Chapter 4

A visit at the library

It was a dreadfully cold Wednesday, an awful wind was blowing, and the little elderly lady struggled to open the main door to the public library when suddenly a hand reached over her head and helped her to pull the handle. "Oh, thank you, sir" she chirped. The man in the raincoat just smiled, nodded briefly and held the door open for her, then stepped in after her. Before she could open her mouth again and thank him once more, he had disappeared. For a moment, she wasn't sure if he had actually been there at all. She shook her head in confusion – she had been beginning to see funny things lately. Maybe he was only one of those… but never mind, she was in the library now, and that was all that counted.

Richard had just hopped off the bus when the rain started, and so he was glad that it wasn't far to the library. He saw a tiny old lady struggle with the doorhandle – those push-and-pull doors sometimes were really heavy, and considering how frail the old lady looked, it didn't surprise him that she had a hard time opening the door. He was happy to help out, but after he had spent two days with his parents, his tolerance level for torrents of words had gone below zero, so he didn't wait for her to say thank you – he just nodded and disappeared into one of the aisles between the shelves, passing the alarm system.

As he approached the counter in the children's section, the lady who sat there looked up and said automatically "Please leave your coat in one of the lockers"… then she recognized him, her eyes widened, and with a beaming smile, she exclaimed "Why, Mr Poole – well, that's a surprise! Ms Cooper will be delighted to see you – she's in her office! The poor girl is drowning in work – you know what it's like at this time of the year. It'll do her good to get out of the house for a while and see something else than all those piles of books".

Richard chuckled and answered "Good to see you, Dorothy – and let me tell you, you look splendid!" She waggled her finger at him and said "Ah, charming as always, my boy! I've missed you! You've run off to the Caribbean, as I understand? Must be nice with the sunshine and all… We're always excited to find your postcards in the mail! Brightens our days, you know. So nice of you to think of us! But I won't keep you now – I'm sure you're more keen on seeing Ms Cooper than on chatting with me… so just go ahead!"

He went to the back of the reading room and knocked at the door with the impressive nameplate 'Alison Cooper, Head Librarian'. A tired and absent-minded voice answered "Come in". He opened the door and entered the small but cozy office room – it was full of shelves, the walls were decorated with a mix of children's drawings, impressionistic art prints and a collection of odd postcards on a pinboard, the desk was covered with piles of books, and the chair behind the desk was occupied by a lady in her mid 40s, with short copper-red curls, fair skin and long dangling earrings. A pencil stuck out from behind her ear. Even though he couldn't fully see her face, he noticed that it looked drawn and tired. Without looking up she said drily "If you've come to try and make me extend the loan period for your books, forget about it. I'm not going to save you from paying the fine." Stunned silence, followed by a chuckle and an amused voice saying "Graceful as ever, darling – you haven't changed one bit," made her look up, and with a cry of joy she jumped to her feet to come around and greet him with outstretched hands: "Richard! How on earth… Blimey, is it really you? How wonderful to see you!"

He took her hands into his, squeezing them gently, and replied "What a warm welcome, m'dear… though I'm sad that you're not going to save me from paying the fine". She stopped short, then laughed and said "Oh, I thought it was one of the kids wanting me to help and get them out of a pickle. We have switched to an automatic reminder system recently, and a fine is collected when an overdue book is returned… since that has been introduced, they've been coming to my office in flocks, begging me to help them get away without having to pay. It's dreadful – you know how they can make big innocent puppy eyes and all that. I hate having to collect the money, but well… you know what it's like. So, I try to fend them off by trying to appear all buttoned-up and strict!"

Then, with an arched eyebrow, she continued "But what are you doing here, Richard? I thought you're topping off your tan on that Caribbean island of yours? Are you on holidays? Or has the prodigal son returned home for good? You should have let me know that you're coming – I would have dished up the fatted calf and all that, you know! Or the fatted duck a l'Orange, if you'd prefer that… Oh, it's so good to see you!" With that, she withdrew her hands, just to throw her arms around him and hug him tightly – it obviously didn't matter to her that she got wet as his raincoat was drenched. Granted, his reaction couldn't be called over-enthusiastic, but he didn't turn to stone, either. He just patted her on the back and replied "Thanks – good to see you, too." For his standards, that was an emotional outburst…

