Hush-Hush

by Elizabeth Spann Craig

  “If she is, it’s none of our business,” I said firmly. I tried to look back at the handout I was proofing for the class, but my eyes were drawn back to the sight of Sunny meeting up with Ellie. Ellie had her sweetest of expressions on and appeared to be asking Sunny if she needed any help. Sunny gave her a coolly dismissive look and stalked off toward Wilson’s office, leaving Ellie staring after her. When Ellie glanced up and saw Luna and me gaping at her, she quickly disappeared into the stacks again.

  “Curiouser and curiouser,” said Luna.

  “Yes, it is,” I said, “but look, I’ve got to finish getting ready to teach this computer class in a few minutes. Plus introduce Wilson at the film club before the class starts.”

  “Got it,” said Luna, giving me a salute. “Work now, gossip later.” She hurried off to the children’s section.

  I finally finished up the handouts and had a rough idea of how I was going to talk about using Word to the computer class. I saw a couple of people walking into the computer area and I greeted them and told them I’d be there in just a few minutes and put the handouts in a stack. Then I walked over to the community room.

  Wilson, who’d managed to slip away from his impromptu meeting with Sunny, joined me a couple of minutes later. Mona was already in there, beaming with pride at Wilson being the presenter for the day. Wilson looked as ill at ease as he had earlier.

  Timothy, my favorite club member, was enthusiastically talking up the film, waving his gangly limbs around as he spoke. “It’s a slow starter, but it’s so beautiful. And really moving, too.”

  Wilson gave him a grateful look. He definitely needed someone in his corner for this movie, which could be inscrutable. He was still looking a bit nervous as to the movie’s reception by the group, but not as fidgety as he had been before.

  I introduced Wilson, everyone gave him a polite round of applause, and then I excused myself and ducked back out to the computer class.

  There was a motley assortment of students in the class when I arrived. There were seniors, as I’d expected, but there was also a teen in the room, which surprised me. There were also a couple of middle-aged women who said they’d never really used Word to its fullest capability and they wanted to learn more.

  The range of ages and abilities definitely gave me pause. I took a quick survey to find out where everyone was with their computer savviness. There was an older man who said he barely knew how to turn a computer on and he didn’t understand what “right click” meant. The teen, when pressed, said she was trying to get better with Word for the papers she was starting to get assigned—she seemed to be looking for tips on formatting and setting up page breaks and numbered pages. I felt my palms sweating.

  “Okay,” I said, thinking quickly, “I was going to go with a lecture-style format where I covered the basic functions of Word, but now I’m thinking it might be more beneficial for everyone if I just worked with you in small groups.”

  I rearranged everyone so the most inexperienced users were in one group and the students who wanted to learn tips and tricks were in another. I had everyone introduce themselves so they’d hopefully have something to talk about amongst themselves while I was helping the other group. Fortunately, it seemed like a really amiable and chatty group of people. I gave a sigh of relief over that. Plus, it looked like the girl who was attending for formatting assistance was able to help a couple of the other patrons.

  I was relieved when the hour was finally up and everyone seemed satisfied with what they’d gotten from it.

  “Thanks, everybody, for coming,” I said with a grin to the class, expecting everyone to quickly disperse and get back to whatever they were doing before they came to the computer class. I was hoping I could head over and watch the remainder of film club and see how people were enjoying the movie.

  But apparently, that wasn’t quite in the cards yet. An older lady raised her hand and said, “You know what I really need? Maybe not a formal class in a particular program. I mean, you did a fantastic job today getting everyone what they need. But what would really help for me is sort of a general computer help hour where I could just drop in with my phone or my laptop or my tablet and get help with whatever thing I need. Not just Word, but other things, too.”

  Another patron chirped up. “Me, too. Sometimes I get so frustrated because I can’t open a website on my computer.”

  The older lady nodded at him. “Sometimes I get locked out of my email because of my password being wrong and I can’t figure out how to get back in.”

