Love in a library

The old library off of the corner of Main Street was far past closing, but the building was full of its finest patrons. Flickering lights from lanterns moving down the different aisles illuminated the building. The library was fully functioning with electricity, but the lanterns were more easily understood by the regulars who spent the evenings and nights hunting down books. Even though they had free rein of the building, there was one librarian that made sure everything ran smoothly for the daily operations.

“Thomas! I know that I can’t see you, but I know you’re there.” Allison peered around the corner of the old bookshelf filled with historical nonfiction.“You wouldn’t be in the historical nonfiction section, of course. You would be in the travel section.” Allison didn’t bother to sneak up on him because the floating lantern gave him away. Sure enough, Thomas was holding a lantern and flipping through a book on traveling through Egypt. The lantern switched positions to indicate that Thomas was looking at Allison.

“I love that you love to learn about different places to go, but you have to stop cutting out pictures of places you would like to go. I’m tired of finding books with holes in them.” The lantern moved up and down just like it was nodding. Allison looked at where Thomas would be standing with sympathy. “Thank you, Thomas. Now enjoy reading about Egypt and stay away from my scissors.” Allison winked at Thomas and started to put the returned books back on the shelves. Allison felt sympathy well up inside of her again. She knew that Thomas would never be able to travel and see the world. Just like the rest of the patrons that arrive after closing, Thomas was a ghost. Thomas and the other patrons could never leave the town, but they loved to visit the library because it provided a temporary escape. Allison could not see them, but she knew when they were there. The most obvious way was from the floating lanterns that accompanied each of them. Along with the lanterns, they would often find different items that human patrons would leave and they would carry them around while they browsed the library.

Allison continued to push the cart of returned books around when she stopped at a green armchair with a faded paisley pattern. Next to the armchair was a lantern and a cup of different colored pens with giant flowers on the tops. Allison knew exactly who was sitting in the chair and that would be Amelia. Allison had done her research when she became the librarian that the patrons trusted. She would look up the public death records and find out what kind of people they were to help them adjust to their new lives after death. Amelia was a sappy romantic who had dreams of finding her true love by traveling the world. She had traveled to many different countries hoping to find the one, but she failed to find the one she would be with for forever. She tragically had to end her search when she lost her life in a car wreck. She now spends her evenings getting lost in romance novels, preferably ones set in foreign countries.

“Oh Hello, Amelia!” Allison rummaged through the cart and pulled out a new book.“This one is set in France where the girl meets her lover under the Eiffel Tower.” Allison sighed longingly, “Just imagine all of the shared croissants and cute cafés they go to.” A blue flower pen twirled excitedly in the air as Allison added the book to the already large stack of romance novels. Allison could imagine her nestled up in that chair with her writing little notes and doodles in the margins of her favorite books with different colors from the pens. Allison often imagined how each of the patrons looked and acted. She knew that they could see and talk to each other and that reassured her because she often thought about how lonely it would be to be a ghost, especially in Amelia’s case.

The History section of the library was often the least visited section. Allison had discovered that the patrons preferred not to read about history and the past because it reminds them of their own lives and people that they had left behind. The only patron in the History section tonight was Stephen. Stephen was a history professor at the local high school and never missed an opportunity to learn more. Stephen was a recent addition to the family of patrons that visited the library. Allison did not know too much about him except that he loved to travel, especially in Europe where he would visit the places that he studied. Allison saw his lantern sitting on an end table by the end of a loveseat and decided to join him.

“Good evening, Stephen!” Allison noticed the pile of books next to him.“Oh France! I’ve never been to France or let alone any country of Europe.”Allison had to be careful not to ramble. She had a tendency to ramble when the person she was conversing with couldn’t talk back. “You know, I know someone who has traveled all over Europe.” Allison nudged his invisible shoulder with her own. “I know you’ve only been here for a short time, but I would love to introduce you to people to help you adjust, if you would like?” The lantern was lifted into the air and was raised up and down and that meant a yes.

“Excellent!” Allison rose to her feet and grabbed the top book, The Complete Historical Timeline of the Country of France, and beckoned for him to follow her. Allison led Stephen across the library to the Romance section. She could see Amelia’s lantern up ahead. “Oh Amelia!” Allison waved at the armchair where Amelia was still sitting. A purple flower pen waved in response.

“I have someone I would love for you to meet.” Allison beckoned for Stephen to join her. His lantern bobbed near her as she began introductions.“Amelia, this is Stephen. He’s a history professor that has traveled around Europe and France. And Stephen, this is Amelia. She has also traveled all over Europe” Allison wiggled her eyebrows at Amelia. Amelia’s lantern rose in the air. Allison could imagine them shaking hands and talking more.

“Okay! I’ll leave you guys to it!” Allison waved at the floating lanterns and noticed that Amelia had started that romance novel that she had given her. She let out a giddy laugh and left to continue getting the library ready for business hours.

A few hours later as Allison was doing her rounds she noticed that Amelia’s armchair was empty. This was Amelia’s seat, but there was no Amelia. Even though there was no real reason to panic, Allison found herself freaking out a little. She found herself speeding through her rounds searching for a lantern with a cup of flower pens. She looked through Travel, Young Adult, Children’s, Nonfiction, and so far nothing. She past many different lanterns, but none of them had the pens.

There was only one place that she hadn’t checked, the History section. Empty study tables lined the back of the room except for one. Two lanterns sat at the ends of the table. The different colored flower pens were scattered over different open books. Each book was open to different places in Europe with different notes written in the margins. Allison could picture the couple bent over the books, talking about all the places they have been and circling places on the maps. Allison knew that library books shouldn’t be written in; but she’ll make an exception, for love that will last forever.