“Miss Charlotte,” she said, plopping the books onto the counter, “can you tell me if one of my dear students came in here on Saturday? He had an assignment to do. I haven’t even begun to read his paper.”
“Well, let’s see, Maggie,” the old librarian said, removing a file from underneath the counter. “Doesn’t look like we had too many people in here then. There were a lot of football games that day. I’m thinking about closing the place on Saturdays again. Not much to do here and the part-time help hates it. Here, look through this list of people who used the Internet.”
Maggie took the paper and scanned quickly down the list. Ah, she thought, there he is. So, at least I can assume he did some research.
“Thanks. Can I just leave these books here for right now? I want to read over the paper before I get home. You know how it is. Once I get there, I’ll start reading the books and forget about my homework.”
She walked over to a corner in the library and claimed an empty table. Actually, they were all empty. A few of the town’s older residents were in there, so she didn’t worry about being interrupted. Taking out the papers she had assigned on Friday, she spread them across the surface. Deep in concentration on a report on Catherine the Great, she was startled to hear someone whisper her name.
“Hey!” She said, looking up and smiling at him.
“Hi,” Kevin whispered, grinning at her. She always has a smile on her face, he thought. He sat down at the table with her.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m trying to get these papers read and graded before I go home. Once I get there, I know I won’t do them. Something about this place makes me want to work,” she told him, looking down at the report.
“Oh. Since you’re busy, I’ll just leave you alone,” he told her quietly, standing up.
“No, you don’t have to leave. Actually, I could use the company. You don’t have to whisper, you know. Miss Charlotte won’t throw us out or anything. Unless you start running through the stacks and whopping like an Indian.”
Kevin chuckled at that image. He didn’t think he could bring himself to do that. Nick, on the other hand… He settled back in the chair, reading through the local paper. In reality, it was from the next town, but if it was OK for these people, it must be OK for him. He was lost in an article about the police chief’s wife being involved in a scandal in the next town when he heard a noise that sounded like someone was choking.
He put the paper down, seeing Maggie with her head on the table. She was shaking and he became alarmed. Placing a hand on her back, he asked if she was all right.
Raising her head up, she wiped tears from her eyes. She was trying to keep from laughing out loud. Holding up an index finger to let him know she needed a minute, she covered her mouth with her other hand.
“What is it?” He asked, wanting to laugh too. It must be good, he thought.
Maggie finally regained some sense of composure. She had to fight hard not to burst out laughing.
“I asked for it,” she told him, giggling a little too loudly. “My boy Eric really did it this time.”
“Wasn’t he the one you assigned the Chinese report?”
“Almost. It was a report on Confucius and some of his philosophies. I can’t believe he actually turned this in. Oh, my sides hurt. This is too funny!”
“Tell me,” Kevin said, confused but curious.
“Oh, me. OK. He pretty much rambles through the first four and half pages, taking up space about the life of Confucius. Then, on the last page, he gives me some of the more famous quotes,” she told him, starting to laugh again.
The old librarian peeked around the corner of a stack, giving Maggie a dirty look. Maggie shook her head in apology and put a finger to her lips, promising to be quieter.
“What are they?” He insisted.
“Are you ready? Ahem, ‘Confucius is best known for his wisdom and sayings that people have lived by for centuries. Among his better known are: Confucius say man who stand on toilet high on pot and the one more famous and true than that is: Confucius say baseball wrong; man with four balls cannot walk.’”
Kevin looked at Maggie for a moment. He grabbed the paper from her hand, skimming to the end to see if that was what was written. He wanted to laugh so bad at that. Waiting a moment to make sure he could handle it, he gave the report back to her.
“So, what are you going to do about that report?” He asked, totally calm.
“I guess,” she said, still snickering, “that I have to give him his credit. After all, he did the report like I asked.”
“But he was being a smart ass. I can’t believe he actually turned that in to a teacher.”
“Well, I don’t know if he was being a smart aleck or not. Just to be on the safe side, I’ll give him thirty minutes detention instead of two hours this week. Whoever said there is no fun in teaching obviously never dealt with my students. Oh, look at the time,” she told him, glancing at the clock on the wall. “I need to be leaving. Miss Charlotte surely wants to close. It’s almost time for them to roll up the streets! Plus, Dusti and Thunder are starving by now.”
She winked at him as she stood up and shoved her papers into her bag.
“You know,” she said, walking around his chair, “if we don’t stop bumping into each other, people are going to start talking. Take it easy.”
Kevin stood up as well, pushing the chair back under the table. He was almost out the door when the librarian called for him to stop.
“Do you know Maggie well?” She asked, her old blue eyes twinkling.
“I just met her a few days ago,” he told her. “I’m new here.”
“I might be old, but I can see that. I can also see the little spark you bring out in her, even though she’s frisky enough without anyone’s help. She went right off and left her books here. Would you mind taking them to her.”
“I don’t know,” Kevin began.
“Of course you know. I heard how you helped her in her yard Saturday.”
His eyes widened in surprise.
“Oh, don’t look like that. It’s a small town. I’m glad you did. She’s so all-fired determined to be independent. She needs a man to help sometimes, no matter what she says,” she told him, sizing him up.
“I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”
“Yes, you are.”
“I’m not looking for that right now,” he told her.
“That’s when you find it, when you’re not looking for it. Here, go on and take her these books. I’m locking up and I don’t plan on keeping them for her. Go, now, before it gets too late!” She told him, shooing him out the door.
“I don’t want this to sound rude,” Kevin said, turning to the lady, “but do you do this all the time?”
“What? Get in people’s business? I run the library here, what else do I have to do? Besides, I’ve known Maggie since she was seven years old. I think that qualifies me for some matchmaking.”
Yeah, he thought, but does it qualify me as part of it?