  I said, “So you’re saying a kind of drop-in clinic for computer problems would help you out the most?”

  Even the teenager nodded.

  I said cautiously, “That does sound like something the library could consider helping out with. I could run it by my director.”

  “Would you be the one helping at the clinic?” asked the older lady in sort of a pleading tone. “Sometimes other people get frustrated when I don’t understand computer stuff, but you’re pretty patient and seem to know what you’re doing.”

  Taking on something else at the library, especially on a regular basis, was probably the last thing I needed right now. But I said, “Let me speak with my director first and see what he says. But if you signed in on the sign-in sheet, I can keep you updated with any developments for a clinic.”

  Everyone filed out and I finally hurried over to the community room to see how film club was faring. Mona had a crinkled brow, but at least she hadn’t pulled her knitting out. Timothy was looking completely engaged and absorbed in the movie. The rest of the film club members seemed to be engrossed in the film, Wilson included (although, by his own calculations, he’d watched the movie at least ten times).

  It’s not a short film, so I had to pop out a couple of times to make sure everything was going all right in the library. We had more volunteers than usual, so everything looked under control.

  Finally, it was film discussion time. Wilson walked slowly to the front of the room and gave everyone a fairly anxious glance, his gaze alighting on Mona last. She still had that pucker of confusion on her face. “So, what did everybody think?” he asked.

  “Fantastic!” said Timothy, bouncing his lanky body in his seat. He looked as if he might have grown an inch since the last time I saw him, which had only been a few weeks ago.

  Mona pursed her lips. “I wasn’t so sure what was going on with the apes, but I liked the part with the computer trying to murder people.”

  Wilson made a half-hearted attempt to try and explain the scene with the apes at the beginning of the film, but he couldn’t seem to really get through to her and Mona looked even more confused.

  Timothy raised his hand as if he were in a classroom and Wilson called on him exactly as if he were a professor. “May I?” Timothy asked and Wilson nodded.

  Timothy launched into an explanation of the dawn of mankind and how the obelisk in the picture figured in. Mona tilted her head to one side, frowning at first before slowly nodding.

  Wilson’s brow wrinkled as he said, “Does that all make sense?”

  “In a manner of speaking, I suppose it does. I’m also not sure about the baby at the end.” Mona gave him an apologetic look. “It’s the kind of movie I have to watch a second time to really understand. But then, I even got confused with the Star Wars movies, and children seemed to be able to follow all the storylines with those.” She shrugged and added with a smile, “Maybe you could come over one night and we can watch the film again.”

  Wilson blushed.

  George, a burly regular who owned the typewriter repair shop on the square, chimed in. “What I’d really like to talk about, and what I thought was fascinating, is the subject of artificial intelligence. When did this movie come out again? Late 60s?”

  Wilson nodded and carefully double-checked the notecards he held. “1968.”

  George continued, “I think it’s pretty amazing that Kubrick was prescient enough to see how computers and AI could be danger
ous for humans.” Speaking as a man who worked daily and very closely with typewriters, George had a perhaps understandable enmity with computers.

  This launched an entire discussion on artificial intelligence and the future of humanity. Wilson looked pleased and rather proud throughout.

  Fifteen minutes later, the club broke up and members scattered out into the library to find books or pick up their holds—most of them were huge readers as well as film fans. Timothy stayed for a few minutes to help me stack the chairs back up and hesitantly said, in a carefully offhanded manner, “So . . . it looks like you have a new librarian here.”

  I glanced up and noticed his cheeks were pink. I smiled at him. “We do! Ellie Norman is her name and she’s been helping us out for a few weeks now.”

  “You probably really needed the extra help, didn’t you?” asked Timothy. “I mean, it’s always so busy in here.”

  “We sure did need it. Still could use some extra hands now, as a matter of fact.”

  Timothy said in that same carefully casual way, “My mom was trying to encourage me to get some volunteer hours in . . . you know, they look good for college applications and help other people out, too. I looked into a variety of different things, but I kept remembering the library is one of my favorite places to come. Maybe I could help out here?”

