Good Morning, Miss Australia [Rumbelle]

Recruiting For A Supervising Librarian

                    "... And then he heard it: a high-pitched voice chanting and giggling."

The group of children hung on Belle's every word as she leaned forward and lowered her voice. Collectively, the children's eyes widened.

"The servant carefully, stealthily crept closer to where the chanting came from, and when the moon peeked just a little from behind the midnight clouds, a beam of moonlight fell upon a small house in the clearing. It was the oddest little house the servant had ever laid eyes on. The sagging walls looked as if they'd grown from the ground and a lantern was dangling from the pointed, moss-covered roof. But the most peculiar about it was the enormous tree resting on top of the roof while four roots as broad as a man's arm rested against the four corners of the quaint construction. A weak light shone from the window between the ancient roots and the servant took a deep breath before quietly crossing the last few yards between him and the front door."

Belle paused a moment to let her eyes wander over her young audience. The children all listened with bated breaths. Some had stuck their thumb in their mouths. She smiled.

"Then he peeked through the tiny window and his eyes widened. It was the imp! The imp was chanting and jumping about his house that was strewn with straw and gold thread lying about. And as he danced around before the small fireplace he sung, 'Tonight tonight, my plans I make, tomorrow tomorrow, the baby I take. The queen will never win the game, for Rumpelstiltskin is my name!'.

Belle clapped her hands before her mouth and the children excitedly sucked in their breaths.

"Rumplestiltskin! That was what the imp was called. Now the servant could return to the castle and tell the queen!"

Half an hour later storytelling time was over and Belle put away the small chairs and waved a goodbye to the children who left the library with all kinds of books clenched in their little hands.

It was Friday, the day Belle had reading room duty. The whole day she made herself available to answer questions, or take over the children's reading hour if a volunteer had to drop out, like today.

It had been a busy day, like all Fridays. As a non-offensive female computer generated voice gently sounded through the reading room, informing the library visitors of impending closing time, Belle finished her last round of the day. Her eyes wandered across the rows of books establishing if they were placed in the right order and – in case of the children's section – not jammed in between other books in a way that was potentially harmful. Here and there she rearranged a single book, but the volunteers did their job devotedly and the librarian on reading room duty had an easy job supervising.

Today Belle felt grateful for it as her mind continuously wandered off throughout the day, so much so that her colleagues – not to mention Ary – had began to notice. It had been eight weeks now since her second telephone encounter with Mr. Scotsman, and he still hadn't come around.

After the fourth week her anxiousness began to build, which turned to dejectedness by the end of the fifth week. In her heart she knew that Baelfire, Mr. Scotsman's teenage son, had not been in time to extend his father' subscription.

By now even Ary couldn't talk hope back into her friend, as she too believed that he'd disappeared from the Wynken, Blynken & Nod Wake-Up Service.

The archivist hadn't easily given up though. "Perhaps he has signed up again, Bells. And you could find him again if you wait long enough."

Belle had only shaken her head. "It could take more than a year if I'm not directly selected for his rotation list, Ary. And personally, I doubt that he would sign up again. He didn't really seem the kind of man to do that, especially since it was his son who signed him up for it in the first place. It's actually far more likely that he only found me an amusing pastime and I don't think he'll be signing up again on the odd chance that we'll speak again. He said himself that the wake-up service wasn't really to his liking."