Tour of the Building

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Welcome to the Banned Library! We talk a lot here about our little adventures in, around, and far from the building, but we never talk about the building itself. Today we will fix that. First, let's start with the history of the place then a small tour.

History

     The first library in town was a small shack behind a butcher shop named "Pigs N Stuff." The butcher's wife, Mable Abrams, was an avid reader and collector of books. She would loan them out to the locals and to the school becoming our first town librarian.

     Around 1892, our prosperous little town commissioned the first charter for a public library. The five prominent families (Abrams, Carpenter, Davies, Roche, and Pittman) raised the majority of the money for the initial building on Second Street. This building burned to the ground in 1896 after the unnamed librarian drunkenly left a fire burning in the fireplace one cold December night.

     The next building also burned in 1899. 

     The town then decided to build out of stone. The Carpenter family held funds until the others agreed to erect a six-story tower along with the new three story building with basement. The tower, still the tallest structure in town, acted as a fire and tornado watch, and the library itself as a shelter.

     Major renovations were made in the 1950s, completed in 1956. The library expanded to twice the size as well as updated with modern plumbing, electrical, elevator, and air conditioning. Various improvements have been made since but the structure itself has remained the same.

First floor

     Walking in the library, you see on your left the circulation station cut into the wall separating staff workspace and the public space. The circulation and technical services workroom, staff bathroom, and loading dock are beyond. This left side of the building, still called the new part by some, is the addition made above and below.

     To the right, tables and chairs are laid out in the magazine area. The rounded wall and stained glass windows are the base of the tower with the wall now open space. The children's and teen department fills the rest of the first floor with ample shelving.

    An elevator, stairs, and public restroom are in the center far wall. Please use the public gender-neutral restroom before we continue as it is the only restroom in the building open to the public.

Basement

     Let's go down the steps to the basement. The most updated public area in the building, the basement houses the computer lab of twenty public workstations and a printer. We chose the basement for the lab because the heat in the summer months can be too much in the rest of the building.

     The three other double doors house our tech department, storage, and the plumbing and air conditioning units of the building.

Second Floor

     A quick elevator ride to the second floor puts us walking a small path to the Fiction section. Through the double doors on the left side of the building are a meeting room with kitchen where classes and large summer reading programs are held. The center of the second floor is open to view the first floor with two paths leading to the nonfiction section, reference desk, and small table area.

Attic

     The stairs by the reference desk lead down to the first floor and up to an attic area. This space is closed to the public and mostly acts as storage due to heat. The attic space was not expanded with the rest of the building during the renovation and no ventilation was added although it does have electricity (when it works).

Tower

     The Carpenter Tower stands at six stories. Access is gained through the attic, and a spiral staircase leads to two landings and a viewing platform at the top. Like the attic, the tower is closed to the public due to heat and lack of ventilation. Temperatures at the higher levels can reach up to 120 degrees (48 degrees Celsius) in the summer months. However, scientists and others still use the viewing platform for weather instruments, other experimentation, and observation.

     And that's our building! Please come down and visit and feel free to ask any questions to our staff.

A damn good kiss

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When I find myself somewhere I probably should not be, I ask myself what my great-grandfather would do. MK Harker, from the records I shared last time, was a decisive and talented individual. He was also mentally disturbed from his time in the war and hated fire and everything to do with it, including firemen. I do not often refer to him when it comes time to do the annual fire inspection of the library. However, the man did innovate.

     As I stood outside the trailer park looking at the rows of disposable homes kitted out with flower gardens and fake lawn animals, I thought that MK would probably just go up and ask for the car repair manuals to get the bookmobile fixed. The ex-girlfriend of Children’s cousin Carol did not need them, and he could fix the car. Candi would understand. I told the children's librarian so.

     She shook her head, the red wires she called hair bouncing around in the summer heat. "We waited for a few days, sir. Candi might destroy them. She's a liar and a one of the worse people I've ever met."

     "What did your cousin see in her?" I said.

     Childrens said, "He saw himself in her." Her face turned bright red. "I shouldn't have said that."

     "Maybe I should do the talking?" 

     "Good idea. You distract her while I sneak around the back. Just don't be lured in by her ways."

     "What ways are those?" I asked, but she was already gone around the back of the second trailer on the right, tying her hair back in a ponytail.

