by Lori Woods
4
“It’s a Andrew Carnegie library, Snowball!” I say, astonished that such an American mainstay would be in the creepy town of Nightshade. “Nothing is more normal than a Carnegie Library,” I gladly pronounce as I park in the lot beside it. “I don’t expect any funny stuff inside,” I declare as I grab Snowball’s carrier and head for the entrance.
I pass a gardener who is planting in one of the two huge urn-shaped planters that are on each side of the columned entrance. He tips his raggedy baseball cap at me as I walk up the steps. While the rest of the men I’ve met so far have been relatively handsome, the sight of the gardener conjures up an image of a warthog. His skin is ashen as a corpse and covered with warts and red blemishes. The hair under his filthy baseball cap consists of only a few long, gray strands. He smiles and I wish he hadn’t because his teeth are black with decay.
But what stops me in my tracks is what he is planting—poison ivy!
“Uh, you do realize that’s not English Ivy you are planting but poison ivy?” I say, still not believing what I am seeing.
“It will keep the varmints out, Miss,” he answers as he returns to packing the dirt around the roots.
Yeah, and it will keep everyone else out when it covers the entrance, I think but don’t say. Instead I hurry past him. As I do, I get a strong whiff of decaying meat.
“Snowball, forget about what I said in the car! This may look like a normal Andrew Carnegie library, but I have a feeling it’s going to be as strange inside as the rest of the town. Hold onto your hat; in we go,” I say as I open the massive wooden door.
Inside, it looks like any other old Andrew Carnegie library. There is a sitting area of soft chairs and rows of library tables behind which are shelves of book reaching from the floor to the ceiling. But unlike every other library I’ve visited, it’s empty. I set Snowball’s carrier down and walk up to the service desk. I see the bell like they sometimes have at the check-in desk at little motels and press down on it.
The ding sounds like a church bell in the tomb-quiet library. I wait a long moment and then press the bell again.
“I’m coming, I’m coming! Stop ringing the bell. You are disturbing the books!” a deep masculine voice hisses.
I hear footsteps but I don’t see anyone approaching as I glance around the library.
“What do you want?” the voice demands.
I glance around but still can’t locate the source.
“Down here! Down here!”
I lean forward and look over the service desk. Standing on the floor is a man as broad as he is tall. His head is normal-size but his arms and legs are unnaturally short.
“Oh my God, a dwarf!” I say cheerfully as I smile down at the bearded man who is climbing up into the chair behind the service desk.
“Don’t call me that! I hate being called a dwarf. It’s an ugly name and I’m anything but ugly.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean any disrespect,” I say quickly.
“That’s okay. I’ve never seen you here before so I’ll let it pass this once. And just so you know for the future, I’m height-challenged. I know it’s two long words but maybe you can remember them,” the man says and he pulls on his red beard that hangs down to his knees, which isn’t to say it’s very long.
“Yes, I do think I can remember that… height-challenged,” I say, repeating the words and trying not to laugh.
“Then we will get along fine,” he says, his voice losing some of its gruffness. “Now how can I help you?”
“I was sent to talk to Rachel. Is she around?”
“She’s busy. If you want a book, come back tomorrow,” he says and starts to climb down from the chair.
“I’m from Potomac!” I say, suddenly desperate for some help. “I’m trying to get back. I was told Rachel could tell me which roads to take.”
The dwarf stiffens. “You mean you are from the other side?”
“Yes, I’m from the other side of the cemetery. Why do you all say it like I’m from Mars or something? I’m just from a nearby town and don’t know which roads to take to get back.”
“I see,” the dwarf says, looking as though he’s thinking. “I guess you do need to speak to Rachel.” He lifts his short stubby arm and points a finger to a door with the sign “Office” in black letters across the middle of it. “She’s in there. I think she’s trying a new spell so be sure to knock before you enter or you might accidently turn into a frog.”
My facial express must have mirrored the shock I suddenly feel as what he says sinks into my mind.
