Charleston, with a love of bacon and all things deep-fried, that suffered a massive heart attack two years into the marriage resulting in his death. The past eight years had been spent fighting his estranged son over the estate, and just recently had signed the final documents entitling her to 50 % of the assets after the complete liquidation of the estate. Her lawyer estimated this would come to a cool 36 million once the legal firm got their cut.
She had started this journey an attractive businesswoman, eager to advance her position and anxious to help the buyers who trusted her expertise. Her journey, now ten years after her second marriage, much heavier, cynical and untrusting of people in general but still eager to please and she put on a good show. It didn’t take long for Blanche to learn all this and more about Ms. Davis as they cruised the streets of Valdosta looking over the neighborhoods and condo complexes.
By the end of the two hours Blanche was no closer to being a homeowner than she was prior to their meeting, but she had forged almost an instant bond with a woman who was funny, insightful and as her dad would have said, “full of piss and vinegar.” Beverly pulled her BMW coupe in front of the library, dug through her purse for a business card, extracted one and handed it to her client.
“I’ll do some searching and let you know what I find. I think I have a pretty good idea of what you want and need. I have to tell you though, I had the best time today and I’m not just saying that. Didn’t know the gals from the Wild West were so fun.”
“I’ll take that as a complement,” Blanche said, offering her hand in a warm embrace while exiting the car.
“So should I just wait to hear from you or what?”
“I think we should get together again in the next few days, if not to look at condo’s, I’d like to trash talk men again for a few hours,” Beverly said, with a laugh that made her jiggle all over.
“Sounds good Beverly, I’ll wait for your call.”
Beverly didn’t pull away from the curb until she saw Blanche enter the building. “Now that woman has got a nice can,” she said, as she thumbed through her Day-Timer looking for what she might do to fill the balance of her day. “Nothing for a couple hours, Dunkin Donuts here we come,” she thought, cranking up the tunes and engaging the autopilot in her head that knew exactly how to get to the closest donut shop.
Working in a library requires a certain skill set that only few possess and even fewer excel at, Blanche was one of the latter. There were hours of mind numbing boredom followed by intermittent periods of hustle requiring organizational skills and the ability to compartmentalize the tasks at hand. The trick was being able to juggle the two components without losing your mind. Keeping your mind active and alert was the secret and Blanche was a professional at this game. She knew that when it got boring the tendency was to become complacent, lazy and unsatisfied with the work and the job.
She had a theory, ‘that’s why librarians are supposed to be bitter, sour faced old-maids with nothing better to do than hush patrons and shelve books.’ Blanche on the other hand was determined to break out of the stereotype and avoid being cast in that lot. On days that were busy she sorted the work that needed to be done into various slots in her mind then in baskets that she fashioned out of shoeboxes she’d scrounged from the B amp;B.
It kind of worked like a triage center in a hospital, at times even picturing herself on the front lines of a M*A*S*H unit whisking patients from the choppers to the waiting area, surgical tent or morgue as the circumstances dictated. Books, video tapes and CD’s were certainly no match for blood and guts but in her mind's eye to maintain her sanity she played out these little comparisons throughout the day. Items that required her immediate attention were put into a basket labeled ‘Now’, those that could wait until later in the day were in ‘Night’, and those that were saved for the mind-numbing days were in ‘Never’.
Mrs. Anderson didn’t wholly appreciate the system and did not sign on to participate but she could see that it worked for Blanche so she let her do her own thing as long as the work was getting done and the library ran efficiently. Ester was impressed with the devotion that her new helper brought to the job and enjoyed the time she could now dedicate to the regional museum.
Arriving at noon the library had already been open for a few hours and there were people scattered about the library, some reading, some dozing and others having quiet conversations over tables or with chairs pulled close together in out of the way places. Blanche generally liked to take a look around to see who was where and what was going on before she set herself to completing the desk related items that demanded her attention. She could tell this was going to be a ‘pull out the Never box’ kind of day so she quickly took care of the few items that were pressing and reached for the ‘Never’ box.
“Nope,” she thought, “don’t have the stamina to even look at this stuff right now.” Blanche pushed the box back into its place, hopped down from her chair and made one more swing through the library looking for rule breakers, which weren't unusual. After all, she’d worked in some pretty big libraries in very large urban centers and just when she thought she had seen it all someone or something else would surprise her. Finding ‘things’ in books were commonplace and they ranged anywhere from graffiti in the margins to porn pictures put into children’s books, to marijuana cigarettes crushed between the pages of a literary masterpiece. Every book that came into the library now had to be thumbed through to find such nuisances.
It hadn’t always been this way but she could see the respect for things she held so dear being devalued and diminished. In the bigger centers the libraries had to install security cameras in an attempt to discourage some of the behavior that was becoming all too common. With the advent and rise in the use of the Internet, libraries had been forced to install computers for research purposes and as a service to the public. Most used them with decency and respect but there will always be some that want to ruin a good thing for everyone. Keeping pornography and viruses cleaned from the systems was almost a full time job, however, in Valdosta Blanche had not run into such a problem, at least not yet.
In her last position on the campus of a university known for its hard partying, Blanche had been more than a little shocked to see students engaged in sexual acts right in the library or on the internet with their webcams rolling. She was happy to put such behavior behind her and her experience in this Southern library had proven to be a piece of cake in comparison. That was not to say that she was any less determined to remain vigilant. The final thing, which she found to be perhaps the most disgusting, was the inability for some to make it to the washrooms to relieve their bodily functions. She wasn’t sure if it was lack of control or just the odds that there are opportunistic weirdoes out there that will try at every turn to get their jollies in one way or the other.
Satisfied that there was nothing going on but a little handy-holdy throughout the library she negotiated the large, heavily laden shelves and arrived at the bathrooms for a quick inspection. Stepping into the ladies room she was greeted with the appearance of a man in coveralls kneeling on the floor looking under one of the stall doors. He didn’t appear to be doing anything other than cranking his neck to get a better view.
“Hmmm,” pretending to clear her throat, “Can I help you?”
“Yeah, could you? Would you hand me a flashlight?” the little character said, without moving from his position on the floor.
“I most certainly will not!” she said, with a rising tone in her voice.
“Why not, it’s right over there in my box by the wall.”
“Excuse me, is there anyone in that stall?” she inquired.
“Heavens no, I’m just here all by my lonesome but I could sure use that flashlight,” he indicated again pointing to the box.
“Do you mind telling me just what the hell it is you’re doing in here? This is the ladies restroom after all.” She could feel her cheeks turning redder by the minute.
“You show me yours and I’ll show you mine,” he snickered and paused before saying, “Just joking you. I’m Marcus the custodian round here, and you are?”
“I’m Blanche, that is, Blanche Delaney, I’m the new librarian.”
“Oh, I heard we was getting someone new, pleased to meet you. Would love to see you face to face and shake your hand but I got to take care of this before I get up.”
“Just what is it you’re doing in here?” she questioned.
“Well, you see, there was a report of an increase in water bugs and roaches in this here bathroom and I think I found the nest but I can’t quite be sure, too dark.”
Blanche was already moving to the toolbox in search of the flashlight as soon as she heard the word ‘roaches’.
“Here it is,' handing it over his shoulder and placing it into his hand.
“Thanks, yup sure enough, there it is, little buggers been going in and out right there,” he exclaimed, clicking