     I sighed and made my way to the trailer. Up close it was a little run down with some rust spots here and there. A little company of lawn gnomes sat out front, each holding a different firearm. The one with the shotgun was shirtless and squinting as if to say "you might be bigger, but I'm meaner." At the foot of the door was a welcome mat turned around, which I liked. Every time you stepped out the world welcomed you. I knocked.

     A voice came from inside, high and shrill, "Who is it?"

     "ST Harker, ma'am. From the library."

     "What?"

     I repeated myself wondering what the hell I was going to say next.

     The door opened with a creak and a blast of cold bought air from a ticking window unit washed over me. The woman standing there was at least six foot and wearing a bikini top and cut off shorts. Standard Southern summer lounge wear. "Library?" she said, her voice pleasant at a normal volume. The room beyond her was dark.

     "Yes, ma'am. Just stopping by to, um, well…"

     "Go on."      

From inside the trailer, I could hear a scraping and saw a shaft of light fall across the floor as curtains somewhere inside began to part. If Candi turned around, things might get a little strange for us.

     I said, "Well, the library had a notice for some overdue books at this address. I was wondering if maybe you had them?"

     "Oh, well, I don't think I have any books from the library," she said.

     "Are you Candi?"

     "I am. How long ago were they checked out?" 

     "A few years."

     Candi frowned. "I mean, maybe. I did like to read a while, but I've only been here for a minute."

     Around the back of the trailer came a crashing sound. I wondered what the hell Childrens was up to. 

     Candi turned and brought back the shrill with, "Quiet, you damn dog." Back to me. "Come on in, let's look around."

     "I uh… I have a fear of dogs. Let's look out in your car."

     "In my car?"

     "Yeah. Most folks, the books slide under the seat, and they just don't remember."

     Candi nodded and stepped toward me. I had no idea what made her believe me other than some divine authority over books.

     "What's the book?" she said, fishing her keys from her pocket. 

     "I'm not sure. I forgot the paper back at the library, but there should be a stamp on the title page with our name and a call number on the spine."

     "Okay," Candi said. She pushed past me, her hand touching my butt. "Let's look in the back seat first."

     This had taken a turn, but there was not much I could do. She pushed the button on her fob, and a red Honda Civic chirped back at us. She opened the back door and said, "You first."

     "I'll check the other side," I said and tried not to be too awkward as I circled the car.

     After about five minutes of leaning over in the back seat, it was clear nothing was under the seats but old french fries and a sticky puddle I did not want to investigate. I looked up to see Childrens peeking out from the side of the trailer. She smiled and waved two large books at me. 

     "Well, I don't think it's here," I said. "Maybe if you do find it, bring it to the library. It's no worry and I'll take the fine-"

     Candi grabbed me by the front of the shirt and pulled me in for a kiss. A damn good kiss. A damn good kiss that wiped my mind of whatever I had been doing. 

     "Never had a librarian in my back seat before," Candi said.

     "I uh um well…" I said.

     Candi leaned in again, but I pulled back. Over her shoulder I could see Childrens standing with the books in one hand and dog's leash in the other, both on her hips. Her head shook slowly. I noticed she had a cut on her forehead that was bleeding down to her eye. That shook me out of whatever was happening.

     "I'm sorry. I have to go," I said.

     Candi stuck out her bottom lip and tried to pull me close again. "No, you don't."

     "Sorry," I said and exited the vehicle.

     "Well, you know where to find me," she said grinning.

     "If you find the book, thanks," I said looking back where Childrens had been. She had gone around the trailer. I made it to the car and sat in the air conditioning, waiting for my partner in crime.

     When she got in, she introduced me to Tom the dog while throwing the car repair books in the back seat. "You have lipstick on," she said giggling.

Free Labor

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Libraries are the town center. The help desk, the knowledge base, the relaxing temperature controlled space in town that everyone can use. They are the park except the trees have been converted into shelving and ephemeral lessons. But not everyone can get to them, so sometimes the library has to go to them.

     "I need a bookmobile," the children's librarian said.

     The circulation librarian said, "You haven't even done a story time yet."

     "It starts in a few minutes. But I can go to my cousin and get it fixed quick."

     The circulation librarian pushed up her thick glasses and said, "Better take the director."

