The Experience of Being Alive

Chapter Sixteen

Binny clutched one final box of Skrumshus chocolates that the girls hadn't eaten. She'd said goodbye to Matilda and Maisie. It seemed like it was way past their bedtimes, but of course, bedtimes were pretty much irrelevant in the Stacks. It wasn't like there were any parents to enforce them anyway.

Binny could tell it was late from the sparseness of the crowd in the hallway all heading to their various destinations. Binny opened the wooden door with the wrought iron decorations and headed into the garden. It was lit by moonlight, and beautiful even in the low light.

Binny took a moment to take a look around the garden. Matilda hadn't completely convinced Binny that the Stacks was a great place, but she had made her take a moment to appreciate some of the benefits.

The garden was truly beautiful. Binny saw the moonlight glint of some of the sprays of gray branches that formed arches between the trees. And then Binny's eye caught something moving in a far corner.

Binny walked towards one of the garden's evergreen alcoves tucked against the garden's walls. Some of them contained tall moss-covered flower urns. But this particular one had a stone bench. And on the bench was sitting a man – the man with the glasses that Binny had met at the Library twice now.

"Hi."

"You scared me." Binny sounded annoyed.

"You didn't look scared."

The man was talking with that half smirk that Binny had noticed before. It bugged her. "OK. Maybe you didn't scare me. But you are annoying me."

"Ouch!" The man feigned injury.

"Oh please."

Trying to sound more serious, the man said, "I'm sorry. I just wanted to find you and apologize."

"For what?" Binny crossed her arms.

"I saw what happened the other morning in the hallway. You made something, didn't you? For Michel."

"What if I did?"

"Well, I worried that since I advised you to read the book, that I was somewhat responsible for sending you down that path." The man said.

"I make my own choices."

"Oh?" The man sounded surprised.

Binny thought he was being condescending. "You don't think I can make my own choices?" And then after thinking a moment, Binny added, "In the Stacks anyway."

"Of course you can. But what do you mean by 'in the Stacks'?" The man asked.

"I just mean that we can't make our own choices when we're in our books. Then it's up to our authors I guess." Binny said. "I'm not really sure how it all works to be honest."

"And you think that here, outside of your book, you have more freedom to do what you want?" The man asked.

"Well, it's a funny thing. To be honest. I've been wondering if the freedom we have in the Stacks is really all that free. I mean if I get in trouble for writing a poem? It wasn't even something big. Just a haiku. You know what I mean?"

"I know what you mean." The man smiled gently looking pleased with himself.

"You're doing that thing again." Binny's eyes narrowed.

"What thing?"

"That thing where you talk as if you know something I don't. I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but it's kind of annoying."

"Ah, the annoying thing again."

Binny nodded for emphasis.

"I sometimes have that effect on people. Kids especially."