Late Fees

A twenty-three years old African American graduate student chuckled as he heard the barista calling him Baldwin. Twinkling from his seat to the library coffee shop counter, he glared at the worker while wondering how she could mistake his name Godwin for Baldwin. Yet, as soon as he took his hot drink, Godwin had forgotten the barista’s mistake. From the warmth of his cup and the smell of the caramel flavor coming through the steam, he closed his eyes. Godwin fell in love once again while he took his bag of bagels. Around him, the sound of mop buckets and flipping tables reminded him he should have been on his way to clocking in for his night shift. As soon as he punched in, Godwin rushed to the library front desk, dropped his bag of bagel, and put aside his coffee. He pulled his notebook and pencil before making a questionnaire of twenty-two questions.

 “Excuse me, sir, I have some problems with my credentials, can you help me?” Godwin suddenly tossed his pencil once he recognized the voice of that student.

 “Sure. What’s going on?” Godwin uttered. His early smiles shone brighter than the light inside the library as he stared at the young lady standing in front of him.

 “I can’t log in on Blackboard and even reset my password.”

  “Shit” Godwin stood and his bag of bagels fell off on the counter. “Let see what your problem is.” Godwin tossed the wasted bagels in the trash bin, folded the top of his bag, carried his Caramel Macchiato cup, and moved along the front desk to follow the young lady. “Do you have anything due tonight?”

  “Yes. Why that question?”

  “Use another computer because this one is lagging; therefore, I will reboot it and it might take a lot of time. “

  The student nodded then used the computer next to her. Godwin, on the other hand, sat and tried to solve her issues. While the computer was booting, he was looking at the girl’s moves. Godwin got a whiff off the student’s hair odor then exhaled.

 “Ex, ex, excuse me.”

 “Yes, sir. Did you already figure it out?”

“No, but I wanted to know if you want some bagels too.”

“No, thank you. I’ll pass.” 

The young student smiled at Godwin. Yet, the librarian bowed his head down. Lost in a desperate land where his feelings would never end, he almost forgot why he sat in front of a computer. Godwin sighed. He lifted his drink as if he was making a toast prior he directed it by his dried lips. However, as soon as he was ready to sip it, a power outage occurred all over the campus. While everyone gasped at the first floor, Godwin dropped his hot drink to fight against his feelings. Fear of rejection and the fear of being in the darkness arose while he heard some footsteps coming from the left. Muffles occurred and Godwin bounced back from his seat. Breathing hard, he fell on the floor and listened to some squeaky footsteps as if someone was hustling. Godwin moved his hands on the cold tiles before he stood back on his feet. The power came back and got off in a matter of seconds.

Godwin blinked. He thought he saw the young lady he had been helping being kidnapped by a masked man dressed in black clothes. Gazing at the entranceway, he found some female’s feet dragging along the Gillis Library. Godwin had scurried through the lobby while he left all doubts behind him. His crush was eventually a victim of kidnap.

Once out, Godwin looked at his left and right and saw no one. Resting for few seconds to pay attention to any sound, sprinkles rained on his shoulders. Thunder and lightning occurred miles away from the library, and Godwin quavered while some raindrops pitter-pattered around the Gillis Library. Seeing no one around, Godwin guessed his crush and her kidnapper remained inside the building. Godwin was pissed off for being fooled by the light reflected through the entrance door. His crush might have been dead after all the time he had wasted outside. As he went back inside the library, flashlights were on and groups of students seemed to enjoy themselves while Godwin put his phone light on.

  “Help. Help. A ghost has just entered the library.” Shouted a freshman student.

 “It’s me Godwin the librarian. No need to worry about a thing.”

Going back to his initial spot, Godwin took a lantern from the locker behind him and said.

 “Listen up, guys. We’re going to save some batteries since we don’t know when the power will be back. Therefore, one student of each group will come to me to grab a lantern then you guys can save your phone’s battery. Is that ok with everyone?”

  “Yes.” The students answered in unison.

 “Great. Hurry guys. We don’t have time to waste.”

