Library Daze

Library Daze

“Funny you should ask that.”

“What?” Sandy said, still organizing her pile of books as they walked to the desk.

“About Miss. Bennet,” Trudy said.

“Oh yeah. What a crazy! I always wondered how she kept her job as long as she did, didn’t you? It’s a wonder our parent’s even let us come to the library at all! I always thought it was probably because they never came to the library themselves, so they didn’t know how crazy she was.”

“She was strange that’s for sure. My sister said she started out normal but got stranger every year. Alice saw her more of course because she’s three years older than us. There was one thing that she said that I thought was odd though.”

“What?”

“She said that Mrs. Bennet didn’t have that streak in her hair when she first started. But then once it got started it got bigger every year, and she got crazier. I never believed it though. I figured she was just trying to scare me.”

As they dropped their books on the counter, Miss Gray, the current librarian, came over. “Hello girls! What do we have today!” and she began scanning Trudy’s books. As she bent over the books, the light caught on her dark hair, suddenly showing a small streak of white near her face.

Startled, Trudy looked at Sandy, but she was looking at her books. “Is there something wrong?” Miss Gray asked, raising her eyebrows, as she looked directly at Trudy.

“No, nothing! We’re just late getting home,” Trudy lied.

Once outside, Sandy said, “Why did you lie like that?”

“I don’t know. I suddenly needed to get out of there.”

Back inside the library, Miss Gray stood watching the girls go, twisting the small white lock of hair, and smiling.