Wikket or Nice?

Helen Wikket straightened from her crouched position in the Fantasy section aisle of the Downtown Limora Library. Helen was an older woman in her late sixties who had found no absolute peace unless right here, surrounded by pages and pages of inked tales. If asked, Helen would tell you she had lived an uneventful reality but was the most adventurous soul everytime she dived into a book, which explained her dedication to this Limora Library. It was her first home.

As Helen turned to push the cart out of the aisle, the familiar, hushed sounds of arguing hit her ears. Sighing heavily, albeit unable to hide the smile creeping onto her face, she pushed along to the end of the library that held reading tables and chairs. In two tables that sat across each other and two separate chairs that faced the other, were the teenagers whom Helen had been well accustomed to for the last year, as well as the routinal arguments that occurred between them.

Alima, a beautiful and bright young girl who very much reminded Helen of herself in her teen years due to her love for books, and Floyd, a terribly handsome and smart young man who frequented the library very often and had always kept to his personal space, until he'd found the job of annoying Alima too fun to resist.

Helen frowned to the teenagers who were once more throwing words across the room to each other, not aware she was already standing by them.

"The day you two carried your arguments away from me and my books will be the happiest day of my sixty eight years," Her voice was soft, but resonated sharply and sternly enough to redirect the teenagers' attention onto her. Helen watched Alima turn red in the face at being scolded while Floyd simply flashed a charming smile.

"But... but... Mrs. Wikket...," The young girl stuttered.

Helen simply huffed as she crossed her arms, "But nothing, Alima. Another sound from either of you, I don't care who, and you'll both be banned from this building as you should have been a year ago!"

That shut the both of them up quickly, knowing Mrs. Wikket kept through to her word as there had been a similar incident of disobedient kids at Downtown Limora Library who now had their faces and names on a banned sticker on the outside door to the library. All the students of the town, both past and present knew of Mrs. Wikket and her stern ways and tried to avoid her as much as possible. Even the parents' rumoured that the old woman had been as strict and hard-pressing in their day as she still was now.

Satisfied that the teens had finally fallen silent, Helen turned on her way and after arranging the cart back into position, walked up to her librarian desk just before the front doors and took a seat, opening up the historical novel she previously had been captured by. Now, she sighed satisfactorily at the comforting silence of the building, only interrupted by the ticking of the clock hanging above her head.

A peaceful hour had gone by before the sound of shuffling feet erased the small smile on Helen's face as she rose her head and fixed cold eyes onto the two teenagers she had earlier scolded and who were now approaching her desk.

Alima stopped before the librarian's desk, a fearful look in her eyes as Mrs. Wikket sized her up. Floyd stood just behind the scared girl, his expression purely one of reluctance for whatever they were about to do. Helen narrowed her sharp eyes at the duo.

"What is it?," Her sharp tone broke through the silence and forced Alima to meet her eyes for a second before looking away. The girl's voice was soft when she began to speak.

"We... we.... uhm," She hesitated before pulling in a large breath, "We came to apologize, Mrs. Wikket. We're awfully sorry for disturbing the peace and quiet nearly every time we're here. But we love the library and the books and everything and we promise to be good and stop arguing so please, please, please, don't kick us out. Please."

While the girl stood there, rapping out her speech, her counterpart, Floyd aggressively nodded to all she said, seeming to agree. Mrs. Wikket stayed silent, her eyes flirting between the two before a miracle happened. Right as Alima and Floyd watched, a smile etched itself right onto the older woman's features and they both could have sworn that her eyes lit up.

"It been over twenty years I got an apology like that," The old woman chuckled, "One that came from two disobedient teens just like yoursleves. Oh, it was a glorious ordeal and now, I get a repeat of that."

Still dumbfounded, the two said nothing, instead watching the woman who leaned over the desk, "And you know what, for brightening my day with your apology, I'll clue you in on a little secret."

Suddenly a lot more interested, Alima and Floyd also leaned in, curious to know what had caused the old woman to go from scowling to smiling so quickly. Helen beamed as she whispered her secret.

"Those two kids were your parents."

The shock was evident the moment Floyd and Alima registered the woman's words. The two of them already knew of the close friendship between Alima's mother and Floyd's father who had wanted the kids to get along, but who only argued with each other, but hearing this piece of information from Mrs. Wikket was most surprising indeed.

Helen let out a quiet laugh at the shock on their faces before dismissing them, "Now, we may as well come to an agreement on your promise. No arguing in the library and I won't have to ban you. It's getting late and I'm sure you're both needed at your homes."

Alima nodded first, still too stunned to speak and grabbed onto Floyd, whose eyes were still glued on the old woman in awe, as they both shuffled to the doors. Just before they left, Helen called out to them.

"Oh, and you two might want to ask your parents how they started calling me Wikket. I believe my real name is Helen Nice."