“Ha! Ha!” the dwarf bends over double, laughing. He finally holds up his hand as he stops laughing. “Sorry. Just having a little fun. Go ahead. She’s never turned anyone that I know of into a frog unless they deserved it.”
I’m not reassured. My mind is racing. Is he telling me she’s a witch? I shake my head. No, he is just a short little man who enjoys pulling pranks on people.
“Is something wrong with your head? You keep shaking it.” the dwarf asks, looking at me askance.
“No, I’m normal. I mean I am fine. Thank you for your assistance,” I say as I walk away. Height and brain challenged, if you ask me, I think as I approach the office. “Please let this Rachel be a normal, nice, little old librarian,” I mumble to myself before knocking lightly on the door. I wait. And wait. I knock again. Nothing. I glance around but don’t see the dwarf anywhere.
Okay, maybe when I open the door I will suddenly wake up in my own bed with Snowball sleeping on top of me!
With that hope in mind, I open the door.
“Hello. Can I come in?”
My request is met by silence.
“My name is Suzy and I need to talk to you desperately, Rachel,” I say as I step into the office. I see a beautiful woman with midnight-black hair sitting behind a big oak desk. It takes me a moment to realize that her head is hanging at an impossible angle down on her chest. There seems to be a smattering of some substance that looks like white powder around her head.
God! She’s dead!
I scream the second the thought enters my head and turn and run out of the office. In my blind dash to get away from the room, I trip over Snowball’s carrier. I catch my balance before falling, but the impact knocks open the front of the carrier. As I turn and look back, I see Snowball emerge from the carrier, take a quick look at my stricken face, and then dash into the rows of bookcases.
“Snowball! You come back here this minute!” I shout, momentarily forgetting about the dead librarian.
“Why are you shouting!” the dwarf asks, suddenly appearing in front of me. “And why did you scream! This is a library. The books do not like a lot of noise!”
Suddenly I remember what I saw in the office.
“The librarian… She looks dead!” I say, trying hard to keep from getting hysterical.
“Dead? You said dead?”
“Dead as a doornail.”
The dwarf glances at the open door of the carrier. “And where is your cat?”
“I stumbled over her carrier and knocked it open. She ran into the book stacks.”
“Can’t have that! A cat in the book stacks! The books hate cat hair. Some of them are allergic to cats.”
I glance at the office.
“What about the dead librarian?” I ask in a shrill voice. “She’s dead!”
“Yeah, dead as a doornail. I have an excellent memory.” He walks toward the office and I can’t help staring at his stubby legs. “You know, there’s dead, and then there’s dead dead. She might just be dead.”
I have to control my urge to scream at him. He’s definitely insane. The whole frigging town is insane. Alice had nothing on me! I expect tea with the queen at any moment! I think, rattled as I follow the dwarf back to the office.
I stand back, not wanting to see the dead woman again as the dwarf waddles like a duck into the room.
“Rachel! Rachel!” I hear him calling her name. “Are you dead, Rachel?”<
br />
I realize I am pulling at my hair so I bring my hand down from my head while I wait for whatever is going to happen in the office next.
The dwarf walks out. “Yep, you were right. She is dead dead.”
“What am I going to do? Everyone said she was the only one that could help me get back to Potomac.”
“Self-help, yes, definitely self-help!” the dwarf says as he walks past me and climbs onto the chair behind the service desk. I watch as he lifts an old rotary phone receiver. “Operator, I need Doctor Stork,” he says.
Rotary phones! Operator! You got to be kidding me!
“Doc, it’s Alford at the library. Please come at once. Rachel is dead. Murdered! Please bring Sheriff Dudley with you.”
“You seem calm being that your boss just died,” I can’t help but say.
“So if I ran around shouting and screaming like you did, it would be better?” Alford asks putting his hands on his hips as he stares at me from atop the service desk.
“Well?” He waits. “I didn’t think so. Now step aside. I have to work a little magic; a protection spell for the library. I don’t want whoever killed Rachel to kill me or you,” Alford says as he begins to draw diagrams in the air with his finger.
