Read Online Leaving Liberty by Virginia Carmichael - Free Book Online Page B

front door sounded like a bomb in the quiet
space. Daisy put a hand over her thumping heart and stepped back down the
carpeted stairs. A tall, thin female figure was peering through the glass, one
hand raised to give another knock.
               
Daisy swung the door inward. “Hi there! The library isn’t quite open to the
public yet but I’d be happy to--”
               
The woman didn’t bother to wait for the rest of Daisy’s speech but squeezed on
through. “Oh, I know that. But I was thinking if we’d better get the book drop
cleared out and everything checked in before people start complaining about
their fines.”
               
The book return. How could she have forgotten to check it? “Good idea, but I
can handle it.”
               
Gray hair pulled back from her face and held in a leather tie, the woman turned
to her and raised one dark eye-brow. “It’s okay to accept help. You can’t run
the library alone. Even Marie had volunteers.”
               
“She did?”
               
A warm chuckle filled the foyer. She shrugged off a purple cable knit sweater
and hung it over the chair at the desk. “I’m Nita. Jan and I help organize and
run errands around here.”
               
Daisy let out a breath. “Well, I’m glad to have some help, I suppose.”
               
“No suppose about it. The book return is so full that books are sticking out
the chute. And with all the rain we’ve been having that could be a disaster.”
               
She wanted to slap a palm against her forehead. If she was going to work in the
library for the summer, she really needed to get a handle on the daily tasks.
“We’ll have to erase all the late charges.”
               
Nita threw a glance over her shoulder. “You haven’t been in here for a while,
have you? We’ve got a great system, all automated, linked to the whole state.
Super easy to use. We can alter the check-in date backward, so we don’t have to
erase late fees or calculate the dates.” She’d snagged a small key from the peg
board near the office door.
               
“Grab those book bags on the coatrack. Come on and let me show you everything
we do during the opening shift.” Nita marched past Daisy although her tone
wasn’t unkind in the least.
               
A heavy canvas bag in each hand, Daisy followed the older woman out to the
sidewalk, past the muddy flower beds and to the large blue box on the corner.
Nita inserted the tiny key in the side panel, swung it open and tugged the
large rolling cart from down below. Books upon books were piled inside. The
spring loaded bottom of the cart was pressed almost to the lowest rung.
               
Between the two of them, they’d cleared the book return in a few minutes.
Lugging them back to the library was another story.
               
“I thought I was in shape,” Daisy huffed between steps.
               
“You exercise with fifty pounds of books?” Nita’s voice was just as breathless.
               
A snort escaped her. She didn’t like to exercise much at all, only when her
jeans reminded her that a sweet tooth was a quick way to gain weight.
               
She paused at the steps, resting the large canvas bag on the sidewalk. Nita
rested next to her. “Marie did this every day the library was open, rain or
shine. She would never let the volunteers clear the book drop.”
               
“Because they might miss a book?”
               
“Oh, no. She was just one of those people that always took the hard job before
anyone else could.”
               
They stood there quietly for a moment, staring up at the red brick building,
windows gleaming in the early morning light, wrapped up in memories of the
woman who had left such a space to fill.
               
Daisy hefted the bag to her