Between the Pages.

Between the Pages.

Sara Lee was bustling through her to-do list with an eager enthusiasm. It was Tuesday. Tuesday was her favorite day at the library. The library was closed on Monday and there was always so much to do after the long weekend. She always liked to map out her day with a list on paper so she could cross things off as she completed them but after nineteen years at the library, taking care of things was like making her bed at home – they were second nature to her; however, her memory was slipping, and she didn’t want to forget anything important. Sara Lee loved leaving her favorite things until the end of the day as a reward for all the other tasks she completed.

Sara Lee began by turning on all the lights on the main floor, in the offices and in the conference room. She straightened tables and chairs in the personal study rooms and in the section of open computer terminals. She had watched this room evolve with technology. She smiled at the fact that most of the teenagers who came now didn’t even bring a computer but just their phone. Even with her slight limp, she didn’t mind making her way through both floors of her familiar landscape. As she made her way down the rows of tomes, she pushed books back into place which were pulled from their spot on the shelf; books which were nearly chosen by a patron and yet were left poised in the moment.

She washed the glass front doors which were covered in tiny handprints. She reveled in the proof that little people still came to the library. She pictured George who would toddle into the children’s section, pick a row, run to the center where he was surrounded by countless options, point his chubby finger out in front of him, close his eyes, turn a circle, step forward and pull out the first book his finger touched. She smiled at the recollection. George is now twenty-something and just finishing his fourth year at law school.

Sara Lee straightened the children’s area and disinfected the toys and tiny chairs. She placed the animal shaped pillows on the tiny orange couch. She wiped down the oversized armchair for Erin who came in twice a week for Story Time. Erin’s voice was full of drama and you could always tell what character she was reading.

It was time to open the front doors. She recognized all three faces peering in the tempered glass waiting for her to open the doors. She flipped the switch on the locking mechanism that allowed the doors to open. She stepped back with a flourish. There was Kenzie Walton with her five-year-old son and baby Hannah in her car seat. A slightly ruffled, white-haired gentleman named Eldon Hutchins who smiled shyly every morning at Sara Lee as the doors opened, followed the Waltons into the library. “Good morning, Mrs. Walton and Master James. How is our tiny Hannah today? How do you do Mr. Hutchins?”

James smiled up at her with breakfast blueberry jam on his face. “Hi Mrs. Sara Lee! Hannah cried all night.”

Sara Lee bent to his height. “You are such a good big brother. What did you do for her?”

“I threw my favorite red car into her bed! She held it all night. Now she won’t give it back.”

“Is it okay if she borrows it a little while longer?”

“I s’pose. Mom said we could come to the library if I let her have it.”

“You are a good man, Master James.”

“Thanks Mrs. Sara.” He shouted as he ran toward the children’s section. Sara Lee laughed after him and his mom followed, pleased he was already picking out something to read out loud on the orange couch.

Mr. Hutchins was following slowly behind. He had taken his hat off and it was in his hands that shook just a little. He took Sara Lee by the hand and softly said, “Good morning Mrs. Nielsen.”

“Oh Eldon, call me Sara Lee.” They shared this exchange a couple of times a week. Eldon came in to read the morning paper. He wore a blue bow tie with a button-down white shirt. He was a widower who walked the half block to the library every morning. He always came into the library in his nicest clothes. Shaved and smelling of a weathered aftershave. Following the loss of his wife Debbie, his shirts were never quite as crisp and often had tiny burn marks from the iron being a bit too hot. She watched him as he found his seat by the big bay window and settled in to read the latest news.  

She was eager to get to the next activity. It is what she looked forward to most. She opened the closet near the back and pulled out the cloth wagon and folded it out to its original shape. She grabbed the keys on the hook in the Employee Only section of the offices and went out the front doors to the sidewalk in front of the building to gather the books from the Book Drop out front. It was nearly filled to the top after the three-day weekend.

She straightened the covers of the books which had dropped in haphazardly and stacked the wagon full. She may need to come back because they were towering with a precarious intensity in the wagon. She locked back up the remaining books. She would take this lot to the office and come back for the rest. After climbing the slight hill back up the building’s front doors, her leg twinged with tiredness from being on it all morning. The ache reminded her of him. The accident which had irreparably damaged her leg had taken the love of her life too soon. But she didn’t like to think about the accident, so she pictured him instead. He was broad shouldered, dark haired, quick to laugh and madly in love with her. Hugh. Hugh Nielsen.