     So that is how I found myself pulling up to a lone house out on a dirt road with a sign that said, "Carol's Repair."

     "This is a mechanic?" I said.

     "Carol does overall repair. Man can fix just about anything," Childrens said. She had her bright red hair tied back under a bandanna. It was a hot day and getting hotter.

     "You ever seen Cujo?"

     "Hush. It ain't like that."

     "No, the dog's a… what is that?"

     Childrens was out the car and squealing at a large greyish brown animal lumbering toward her. "Hey, Brady," she said as the dog leaned on her leg to get a few pats.

     "That Sara?" a man's voice said. He had a deep drawl that somehow develops fifteen minutes outside of town. The kind of voice that still says "Chi-car-go" when talking football.

     "Hey Carol. Been a minute," Childrens said, giving the little man a hug.

     He was fifty at least, small and wiry with a faded tattoo on one muscled arm. Might have been a mermaid or an anchor at one time. He said, "Who you brung you?"

     I shook the man's iron grip and said my name. He nodded, looked down at my Converse, and hooked an eyebrow at Childrens.

     She said, "This is my boss at the library."

     "You got the job," Carol said, his face splitting into a grin that matched Childrens. "I saw you post on the Facebook."

     "I did. And we got a little bit of a problem."

     "Uh oh," Carol said.

     I handed over the bookmobile's owner's manual. He thumbed through it while I explained. "Had a guy look at it a while back. He said the alternator's busted. That the wiring rotted, been eaten by mice, or both. I'm afraid, though, we don't really have it in the budget to fix it."

     "Mister, you gave this girl her dream. Ever since we was little, she had all these books and put them in order and read to the little ones. If I could help, I'd do it and you'd only pay for parts. Free labor."

     "If?" Childrens said.

     Carol said, "It's Candi." He spit.

     "What's she got to do with it?"

     "She took ole Tom and the manuals. I can still do most stuff, but for wiring like this I'll need the full schematics from the manual, and she took them."

     Childrens chewed on her lip. "We can get them back."

     "Who's Candi?" I said. 

     Carol spit again. From the look on his face, this would not be easy. From the look on Childrens face, she would do it with or without me.

Sticks and Graveyard Dirt

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The box buzzed and the gate opened slow and steady. Kiera drove the library van forward. The familiar drive rocks crunched under the tires. In her mind she knew she could turn around at any time. She was not the little girl that had first come to the King House twenty years before, but Kiera always came back.

    The compound stood empty once again. Kiera parked the van by the Big House and got out. Around the back of the van she picked out the supplies she needed. Glitter, glue, burlap squares, and twine. Sticks gathered from the grounds of the branch library. Dirt from the library graveyard. Everything needed for her craft project.

    The door opened slow. Ms. Davis's eye showed in the crack. "Kiera," the elderly woman said. Long ago a much younger Ms. Davis had also said her name. Ms. Davis did not smile then either.

    "Ms. Davis. I'm here for the craft time."

    "Are you alone?"

    "You should have let me see the children."

    The door opened wide. "You know how they are with strangers."

    "He was my boss."

    "Still. Strangers upset the little ones." Ms. Davis slumped now. Once a towering figure, her back arched and bent. A small cane held her up, gripped by one veiny hand. The black dress fell straight, giving away no curves or semblance of the body underneath. Ms. Davis had bent but not broken. Not yet.

    "Set up on the tables. I will send them out," Ms. Davis said and stepped back. The door closed with a thump.

    The day had a gentle wind that blew the tall trees into a gentle sway. The picnic tables, three of them, sat in the sun. Kiera set supplies out for eighteen children. Six to a table. She expected less. Kiera kept busy, hearing the doors of the small buildings around the Big House open and close. Behind her, small feet shuffled through dead leaves.

    "Miss Kiera?"

    Kiera finished placing the last of the supplies and faced the children. Six of them all dressed in the King House uniform of white t-shirts and denim plants. They were set apart by their jackets, complexions, and hair. The girl who had spoken stood front and center. Her wild and curly hair blew in the wind, hiding and accenting her face and big brown eyes.

    "Hi, Maisey. Want to make something fun?" Kiera said.

