Turning Pages

My face felt like it was on fire. I moved to duck around him, but he stretched out his arm and rested his hand on the opposite bookshelf, effectively blocking my path. "I should get to know all the employees here, don't you think? What makes them tick, and so forth?" 

"We're not having this conversation." I pushed against his arm with my shoulder. 

Blake dropped his arm but said, "You should read Dune. It won't fill your head with silly romantic ideas." He turned and walked away, threading a path toward nonfiction and large print. 

I couldn't even call out a retort, I was so furious. And not only that, but you're supposed to talk quietly in the library, and you can't really retort in a whisper. 

?? 

"Welcome to staff meeting." Mr. Carlsen leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table in his office, crumpling one corner of his printed agenda. 

It had been a full half hour since my little altercation with Blake, and I was still seething. He sat at the end of the table, leaning back with an ankle crossed over his knee. I could see the pattern on his fancy socks, and for some reason that made me angrier. I wanted to reach over and smack him. 

"I understand Blake walked around and introduced himself to everyone." 

I pulled my attention to Mr. Carlsen. He deserved my attention; Blake's socks did not. 

"We're very pleased to have him join our staff," Mr. Carlsen continued. "He'll be working with me as my assistant." 

With a sickening lightning bolt of pain, Mr. Carlen's words cut into my chest. I tried to take a breath, but my lungs had forgotten how to work. 

"Blake comes to us fresh from Kent State, where he received his degree in business management."  

I flicked a glance across the room at Melanie, my best friend. She looked nearly as stricken as I felt. I couldn't stay silent. 

"Mr. Carlsen?" I raised my hand. 

"Yes, Addie?" He didn't quite meet my gaze, but looked over my shoulder somewhere. I knew there was nothing behind me. He was being a big chicken. 

"Could I . . . speak with you in private?" 

"I'm sure we can talk right here, Addie."  

I bit my lip. I didn't want to have this discussion in a room full of people. "I'd really prefer to step into the hall." 

He sighed and pushed his chair back from the table. I rose too, a little more forcefully, and my chair rolled and hit the metal filing cabinet next to the door. Ordinarily, I would have been embarrassed and apologized to everyone in the room, including the chair and the cabinet, but I just made my way out to the hall and waited for Mr. Carlsen to join me. 

"I thought I was going to be assistant librarian." I tried as hard as I could to sound calm and rational, but my voice hiked up anyway. 

He pulled off his glasses and tucked them into the breast pocket of his white shirt. He always looked like he was on his way to church, although as far as I knew, he wasn't religious. "You certainly have worked hard, Addie, and I appreciate that. But Blake has certain qualifications that are needed at this time, and I felt it was best to offer him the position."  

"Does he have a degree in library science?"  

"No. I just told you-he was a business major." 

"Has he ever worked in a library before?"  

"No, he hasn't. But Addie-"  

I plowed ahead, not caring what Mr. Carlsen might think of me for interrupting him. "I don't understand. You told me that if I took a few more courses this fall, you'd see to it that I got the job. I've been studying hard, Mr. Carlsen. I'm going to get my degree." I rubbed my right temple, where a headache was starting to form. "I even showed you my class schedule, and my grades. You know I'm doing the work."