  “Definitely! You’d be a great volunteer.” I meant it, too. He was a smart kid and got along well with adults, which boded well for mixing with the patrons. His motives might have been a little questionable (and might have involved a crush on Ellie Norman), but I knew he would be fabulous.

  “What kinds of things do library volunteers do here?” he asked.

  “Oh, there’s a lot of stuff . . . it’s not just shelving books. You can help us pull requested items and put them on hold shelves for patrons, help with the summer reading club, make display boards, and maybe even help with our study buddies program.” I stopped, my eyes opening wide. “Hey, don’t I remember that you’re excellent with computers?”

  He blinked at me in his owlish way. “Computers? Sure. What do you need . . . programming? Help making the library site secure?”

  “Actually, I was thinking about something completely different. I’ve got to run it by Wilson, but we may be running computer help clinics for patrons who are stumped by things happening on their different devices.”

  Timothy chuckled. “That happens to be my specialty.”

  “Do you have a lot of patience? Because it’s the kind of volunteering that might tap out your reserves. These are patrons who may not know really basic computer terms and might be totally overwhelmed easily.” I felt the need to warn him. He was so young and a complete computer native. It might even be hard for him to imagine people who didn’t know what a “window” or a “tab” were or felt unsure whenever they had to reboot their device.

  “I help out my Nana all the time and it’s no big deal at all. Believe me, I can handle it.”

  I grinned at him. “Then the job is yours if it all gets approved by Wilson. I’ll be in there to help you out too since I’m not sure how many people will show up. I was thinking it would be better if we use the clinics as more of a teaching opportunity than just fix the patrons’ issues ourselves.”

  “Sort of like that old saying: Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime?” asked Timothy.

  “Exactly. Maybe then they’ll be able to have the confidence to work through some of their own issues when they come up.”

  Timothy hurried to catch up with George and I caught up with Wilson on the way out. “Hey, great job!” I said.

  Wilson looked pleased. “You think so? I was a little worried a couple of times that the movie was losing people.”

  “Oh, you know. Maybe they were lost for a few minutes, but then the film moved on to something else and they caught on. Great pick—lots of good discussion this time.”

  “Did the computer class go all right?” asked Wilson.

  “It did. It didn’t go exactly as I’d planned, though, because everybody was on a different level. I worked with small groups instead. Then I ended up with a patron request for a specific library-sponsored event.”

  Wilson raised his eyebrows. “Another class?”

  “Not really—more of a drop-in clinic.” I explained it to him and also said that Timothy had expressed an interest in volunteering for it.

  “Good, good,” said Wilson brusquely. “Just be sure to mention it a lot on social media. I’ll arrange extra coverage for the library those days in case you get tied up at the clinic with Timothy. Maybe I can also ask Frank Morrison to help out. I need to call him anyway because we have the one desktop that’s still on the blink.”

  Frank was one of the tech guys who helped out with IT and photocopier issues at the library. He was a big, blustery guy who seemed to me to have a borderline hot temper.

  I said, “That’s fine, but I’m not sure he’s going to be ideal for the clinic. He doesn’t seem like he’ll have the patience to work with some of the tech-challenged patrons. Plus, we’d have to pay him for his time. Timothy would be working for free and I know he’s supposed to be excellent with electronics.”

  Wilson considered this and then said, “Good point. The last thing we want is for somebody to represent the library poorly. I’ll speak to Frank about the desktop, but I’ll leave out the part about the clinic.”

  I locked up the community room after everyone had left and headed back out into the library. I was doing some research for a patron who’d called in to ask for more information about their unusual health problem when the sliding doors opened and I saw Ellie’s sister, Pris walk in. She seemed very unlike Ellie in every way. Where Ellie was fair and lively, Pris was dark and serious. I’d met her a couple of times since she was not only an enthusiastic reader herself, but often came in to get picture books for her daughter. She was separated from her husband, shared custody of her young daughter, had a court date for the divorce, and was actively looking for employment. She’d been living with Ellie since she’d moved to Whitby. Pris looked a little flushed and I spotted a bicycle parked right outside the library doors.