“You are pulling my leg, right?” I ask, but a part of me knows the dwarf really believes he can work magic.
The dwarf glances at me like I’m the one who’s the loony.
When the diagrams he has drawn burst into blue flames, I scream!
“Must not scream. I told you before the books don’t like loud noises!” Alford says and actually looks serious.
“I feel faint,” I say as everything that has happened today is suddenly overwhelming me.
“Yes, come around here and sit behind the service desk. I’m sure, under the circumstances, the chair will not mind,” Alford says, climbing down. “Just don’t answer the phone.”
I ignore his remark about the chair not minding. I have already decided that he is as crazy as a bedbug. I just hope the doctor and the sheriff are not also certifiable! I desperately need to sit down and talk to a sane person; someone who will just tell me how to get back to Potomac. God, when I get back, I’m moving to town and marrying Charley! Okay, maybe I’ll move back to town, but I’m definitely not marrying Charley. God, now I’m having crazy thoughts too. And I can’t even blame it on the water since I haven’t drank any. Maybe it’s something airborne that’s affecting everyone’s mind, including my own!
“Are you all right? Here, drink a little water. It might help,” Alford says, holding up a glass.
“No, no, I definitely do not want to drink the water!” I say as I pull back from the glass as though it’s filled with poison.
“Okay, I’m thirsty myself,” Alford says and drinks from the glass. “I love the water here. It comes from a well and it’s always ice-cold.”
I don’t respond. Instead I glance around. “Snowball?” I call out, suddenly needing a friend. “Come here, Snowball.”
“Yes, Hairball, get away from my books,” Alford shouts.
“Her name is Snowball,” I say, looking down at him.
“Snowball...Hairball...what’s the difference? A cat’s a cat.”
Hearing footsteps approaching, I glance across the desk and see a tall man with long silver hair approaching and carrying a black leather bag.
“Oh, Sheriff Dudley has appointed a new Librarian already. Wow, that was quick. I didn’t know there was another white witch in Nightshade!” the strange man with silver hair and slightly-pointed ears says as he smiles at me. “Where is the body?” he adds, still smiling.
5
White witch! What’s he talking about? I think as I see the strange man (is there any other kind in Nightshade?) walking with confident steps toward the office. Alford is running behind like a short, fat puppy.
“I hope I’m wrong, Doc. I hope she isn’t dead dead!” the dwarf says in his big guy voice.
“We will soon know, Alford,” the silver-haired doctor says. He stops at the office door. “I need privacy,” he says, stepping into the room and closing the door.
“He never lets me see what he does to make sure they are dead dead,” the little man says, running back to complain to me. “He acts like I’m a child! Heck, I’m over two hundred years old. I know that’s young from an elf’s point of view. But really, he’s treating me like a child!”
Elf! The little squirt just said elf! I sit up straight in the chair and glance over the desk at Alford. “Uh, is the good doctor an elf?” I ask calmly, but inside I am churning.
Alford gives me a ‘how-can-you-be-so-stupid’ look. “Silver hair! Pointed ears! What else would he be?”
“Uh, a man with silver hair and strange ears?”
Alford laughs. “Are all the people from the other side as funny as you?”
Okay, don’t ask the doctor if he is really over two hundred years old, I think and keep the question to myself as I watch the door and wait for the doctor.
“Oh, the new librarian?”
I glance up and find myself looking at a dopey-looking man with a long face, floppy ears, and the biggest eyes I’ve ever seen. The name of a character from cartoons from my childhood flashes through my mind: Deputy Dog!
“No, no, Sheriff Dudley. She’s from the other side. She doesn’t know squat about libraries,” Alford says, shaking his head violently. “I think her coming here had something to do with Rachel’s murder.”
I notice the tiny plastic star pinned on the man’s shirt as he scrutinizes me.
“From the other side, you say?” He speaks to Alford as though I am a deaf mute.
“Other side of the cemetery, yes,” I speak for myself.
