Revolutionary Thinking

"The library will be closing in five minutes." came the announcement over the tannoy.

"Oh no, we still haven't found it. Give me that clue again." asked a rattled Zelda.

"He who writes duality records history here." Read Tom. "I haven't a clue what it means. We've searched the history section. Nada. Where next?"

"Didn't Shakespeare write histories?" suggested Zelda. Tom just shrugged; he flunked English Lit. The pair searched for the Shakespeare section. "Plays, plays, plays ... where are you?"

"The library will be closing in four minutes."

"Shit, shit, shit, we gotta find it. I'm not letting Zara and Daniel beat us." moaned Tom.

"Over here," shouted Zelda. Tom rushed to her side. "Now which work are we looking at?" Zelda picked out the histories but the next clue wasn't there. "We've ruled out non-fiction, who else writes historical fiction?" Tom was no use, his brain didn't work that way. Now, ask him about football stats ...

"The library will be closing in three minutes."

"Let's think; Phillipa Gregory, Georgette Heyer ... I can only think of female authors and it says 'He'. It's got to be someone well known." Tom was sitting on a table swinging his legs. He had pretty much given up. He teamed up with Zelda because she was a brainiac, but she was useless. Now he wished he had paired with one of the cheerleaders; at least they were good to look at.

"The library will be closing in two minutes."

"Now what?" Tom asked, getting down from his perch.

"Quotations!" Zelda's brain jumped into gear. She rushed to one of the computers leaving Tom to twiddle his thumbs. She wondered why she had allowed herself to pair up with the idiot.

Her fingers tripped over the keys. "Quotation from literature, duality...enter." The search engine threw up several sites of quotations. "Em ... now which one?"

"The library will be closing in one minute, please make your way to the exit."

"Oh no, it's still searching." Zelda watched as that little circle whizzed around on the screen. Then nothing. The screen went black.

The lights went out and a loud clunk told Zelda that the door was locked. The only light now was the green glow from the emergency exit lights. "What do we do now?" Tom asked from somewhere in the gloom.

"Have you got your phone?"

"Ye, but there's no signal."

"Same here."

"Then I guess we're gonna spend the night together, babe." Tom joked.

"In your dreams." He was good looking but so thick. They found their way to the staffroom and a couple of semi-comfortable armchairs. The only light in there came from the street light outside the large sash window. "Have you even read any books?" Zelda asked.

"Hey, you calling me thick; I can read you know, I just don't dig this literature stuff. Now, give me a good thriller ..."

"So, what did you read for English Lit.?" she ventured.

"I didn't; I watched the films."

"And you failed."

"Okay, don't rub it in. I don't see you out on the sports field." They sat in silence for a while, then Tom started humming.

"What's that?"

"Dunno. It's the theme to something, one of the films I watched for English Lit."

"Sounds like Romeo and Juliet."

"That's the one where they kill themselves at the end?"

"Ye. What other films did you watch?" Zelda had started out just making small talk but was now intrigued to find out more about this young man's intellect.

"This Welsh thing, all like poetry and stuff. I liked that. 'Time passes, listen, time passes... I thought, like, how can you hear time passing?" So there is a brain.

"What else?" Zelda was becoming more interested in this young man.

"Ugh, this old black and white thing about France. How they chopped the heads off people." Zelda's brain was ticking over.

"Do you remember any lines from it?"

"The first bit - it was the best of times, it was the worst of times... etc, etc."

"That's it. Duality. A Tale of Two Cities. You've solved the clue." They rushed back into the library and with the lights from their phones found the Dickens section.

"Got it!" shrieked Tom. Then his excitement dwindle as the reality of their situation dawned. "What's the use? We're locked in for the night so we've lost."

"No we haven't. Don't you see. We can't get out, no, but the others can't get in. And we've got all night to solve the next clue."

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