She unloaded her treasures on the long table she used to sort them and headed out the front door for the second half. It nearly filled her cart for the return trip, but she fit them all in the wheeled wagon and headed back inside. She returned the keys to their hook and got comfortable in her chair behind the table. Her curiosity was piqued. She couldn’t wait to dive into the books and see what treasures awaited her. Only this time it wasn’t the adventures she was seeking in the chapters but the tiny trinkets, she liked to call them glimpses, that the readers left behind in the books they borrowed from the library.

 She started on the first pile flipping through the pages of each book and scanning it back into the system. She moved the scanned books to another table, and she separated them into the areas for re-shelving according to the Dewey Decimal system. She was several books in before a piece of paper came fluttering down on her from the pages of a children’s book.

It was a Dental Report for Dylan. It had little red stars on either side of his name. At the top on the right, there was a note that read: Great Patient – thanks! It had check marks beside several items at the top that they had completed at his visit.

Oral Exam and diagnosis

Dental x-rays

Floride application

And then the bad news at the bottom of the page:

Plaque

Cavities: 1

Should floss daily

Brush twice daily

And this note in cursive in the notes section: Please slow down and brush well around your gums – especially back molars. And it’s very important to start flossing!

Sara Lee giggled to herself. Dylan was a good patient but not a good brusher or flosser. She was putting together his story and laughing at his instruction from his medical professional – in writing. She wondered if anyone had seen the report, like Dylan’s Mom, before he tucked it into his library book. She imagined Dylan’s mom rushing him to the library late Saturday night to get his books in the box by the deadline so they would not incur a fine without realizing his dental note was tucked inside. 

The next book that dropped a secret pulled Sara Lee’s eyebrows into a worried crease. From a book called So Much for Love: How I Survived a Toxic Relationship by Sophie Lambda fell a photo of a young couple with their arms around each other. Or rather, he was standing behind her with his arms wrapped entirely around her. They were standing in front of a college library. His face had been blackened out with a sharpie. Sara Lee prayed this young girl had made her way out of this relationship and was safe now.

Ironically, in the little checked-out book, Crochet for Beginners, a crochet hook fell out which had been holding a place near the front of the book. She guessed that whoever had begun the hobby, hadn’t made a regular pastime of it.  Maybe they would come back to the library looking for the book and bookmark to begin again.

Sara Lee was whittling down the stacks. She had just over a dozen left to go and she was gaining speed. Finding three glimpses in one day was unheard of so she couldn’t believe that there was anything else to find in the remaining volumes. But with only four books to go for Tuesday’s detective work, she didn’t expect to find anything remaining. But a folded letter and college lined paper fell from the pages of a book which was fading around the ages. 

The handwriting had the jagged sway of aged handwriting. She unfolded the letter, and the first three words caught her attention and her heart seemed to stop in her throat:

Dear Sara Lee,

She slipped the paper over to see what if anything was on the back of it. Was this truly for her?

I look forward to seeing you every day here at the library. I tried to pluck up the courage to ask you to dinner with me, but I just could not do it. I have never seen anyone I thought was as beautiful as my wife until I met you. And everyday you open the door for me with a smile which is beautiful kindness. Would you consider going with me to lunch one day? 

On the day you find this letter, please come find me in the library. If the answer is yes, please hand me a copy of The Blue Bedroom and Other Short Stories by Rosamande Pilcher and I will take you to get a sandwich, we will go to a park, and I will read you a short story. If your answer is no, please hand me this letter with a smile. I will tuck it in my pocket and never let on that I put my wish to paper.

Sincerely,

Eldon Hutchins, your library friend

Sara Lee looked around her to see if anyone was watching as she brushed the tears from her face. No one had told her she was beautiful since her beloved had passed all those years ago. She stood. But then not knowing exactly what she was going to do next, she sat back down.

She stood again. She knew what she needed to do. She finished scanning the books that lay on the table. She put them in the order they needed to be returned to the shelves as she always did. She made her way to the library office where the director sat at her desk typing an e-mail, waited until she was done typing and asked her a question. Carla, the library director, smiled and told her she thought it was a good idea.

Sara Lee found the shelf she was looking for right away, pulled a book from the shelf and went looking for Eldon. She found him in his usual spot the window. She handed him the letter and smiled. And then she handed him the book. He reached for his hat. And for her hand.