cb.ii
she closed the book, pushed herself out from under the
carrel and knelt to put the pen back in her pack. finished, she dragged her
pack out and over her shoulder as she stood up, then slung the pack around the
other shoulder (she could never understand people who used only one strap of
their packs), bent over and grabbed the book. she passed through the
periodicals and headed to the circulation desk.
miss keegan saw philomena coming her way, gave a half
glance to the glassed in office of mrs. stoble, who was still on the phone,
then put down her stamps, opened the top drawer of her desk and pulled out a
book. she stood up and walked over to meet philomena at the counter.
how’d you like it, pi? she asked. philomena shrugged. miss
keegan smiled and held out her empty hand to accept the book, offering the new
book with her other. ready for your next book? philomena nodded slightly and
tried to smile. i think you’ll love this one, miss keegan said.
the books changed hands. miss keegan set philomena’s
return aside and watched philomena flip through the new book. she waited a
moment, then added, i need to sign that out for you, pi.
philomena handed back the book, then unslung her pack
to dig out her card. it took only a second or two. she passed her card to miss
keegan and watched the process. miss keegan scanned her card, held it back to
her, which she accepted, then she opened the book and scanned the bar code,
then she set the book down, found the correct date stamp and stamped the due
date into the first empty square on the inside back cover. miss keegan put the
stamp back on the little carousel, closed the cover and passed the book back to
philomena. i hope you like antoinette in this one, pi.
philomena took the book from miss keegan’s hand,
slipped her card into the center of it, made another attempt at a smile, and
turned away from her favourite librarian, walking through the sensor and out
into the hall where the social studies classrooms sat.
miss keegan watched her go, then picked up the book
philomena had returned and flipped it open to page 87. there it is again, she
thought.
