The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek

by Kim Michele Richardson

“The very existence of libraries affords the best evidence that we may yet have hope for the future of man.” —T. S. Eliot

“Who would marry a Blue? Who would want me?” I was positive no one would wed one of the Blue People of Kentucky.

Being able to return to the books was a sanctuary for my heart. And a joy bolted free, lessening my own grievances, forgiving spent youth and dying dreams lost to a hard life, the hard land, and to folks’ hard thoughts and partialities.

I never felt it so much out there carrying my books, but as soon as I stepped onto my porch, an emptiness loomed and struck when I thought about the fat, dark hours coming.

The scrapbooks had become a vital part of the library project and were passed from one little home to another.

“Well, them cloths are a lot like folks. Ain’t much difference at all. Some of us is more spiffed up than others, some stiffer, and still, some softer. There’s the colorful and dull, ugly and pretty, old, new ’uns. But in the end we’s all fabric, cut from His cloth. Fabric, and just that.”