Had his team on Saint Marie seen him in this situation, they would have been taken aback and wondered if this was truly their very own Inspector Poole. Literally everyone who knew Richard would have asked themselves the same question – but of course, none of them knew that Alison Cooper was his cousin. Her mother Margaret was his father's sister - and the black sheep of the family. She had been married three times until she gave up on men and decided it all wasn't worth it. She had spent the past years travelling around on the continent, residing alternatively in Italy and the South of France. Alison was her only child, she was from her second marriage, and she had inherited her looks from her father – she was lean and athletic, and being almost two inches taller than Richard, she had very light skin and curly bright red hair – even the most benevolent person could not call it strawberry blond or auburn or whatever euphemism there was out there – that had earned her the nicknames "Tangerine" and "Carrotstick" in her youth. There was only one feature she had inherited from the Poole side of the family – the dazzling green eyes that resembled Richard's.

She pulled back and smiled. Good old Richard – still the same stuffed shirt! He really could be a pain in the neck with his uptight behaviour, but she knew he had a kind and soft side that he hid well behind his rigid façade.

"Look, I don't know about you, but I am starving. What about having lunch together once I've finished this one pile of books? Then we can hit the road and you can tell me all about your adventures!" She moved back to her desk to sit down, and Richard sauntered to her side to see what she was doing. The books on her desk all were children's books that obviously had their best times behind them. Some of them looked awfully grubby, others were literally falling apart, and there were quite a few that fit into both categories. From what he saw, Alison was busy finding second hand copies online to replace the ones she had sitting on her desk.

"You know, these have been loved to death, and I have to replace them" Alison explained. "The thing is, we cannot afford to buy new copies at this point – fundings aren't what they used to be… so I try to get them as cheaply as possible." Richard was appalled, but not surprised to hear this. It was the same everywhere – cutbacks all over, and the need to save, save, save.

Despite the sorry (and unhygienic) state they were in, he took a closer look at the books she had already finished and read some of the titles. "Oh, I see that good old Fungus the Bogeyman is still around?" he remarked. "Yep, and he's one of the kids' favourites… Mind you, I can understand that," said Alison, tapping away on her keyboard. "It's just so outlandish, yet it speaks truth… I mean, come on, I feel like a Bogeyman on some days when I think about the meaning of life and wonder what it's all good for. Actually, we're lucky with Fungus as he was out of print for some years and prices for second hand copies skyrocketed. This has changed when they re-published the book a few years ago – since then you can get decent second hand copies for a reasonable price as people just won't pay as much anymore. Raymond Briggs just is so much fun for the kids. In that context, 'Father Christmas' is another favourite, by the way." Richard chuckled – he had always liked the grumpy old Father Christmas figure in these books – he could just imagine how fed up you get with having to slide down dirty chimneys for your job, and of course, the job itself got very hectic once the countdown to the holidays started as you didn't have much time to get it done…

At random, he picked up another picture book, raising his eyebrows at the title, and said "Now, that looks interesting – 'Princess Smartypants'…" He leafed through it and snorted when he reached the end of it – the pretty princess who didn't want to get married gave her last, abominably perfect suitor Prince Swashbuckle a magic kiss and he turned into a gigantic warty toad. He liked that twist – he'd never been fond of the typical prince / princess stories. There was too much emphasis on being perfect in a superficial way, and the formula of what happiness meant was just too simple – maybe not every girl wanted to sit around, be beautiful and wear a glittering pink dress while she was waiting for Mr Right to show up – who in turn had to be… well, the equivalent to Prince Swashbuckle, someone who could solve every problem and deal with every situation. And maybe not every guy wanted (or was able) to live up to the standard that Prince Swashbuckle set… and that was fine. As far as he saw it, the old saying "It takes all kinds of people to make the world go round" was true.

"Come on, Richard – I'm finished." Alison was amused at how her oh-so-sophisticated and serious cousin flipped through the children's books and obviously enjoyed reading them. As she was slipping into her black raincoat, she said over her shoulder "I promise to give you a couple of recommendations if you are seriously interested!"

Notes: The books mentioned are "Fungus the Bogeyman" and "Father Christmas" by Raymond Briggs and "Princess Smartypants" by Babette Cole. Check them out – they're worth it.