"Well I tell you that I'm perfectly allowed to take this book out once again, it's within my rights." She replied, annoyed.
She couldn't believe she had to return to this subject, but Stephen had a way of always finding loopholes to stop her from properly delivering her books…Or even taking them out. The fat man seemed to enjoy playing with Alice's nerves.
But he was a fool if he thought he could get to her so easily.
"I'm sorry, but you do know our policies, miss Liddle." He replied in that soft, whispery voice of his. "You have to follow the headline, and it seems that lately you've been extending your date of delivery far too much...As if planning on keeping this book."
"It's a long read!"
He turned the book slowly and read the title out loud.
"Shakespeare: the Invention of the Human. Oh, I see." And he giggled, making his dyed purple hair shudder with every laugh erupting from him. Alice wondered how did he ever get hired in the first place with such an apparel.
"Stephen, I don't know why do you do this. We've known each other for so long, do you feel like wanting to continue this?"
That had been a little too personal, but she knew the librarian outside the job; had it not been for him, she probably would've gotten lost on the first day at Uni; the campus had such a wide maze!
In the later years, though, Alice had come to love it. Usually, in her calmer days she liked to set by the hedges and doodle in her notebook about all the random daydreams and thoughts she concocted in the night. It may have seemed odd to others, but to Alice, it was heaven.
And heck, even Stephen liked it. She had noticed outside the shift he tended to have his nose stuck in a book, when not laughing silently at the misfortune of others.
Odd fellow, but overall harmless. If he weren't so rude with this, Alice would probably be interested in knowing more of him.
"I just follow the rules...And Principal Victoria won't like it If I disobey the rules. Then it's off with my head." He gave her that lazy smile of his, and chuckled. "Of course, Shakespeare is something of its own, so I can understand why you like it, miss Liddle."
"Oh, you're into Shakespeare too!? Oh goodness, this is wonderful, I have never heard of others getting into his plays. I admt-"
He shushed her before she could continue.
"We could always talk about that another day. For now, take the wisdom of Harold Bloom, and enjoy it once more."
And he gave her the book again, now with a paperclip pointing the new date
And Eilonwy was waiting her outside the library, ever so faithful. The blonde was at the moment ordering her bag once Alice approached, and the girl startled her best friend.
"It took you long to deliver the book now. Or are you taking out a new one?"
"It's not that. You know Stephen? He never allows me to take out my books in peace."
"Oh, the punk boy? Yeah, he's certainly something isn't he?"
"Eilonwy, not in that way."
Eilonwy had always been one to notice boys more quickly than Alice, for the English girl (to note her apart from the Welsh girl; yes, there was a distinction, thank you) preferred to obsess over books and teas and seams and stories over dating. Most of her interactions with me had been...lacking, to say the least, which had left her with a rather bored opinion of the dating community.
But as they say; no fuss, no muss. She was still young, and had her life ahead of her. Boys could come later, after studies and work and trips and who knows what else.
"Well, you know Stephen is always bothering me about my books, but I think he secretly reads the same books as I do."
"Now, Alice, that's quite a coincidence. Why are you so certain?"
"He spoke softly of Shakespeare."
"Almost everyone does."
"He teased me."
"Mostly everyone teases you."
She was starting to get annoyed at her retorts.
"Are you going to help me, or not?"
"Can I see the book you've taken now?" She grabbed it from Alice's hands, and awed at the cover. "Oh, it's the same one. Must be interesting, for you to read it over and over."
"Must be a fun read."
That soft voice alarmed them, and the two turned to see the grinning plump purple man staring at them.
"Now you're here!" She stomped her foot on the ground. "Now I think you wouldn't mind telling me about this nonsense!"
"Of course, outside my shift, I'm a free man, and Principal Victoria no longer carries my shackles. Yet, Alice, I still think you're asking questions that already have answers."
"I do?"
"Think." And he walked passing them by, making Eilonwy shudder. "You can have either an ally or an enemy, depending on which set of rules you play...Fair or unfair, no matter...Bye."
And he left the school building, leaving the two blondes befuddled.
"And you want him to be your friend?"
Alice was about to respond that she didn't know, until she noticed a paperclip in the form of a purple pawprint had been placed over the bookcover, and in it, scribbled furiously with dark pen, it said.
Trust cats- they know best.