 Godwin heard the murmurs and tried to ignore them since he thought all of them were judgmental. Children will never stop complaining. Tapping the floor, Godwin wished he could have had an assistant right away. His crush was either a captive or a mummy while the other students dragged their feet. 

  “I said hurry we don’t have time to waste.”

  “What are you going to do anyway after passing the lantern? Watching some blue movies on your phone?” Said a sophomore inside the queue as his group of friends giggled.

 “Watch your mouth young man.” Godwin passed a lantern to a blond girl. “One of your friends got kidnapped in the past 10 minutes, and I need to find out where she is.”

“Why don’t you call 911 so that you can focus on your job?” Students murmured.

Godwin remained silent as he believed no one needed to know why he wanted to act like Superman during those dark times. He gazed at the way leading downstairs while tapping the floor. As soon as he finished giving away the lanterns, Godwin zoomed to the basement. He thought he was in a dormitory when he heard snores before he noticed another group of students having their phone’s flashlight as reading lamps. Furthermore, he scampered at the northwest corridor while ignoring all the noise coming from people’s headphones and nostrils. Godwin paid attention to a tense conversation then released some happy sighs when recognizing his crush’s voice. But, he was far from being happy. Godwin could hear her distress while getting close to the doorway leading to the restrooms.

“Listen, if you’re not paying back what that librarian owes me. I’ll kill you.” Said the mouthed voice

 “What have I done wrong to be part of this equation?” The girl whimpered.

 “He’s contemplating your body, worships your beauty, just like the way I envy to kill you right now.” The door creaked, and Godwin brightened the corridor.

 “Leave the girl now,” Godwin said.

  “Not until I get my money back from one of you.”

  “What are you talking about?” Godwin lowered his lantern.

  “A week ago, I checked out a book and when I came to return it, I was late for two minutes but you charged me forty bucks for that. I’m begging all my friends to buy my groceries just because of you.” Godwin raised his light to his shoulder’s level.

 “Are you for real? Get your stinky hands off her.”

 The masked man released the girl’s neck yet he still grabbed her hands.

  “I said let her go, man,” Godwin shouted.

 “Ooh. I see love in your eyes. I can only release her in one condition. Pay me back.”

  Godwin nodded and grabbed his wallet from his pocket. He took two twenty-dollar bills then gave them to the masked guy. Yet, the man didn’t release Godwin’s crush. He made Godwin kneel then pushed the girl on the librarian. The masked man pointed a gun at the young lady until he left the library’s basement. Godwin pulled his phone then called 911 to report that matter; however, by the time he was done reporting the facts, Godwin felt his collard getting pulled by his crush. His lips were getting wetter, and it was surely not his favorite drink neither was it a dream. He followed through the kiss until the girl stopped.

“I’m so sorry.” Godwin said.

“It’s okay. I’m the one who started anyway.” Veronica pulled the strings of clothes back to her left shoulder.

Both walked upstairs hand in hand waiting for the law officers to show up at the crime scene. In less than ten minutes, the policemen came to Gillis library with the aggressor to give back Godwin’s twenty dollars. Lights came on and Godwin turned around.

  “I’m sorry if I haven’t introduced myself. I was so worried that you’d be alright that I forgot to tell you my name. I’m Godwin by the way.”

  “It’s okay.” The girl chuckled. “I’m Veronica. Nice to meet you, Godwin.”

“Wanna have some bagels?”

“Yes, but on one condition. You write to my Data Analysis professor I couldn’t submit my homework on time.”

“Sure what’s her email?”

  Once Veronica gave him the contact information, Godwin smiled. He reminisced about himself all those previous days when he was contemplating her beauty during his Data Analysis class. He waved at Veronica, told her to get the microphone under the table next to the lockers, and said.

  “Attention to every student, if you have Ms. Scott as your Data Analysis professor, please come to the front desk and give me your name. I’ll report to her about the power outage so that she can give you another timeframe to submit your quiz.”

Veronica kissed the librarian’s forehead and both shared the bagels while the data analyst students were coming at Godwin. The thought he had about that night is the most stressful of his life switched to the happiest moment.