  I called out a greeting and she came up to the research desk with a smile. “Good to see you, Ann. Where’s Mr. Fitz today?”

  I chuckled. “He’s likely in a sunbeam somewhere. You should track him down . . . he’s always up for a cuddle.”

  “And my sister?” she asked, her features clouding just a touch.

  She didn’t even really have to ask because Ellie had already spotted her and was storming over. Pris met up with her halfway and Ellie started letting her have it. I hopped back into my research, not wanting to get involved with a family argument. I did perk up, though, when I could clearly hear Ellie saying, “It’s my turn to lock up tonight, so that’s one reason.”

  As far as I was aware, it was my turn to lock up at the library. I glanced up and saw Ellie’s face was set and stubborn. Pris whirled around and stormed out.

  Ellie saw me looking in her direction and shrugged, walking over.

  “Hey, I thought it was my night to close up here,” I said lightly. I wasn’t in the mood for Ellie to snap my head off and it looked like she might be in the frame of mind to do just that.

  “Can we trade?” she asked. “The last thing I want is to hang out at home if I’m having a spat with Pris. Can I lock up tonight and you open up tomorrow morning?”

  “Sure, that’s fine.” I looked at my watch. “I guess that means I’ll be heading out of here soon.”

  “Yeah,” said Ellie with another shrug. She was staring absently toward the door Pris had left through. She gave a short laugh. “Sorry about my thing with my sister. I guess once you get used to living on your own, it’s just hard to adjust to having somebody else there.”

  I was surprised Ellie was opening up to me at all. She’d pretty much kept to herself the whole time she’d worked at the library. “Definitely. I’ve be
en on my own for so long that it would be a real challenge to get used to a roommate.”

  Ellie said, “We’ve been fine, but she’s got a lot of stress right now and that’s not helping. She’s about to get divorced and Pris and her ex have been really scrapping over the custody issues.” She made a face. “It’s been pretty ugly. Pris doesn’t have a job here yet, so that makes it tough, too. Her lawyer told her that she really needs to be employed before her court date but nobody has an opening. I have no idea how long she might be staying with me, but it’s starting to look like it might be a while. Maybe I need to look for a bigger place.”

  Which was tough on a librarian’s salary.

  Ellie could apparently read my mind like I had a cartoon thought bubble outside my head. She snorted. “Yeah, we don’t make a lot, do we? But I recently came into a little cash. A new place might just be in the works.” She spotted Wilson and pivoted to head off into the stacks. “Thanks again for the trade,” she called behind her.

  Chapter Three

  An hour or so later, I was walking out of the library along with Mona and Luna. Fitz was headed home with me, curled contentedly in his cat carrier.

  Luna frowned at me. “For some reason I thought you were locking up tonight.”

  “I was. Ellie wanted to trade. Apparently, she needed a break from her sister.”

  Luna blew out a gusty sigh. “That Ellie! Pris is perfectly nice. I was actually thinking about spending some more time with her—maybe asking her to go out to a movie with Mom and me.”

  Mona made a face and said, “As long as it’s not tonight. I’m still trying to process 2001: A Space Odyssey.”

  “You liked it though, didn’t you, Mom?”

  “I think so,” said Mona slowly, “although I need more time to absorb it all. There were definitely parts of it I liked. I definitely think I need to watch it a second time.”

  We said goodbye in the parking lot and I unlocked my car and carefully put Fitz’s carrier in the backseat and buckled it in. Then I headed home, windows down, radio playing, and singing off-key to Adele. When I got back to my cottage, I noticed the flower beds were in dire need of some weeding. The extra hours at home were a gift, I decided, and one I didn’t want to squander. I took Fitz in and fed him before sliding on my gardening gloves and setting to work with the weeding. Fitz bathed himself on the windowsill and then watched me through the window with interest.