Ditching the Demons

Why Taking a Shortcut Through the Woods is a Bad Idea

Why Taking a Shortcut Through the Woods is a Really Bad Idea

"Miss..."

...

"Miss.."

Huh? Whazzat? is something...shaking me?

"MISS! Wake up, please."

Ugh. Go away...whatever you are....Shoo!

...

Thazzright! Fear me! Now, to get back to that dream...

(SLAP!)

"Ouch! Okay, okay. I'm awake already!"

Myra held her stinging cheek and looked up into the faces of two women. The one in the background was Lucy Porter, the mousey, yet (as Myra calls her) "adorably shy" assistant librarian of the city library. This also happens to be the same place that Myra unwisely decided to take a nap just moments before.

Myra smiled to herself. Silly Lucy, she never could remember my name.

The person who was standing in front of Lucy was a bit blurry to Myra's vision because they were so close to her face. But Myra immediately recognized her as Karol Miller, the flashy, loud-mouthed head librarian. The bane of Myra's existence.

"Myra," Mrs. Miller whined as she inched even further into Myra's personal space. "The library is CLOSED, Myra."

After letting the information process through her sleepy brain, Myra realized that her statement explained why Lucy was so desperate to wake the library's only remaining occupant. And why she found it necessary to implore Mrs. Miller for help when Myra lashed out at her.

Mrs. Miller continued to reprimand Myra. When she insisted that the girl "gather up all her junk and leave," Myra scowled.

Junk? Doesn't this woman know what extensive research looks like? Come on, I've got books and note cards piled up around me. What else could it be? Freakin' hag. How she ever won her position over me, I shall never know.

Myra glanced up at the clock on the wall. "What the bleep? It's only 8:30? Why are you closing the library so early?"

Mrs. Miller rolled her eyes at the young woman. Even though she did it herself quite often, Myra despised this action in other people. "If I had been elected Head Librarian," Myra started to rant without thinking. "...I would not have the library close until at least 10pm."

Immediately after the words left her lips, she chided herself for the statement. She knew that the librarian would use it as an opening to further upset her. Mrs. Miller did not disappoint.

"Myra, Myra, Myra," she chided, "There is no way that the board would have ever elected you, a mere 19 year old, still in college, to be in charge of the City Library."

Hey! Just because I'm young, and don't have a degree yet, doesn't mean that I'm not capable. Besides, calling this poor excuse of a closet the City Library is almost insulting. A freakin' chimpanzee could probably head this place.

"Moreover," the Head Librarian continued, "if you had (by some miracle) been elected, you would probably not last very long. I can just imagine you disposing of this entire library's good literature and filling it with your childish mango books."

Did she just refer to Manga as 'mango books'?

Willing herself to keep her mouth shut for once, Myra collected her things and left the building, hoping to make it home before it decided to rain again.