    The children surged forward. They wrapped around her. Keira said hello to each of them, touching the tops of their heads and laughing as they swarmed around her. She asked them questions. How was the cold? Is the food better? What's your favorite book now? All the questions children talk about with friends. Kiera took each child in turn, all of them gathered around one table. No new children at least, but at least one missing.

    "What's all this?" Maisy said.

    "I thought we could make something special. Where's Patrick?" Kiera said.

    Maisy shrugged. "He went away."

    Kiera let that go. Kids came and went here in all sorts of ways. She would stop that. She explained to the children what they would be making. She held up an example, but said theirs did not have to look exactly like that as long as it stuck to the basic shapes. For the next hour Kiera taught the children how to tie the sticks with the twine. How to bind the graveyard dirt with a little hair or spit and wrap it up in burlap.She went over how to hoop and lash the twine into shapes to hold the whole thing together. Little fingers worked, and Kiera encouraged them. They smiled a few times.

    Far later, looking back at this hour, she remembered the ones who smiled.

    At the end of the hour a sharp bell rang out. All the backs at the table went straight, even Kiera. She told them to go on. She could finish. They had done enough. Then she watched them walk back to the small buildings surrounding the Big House. Kiera resisted the urge to tell them to run, get in the van. She resisted yelling to them not to worry. It would be over soon.

    The hard work was done for them. She gathered each sculpture with their small bags. Bound hoops and string and sticks. With care she packed them away and got in the library van and left King House. With luck and a lot of hope, she would only come back to face Ms. Davis once more.

To Be Continued…

One Rule: No Kids

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Kiera had one rule: no kids. The last time she had sold pot or pills to someone under eighteen she had been seventeen. She had never been that desperate or greedy. She even made Freddy wait until he was of age, but once he was a customer she liked his business.

    Then Freddy came with his secret club talk. She had been amused. Then, knowing what she knew, she got a little worried.

    The children's librarian crossed the park and saw the woman pushing the stroller around the track that looped a lazy snake around the playground and the picnic areas and back again. Kiera slowed and let the woman catch up.

    "Hey, Mary," Kiera said.

    The woman showed teeth in a flashy grin. Rounder around the chin, another baby on the way maybe. "Kiera, I love those boots. Have I told you? Bold."

    "Thank you."

    "And that dress. Just a keeper."

    "Kind of you. Got it at Fridays."

    The mother clucked her tongue. "I can never make it there. Only open one day a week. Who can remember?"

    "Some things are worth remembering," Kiera said, thinking that anyone with a calendar could make do.

    "Listen. I thought I might be a little low this month."

    "You thought?"

    "I am."

    "Then you get low." Kiera held her smile, picture perfect for walking on a brisk day.

    "But I need… He just gets so agitated. With the new job. And he's missing the money."

    "Tell him you bought something at Fridays."

    "He'll want to see what I got."

    Kiera maintained an easy pace, her boots clopping on the soft asphalt of the track. She liked that sound. "Then buy something cheap that looks expensive."

    "What if he asks for a receipt?"

    Mary whined more, Kiera giving non committal answers. She would listen all day and talk about story times, books for growing readers, anything for the library. For wives drugging their husbands into submission she had little patience.

    Kiera said, "Then break up. I'm not a doctor and this is not a pharmacy. I don't bring lollipops for the kids."

    "That's not fair," the young mother said.

    "Lot of that going around," Kiera said. "Do I need to go back to work?"

    "I want it."

    "How much?"

    "About half."

    "Then you get about half."

    "He gets so sad, though. He's been playing with Ginger. Not just pushing her stroller with his foot. Getting down and holding her. And he holds… Can't I just make it up next time?"

    Kiera had a hand in her pocket counting out the pills in the little plastic bag. She said, "Not how it works."

    Mary slowed. Kiera slowed to match. The wheels of the stoller squeaked a little. A squirrel ran in front of them and from inside the stroller came a cry and a pudgy arm reached out.

    "Okay, I guess. Okay," Mary said.

    Kiera began putting the pills back into the small bag. A small envelope appeared and disappeared. The small bag of pills went the other way.

    "If this is short, this is the end," Kiera said.

    Mary said nothing.

    The two walked in silence around the track, around the picnic tables and the playground. The small arm reached out again and again. They talked some more, chit chat about the weather and the town and the summer reading program. Ginger would be old enough in a few years, but she could get her thousand books before kindergarten badge this year. Maybe her father could read to her, Kiera said. Mary teared up.

