The Quiet Librarian

by Allen Eskens

“No one cares what happens on this little mountain. They would not be able to find us if they tried.” “You are wrong, brother,” Babo said. “War has a way of finding everyone.”

“Why do you think that a new government will treat us any better or worse? All men have ambition. All men seek power for their own gain.”

“You cover your eyes with your hands and think that the problem will go away. To say that you do not care about politics is to be a man adrift on the ocean who says that he does not care about water.”

She loved her mama’s quiet ways, how she kept some things between the two of them.

War has a way of finding everyone.

“Men have the capacity for good as much as they have the capacity for cruelty. What is right and what is wrong is written on our hearts. But when there is war, men follow what they choose to follow and rationalize the evil they do. The Serbs see this as their country. They see us as a blight. They are told that the only way to have peace is to expel us or kill us. When such are the words they hear every minute of every day, it becomes too loud for them to listen to their hearts. They will do terrible things and believe they are doing what is right.”

“They did it because they wanted to. We have both light and dark within us, Detective Claypool. We can search for our better angels or we can give in to Iblis. Those men had the desire to hurt us. They had the power to hurt us. And when the war started, they were given permission to hurt us.”

“My father once told me that what is right and what is wrong is written on our hearts—that we need only pay heed. Still, I have come to believe that the world is overpopulated by men who will take the path of cruelty far too easily.”

Hana had learned long ago that living was like walking atop an old fence rail. Get too comfortable, too trusting, and you invite the fall.