an English classic at the town library. The pair's...