    Kiera broke off where they met. She said, "See you at story time" and did not wait for a reply.

    She had an idea about what to do with Freddy. If he had a secret club, she knew a few people as well. If the boy kept on, she would tell the bossman. He had changed so much since their visit to the branch library. He could make all her problems go away now.

To Be Continued…

If I Had Skin

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When Kiera walked in the library with her dumb red hair and stupid boots on, I jumped out of my skin. If I had skin. I might have skin. Might not, and if not, it's because Kiera killed me. Or was there when I became a ghost.

    Or something. What I am is up for debate. I had been spending the day trying to knock things over. Rattle things. Ghost shit. I was all filled up on Brenda's drama. She was worried about talking to Freddy about doing drugs, going over the speech a dozen times. Even the greeting. "Hello Freddy." "Hiya, Fred." My favorite was ""What up Free D?" I had no idea she talked to herself and liked her just a little more for it.

    When the children's librarian who was there when I became incorporeal walked in the door, I was ready for something. Anything. Kiera would mention me not being there, or someone would ask "Hey, where's the library director you disappeared with hours ago?"

    Kiera walked to the children's section and right to her desk. I watched as she checked her email and otherwise went about her day. It was frustrating in its normalcy. Nothing on her planner said "Kill the boss." She sent no email to some dark website. Just a few messages to the company that does the graphics and an email to parents bringing snacks to story time.

    "The fuck did you kill me for?" I said into the silence, nobody not even Kiera able to hear me.

    She kept right on working, humming a Ruby Soho by Rancid, a punk song I had grown up with. Had she not made me into a ghost, I would have kept on thinking Kiera was a cool person, what with her hair and clothes and "who gives a shit" attitude. I was going over her better, non-murder-in-the-woods attributes that I did not notice Freddy walk over.

     "I need more," the library page said.

    Kiera gave him a smile. "Not here," she said.

    Freddy paced back in forth, two steps left and two right. "But I had my last and I need more. Just a little now. I have the money." He pulled from his jeans a small folded pack of bills, twenties and fives.

    Keira kept up the smile, the same smile all library staff use when a patron is about to lose their shit over something stupid. She moves slow, leaning back without giving ground. Freddy is in some attack mode and to go defensive would only agitate. This is true for people who are not often predators, but think they are when moved by something. Freddy's need for whatever he was smoking behind the diner was pretty strong.

    She said, "I'm sorry, but as I said, I don't keep things here." She put a hand on the left side of the desk, one on the right. "Library. Other things. Catch up to me after six today, down at the Fitz. We'll talk then."

    "You know I can't go in there no more," Freddy said.

    "Then wait outside."

    Freddy and Kiera stared across the desk.

    He shook his head. "I… I don't even want to."

    "Then don't. It's a nasty habit."

    "That's not fair."

    "Who said this was fair?"

    "I have friends now. Powerful friends. They could stop you and stop all this."

    Keira laughed. "Dear heart, this has already started. The snowball is halfway down the hill. I get you want to jump off. No ill will, but don't threaten me or mine."

    "What the fuck does that mean?" Freddy said, voicing my own thoughts.

    Kiera waved her hand. "Let's get some work done."

    "I'll go to the boss. Say what you do."

    "I think the bossman is a little too busy for that," she said, using the nickname she had for me. "And he would side with me. There's been a lot of changes."

    "The hell I would," I said, but no one hears.

    She continues. "Now, just out of curiosity, who are these friends you're going on about?"

    "They… I… It's a secret. A club or something," Freddy said.

    Kiera brought her hands together in a small clap. "A secret club. Do you have a tree house? Can girls join or is it just you fellas?"

    Freddy's face went hot. His eyes grew wet. Kiera's mocking hit the wrong button and his fists bunched and he leaned over the desk.

    Keira kept her ground, saying, "Not so fast. Don't you want to talk to the bossman first?" She raised a finger to the front door.

    I screamed. My self, my ghost form whatever wailed into the void of whatever I was. What walked through the door confused and terrified me, causing me to back up. Swirling thoughts were all that I was.

    I walked through the front door. My body. And it was laughing.

To Be Continued…