Cbeppa's Freelance Writing Blog: June 2015

I've been at a Church Convention so I've not been able to draw, only write storyboards. This week I'm posting a little side story instead. Hope you enjoy it!

Sunrise dropped her heavy backpack on the floor, then took a moment to catch her breath. Her slightly pudgy body was dripping with sweat, and the library's icy air conditioning was a welcome relief from her long walk from school. Sunrise checked her watch and, to her dismay, found that she was four minutes late. She hurriedly pinned on her ID badge, tied her wild, curly black hair into a ponytail, and took a deep Zen Breath to prepare herself for work. She headed over to the non-fiction section where she had parked her book cart the day before. Her posture, revitalized by the meditative breathing exercise, slowly slumped in dejection when she saw Emil already working.

The small-town public library was only one story and consisted of several long, tall shelves of books and a table of computers in the center of the room. The children's area was a pathetic afterthought, a tiny pastel bookcase surrounded by a few grimy toys. Since most people only came to the library to use the internet, there wasn't a real need for two shelvers in the sleepy building. But Emil was a cherished nephew of one of the librarians, and he needed money for his hobby of assembling model cars. Emil wasn't physically intimidating. He was shorter than average, with stringy black hair and pale skin. Sunrise probably outweighed him by fifty pounds. Sunrise, however, had a quiet, slightly timid demeanor, while Emil had a bad attitude, a worse temper, and a soul-blithering case of OCD. After four months of working together, Sunrise had learned which mistakes tended to make him freak out. One major sin was tardiness.

Sunrise began moving books from the cart to their correct places on the shelf. She ignored Emil's petty glare and reminded herself that he was a human being just like her, with his own issues, limitations, and personality quirks.

They worked in tense silence for a few tense moments, then moved on to the next aisle. Emil spoke up. "You were late today, Sunrise. Why?"

Sunrise stifled a sigh and tried to smile politely. She had hoped he would let it slide today. "I'm sorry, Emil. There was a Photography Club meeting today, and they had a conflict about our fair booth for this year. I had to stay late."

"Excuses," Emil growled. He seemed to be under the illusion that he was Sunrise's overseer, when they were technically the same rank. "Everyone always makes excuses for their constantly inexcusable behavior."

Sunrise tried to concentrate on her job instead of her irrationally negative co-worker. Hating someone is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die, she reminded herself. Her grandmother was always saying that. She began reorganizing books someone had replaced without knowledge of the alphabet, or perhaps he or she just hadn't cared. Emil glanced over and gave her a wan semblance of a sympathetic look. "Hate it when they do that," he remarked. He seemed to only find empathy with others when they disliked the same thing.

The two of them rounded the next shelf. They were nearing the nucleus of the library now, and they could hear patrons clicking and typing from behind the computers. Two mothers talked quietly from the dystopian children's corner. Emil shot them his carefully-nurtured 'shush!' look, but the women were too far away to notice.

He must practice that expression in the mirror, Sunrise thought, because it's even worse than his Resting Angry Face. Then she caught herself and remembered that hate is a poison.

Suddenly, Sunrise realized that Emil had stopped working. He stood in the center of the aisle, trembling slightly. She set down the book she had been holding and looked over his shoulder to see what was going on.

Two blond, cheerful children sat in a papery sea of books. The boys looked to be about four and five, and seemed highly industrious. So far they had pulled down three shelves worth of books and were halfway through their fourth. Sunrise groaned inwardly. It would take her and Emil an hour to clean up what these kids had done in a few minutes. "What are you doing?" she asked finally.

"Edward and I are helping the library," he told her, smiling. "My name is Al and - Ed, where are you going?" Edward, who was apparently better at reading body language, fled from the unsmiling girl and the scrawny, anger-contorted boy.

Emil was flushed with righteous wrath. "Get back here, you miserable cretin!" he exploded, shattering the peaceful lethargy of the library with a raw adolescent yell. "I'm going to..." as he paused to think of a fitting punishment, people stared up at him from the computers. "Oh, oh! So now I'm the one causing a scene?!"

"Um, Emil," Sunrise mumbled, "they're just children...?"

"Exactly!" Emil agreed. He was just getting warmed up. "It's the parents who mess them up! You irresponsible slobs," he pointed a body finger at the surprised mothers, "you should watch your kids! They're noisy and messy, and you just let them do whatever while you sit at the computers! Speaking of that, since when do computers have anything to do with books? All they do is attract bums like you! And that reminds me..." Emil had an attentive captive audience for his lengthy rant. When he had finished, he gave the room one last spiteful, accusatory glower, then left, slamming the door behind him.

Sunrise apologized to the stunned patrons, comforted the now-sobbing Al, and cleaned up the books. She let the little boys 'help' her, though it took nearly twice the time.

When she got to work the next day, seven minutes late this time, Emil didn't meet her with his customary wrecking ball of atmospheric negativity. In fact, Sunrise never saw him in or near the library again.

I may end up posting another story next week, since I probably won't have enough pages done. Thank you for reading!