HUNTER LAKE 14/100 THE ASSIGNMENT

HUNTER LAKE 14/100 THE ASSIGNMENT

The library stacks hid the Mark and Ivy’s table. Mark sat down and Ivy sat next to him and let her shoulder touch his. She loved the way she felt.

He pulled out his assignments from his folder and put them on the table and opened a book with formulas written on it and started to work on the problems.

“You mad at me?” She whispered.

“Huh?”

“Sorry, just, you’re not talking.”

“You ok?”

“Yup, dad’s back”

“I know, you’re ok now right?” Mark turned back to his papers.

Ivy felt tears, tears of confusion as she looked around the library. “Got to get a reference book.” She stood to go to the front desk. She did have a project, but her feelings were confusing now. She walked away and looked over her shoulder, he was still there. Why did she keep thinking he was going to disappear?

She did have an English project due, was supposed to write an essay. She decided on a perfect choice and went to the front desk. “Nana?”

She left with a pile of papers, all copies of microfiche. “I know you’re supposed to do all the research, but here’s what I used for the lecture, plus there’s some old photos of me and my friends, you might find it interesting.”

Ivy brought the papers back to the desk Mark sat at and realized she would have to put the papers on a different table and sat apart, not her ideal choice. She had noticed a photo with “Henry” on it. It was a picture of her dad when he was her age. She smiled when she looked, he seemed like a little boy, big wide grin, hair all messed up in the wind, hand filled with books, as he sat right where Mark had been sitting when she walked up to the library.

Nana stood tall, hands on the door handles, the same ones she had just pulled open to enter into the library. Ivy started to breath more slowly, her heart slowed down and the tears disappeared. She loved her family and in this library and this town and her home, that was where she would find it. This time when she went to the front credenza, her Nana handed her a spiral notebook. “I thought you might need this.”

Ivy took a library pen with a big daisy taped on it and walked back to her table. She opened the spiral notebook and pressed the cover on the table top, took a deep breath and wrote: “Women, Education and Libraries in Valley View.”

She continued: “The idea of libraries came out of a need for information. Books and libraries were owned by individuals and when women finally had time away from physical chores on the farm, they wanted to read.” This was getting interesting. She saw her mom on their farm, she never had a free moment and yet was so organized was able to make sure she and her brothers had time to study and to learn. She heard a click. It was the library lights, turning on.

“Oops.” She looked at her watch and over at Mark. “Gotta go.”

“Me too.”

She piled all of the papers and photos together and placed them inside the spiral folder and walked right up to the front desk.

Nana pulled out a large “Valley View Library” labeled bag and handed it to her.

Ivy smiled. It was still light out and she pulled out her phone, “Mom.”

“Let’s pick up the truck at mom’s.”

“Uh, you mean your place?”

The shadows were long on the cobblestone street surrounding the library that day. It was one of the few areas where the city had a reflection on what it was like when it was first built up around the railroad tracks. The cobblestones were stored in a shelter built on the graveyard hill, and whenever anyone of them broke the city found their stash waiting for them. It was dry enough to tolerate the extreme temperatures. Heat rose up from the street and the sounds of shop doors opening and closing surrounded them in their bubble of young love.