One Two Three

by Laurie Frankel

One thing that is good about librarians is they listen to what you need and want and think of a way to help you which sometimes is by ignoring what you need and want. Maybe they do not have the book you requested because their library is nothing but leftovers. Or maybe what you requested is wrong—people often are, even smart people who read—but it is okay because librarians have witchlike librarian magic to pick the right book for you.

Nora’s expression passes from confusion to laughing because she’s sure she’s being teased to anger to horror, like a magician flipping over one card after another after another. She lands on the saddest face I’ve ever seen.