“What’s a white witch doing on the other side?” he asks.
“I’m…I’m not a witch. There are no such things as witches!” I say firmly, hoping my saying it will make it so.
“Oh yeah,” Sheriff Dudley says, nodding. “She’s from the other side, all right.” He looks at me. “Why are you here in Nightshade?”
Suddenly everything is too much for me. I burst into tears and drop my head onto the service desk and begin to sob like a baby.
“I hate it when women cry,” Alford says as he hurries over to me and reaches up to pat me on the back. “Now, now, it’s not that bad. You are safe here.”
I lift my head. “It’s all because of the Shadow Man!” I wail. “He broke into my house and stole my grandmother silver drinking cup. It’s all his fault!” I say before giving in to the next round of tears.
“Shadow Man?” Sheriff Dudley says in a tone that brings my head up from the desk.
“Well, yeah. He wasn’t a real person. He was like a shadow. Like a silhouette on a window shade.”
“Night Shadow!” Alford shouts and then puts his hand over his mouth in horror that he spoke so loudly. “But Granny Maycomber destroyed his body—or he’s trying to get his body back!”
“Yes, Granny Maycomber destroyed his body after he killed her daughter and son-in-law!” Sheriff Dudley said, shaking his head. “She destroyed his body…” He didn’t finish the sentence.
“Granny Maycomber? You did say Granny Maycomber?”
“Yes, yes, she was the librarian before Rachel,” Alford says, seeming annoyed that I’ve spoken.
“Uh…my last name is Maycomber. Are you talking about my grandmother?”
Suddenly, you could have heard a book whisper; it was that quiet in the library. I look at Alford and he’s staring at me as though I’m a ghost. I glance at Sheriff Dudley and he has that same ‘you-have-got to-be-kidding-me’ look on his dopey face.
“That’s why the chair says she’s a good fit!” Alford exclaims. “She is a librarian! A white witch.”
I start to repeat that there’s no such thing as a witch, white or black, but suddenly I’m not sure of anything!
“The chair says she’s a good fit?” Sheriff Dudley repeats what Alford has told him.
The dwa
rf just nods.
“Well, then I have to appoint her as the librarian. I mean we have no choice. She’s the only white witch in Nightshade,” Sheriff Dudley says, sounding very serious.
“Okay, I’m not a witch, and I don’t want to be the librarian. I just want to find my way back to Potomac,” I say, near tears again.
“Hmm…well, the only way you are going to get back is to find the right spell. Your grandmother obviously found the spell to unlock the gate to the cemetery or she couldn’t have taken you across to the other side after Night Shadow killed your parents,” Sheriff Dudley says. “So if you want to leave, you will have to search the spell books for the one she used.”
I jump out of the chair and glance down at Alford. This is all too much to process and I just want to get back home. “Where do I start looking? Where is the section with spell books?”
“No, no,” Dudley says.
I glance at him as he shakes his head, causing his long droopy ears to swing back and forth. He looks just like a hound dog when he shakes its head, I think.
“You can’t search the books unless you are the librarian. They hide their names from anyone but the librarian or assistant librarian.”
I glance at Alford. “He’s the assistant librarian. You can search for me, can’t you, Alford?”
Suddenly the dwarf glances at the floor.
“What?” I ask looking over at Sheriff Dudley. “Why can’t he search for me?”
“Well, technically he can, but...”
“I can’t read! There! Now you know!” Alford admits as he stares angrily at me.
“But you are the assistant librarian? And you can’t read?”
“Well someone has to dust the books, don’t they? And take care of their needs.”
“But you said they talk to you. Can’t you ask them which ones are spell books?”
“No, they talk to me but they won’t tell me their names. They say since I can’t read, I’m not supposed to know their names. There’s nothing more stubborn than a book, you know.”
I am shaking my head and mumbling without realizing it.
“Don’t take it so hard,” Sheriff Dudley says cheerfully. “I’ll appoint you as the new librarian and you can start searching for the exit spell right away.”