Checked out

Chapter 4

Deena Blaylock wandered in around two that same afternoon for a science fiction fix. She pulled her motorcycle helmet off as she was coming in and shook her head briskly to free her short, curly salt and pepper hair. “What’s up ladies?” she queried as she began to unload her returning books on to Karen’s desk.
“We had a just little excitement this morning” Karen began, “ a small yard fire while we were trying to do a children’s program.” She stopped and looked to Tessa to finish the story.
“Oh Deena”, Tessa replied to an email from her boss and hit the send button, “ We found some garbage in our book drop about the same time Andie Mahon drove up. Someone had dropped some DVD’s in with a bag of raw chicken feet in. She decided someone was hexing us with roots or something and she needed to do some crazy damn ceremony to fix things. You know once she gets a bug up her butt, you absolutely can’t derail her for love or money. So she and her crazy boyfriend proceed to catch all the dead leaves around the bin on fire with their candles and such, the fire department comes, all the children are jumping up and down and trying to run into the street, their teacher is looking profoundly pissed off, and I was dressed up like a fat furry monkey dog.” Tessa breathlessly finished explaining.
“And I looked like a big yellow dominatrix” Karen added.
Deena stood there for a minute looking back and forth between the two women. She shook her head slowly from side to side. “Man” she finally said in her slow way, “I wish I could have seen that. Why did she think someone was hexing you?”
Tessa got up from her desk and walked over to Karen’s. “She decided the chicken claws were some sort of voodoo, what did she call it Karen? Chewing roots?
“Turning roots” Karen answered while continuing to check in books.
“ Well Andie, with all of her supernatural experience, decides someone is trying to put a spell on us or on the library and she is going to do a cleansing ritual to deliver us from evil or some such nonsense. She’s as crazy as a witch as she was when she was a Methodist.” finished Tessa.
“I didn’t know she was a Methodist,” said Deena. “She was Catholic when we were in high school together. You know her brother is the preacher over at St. Fiacre the Hermit in Titusville”.
“Priest” corrected Karen “What was she like in high school, Deena?”
“Hell yeah we did and she was as big a pill then as she is now” answered Deena “I remember she used to stab herself in the palms with her pencil in class and then try to tell people she was bleeding because it was really Jesus crying for their sins or some crazy shit like that. She left in our senior year. I heard she got herself pregnant and went crazy, but her parents always told folks she was in a fancy private school up in Atlanta because she was too smart for schools down here. Crazy, man, totally crazy.”
Tessa and Karen digested all this, nodding their heads together.
“Well when did she come back?” Tessa finally asked to get Deena to continue.
Deena looked at the floor and seemed to go into a trance while she was thinking about Tessa’s question. Tessa and Karen waited patiently for her to come to and finish the story.
“Yeah” Deena said softly as she bobbed her head up and down like she was listening to a voice in her head telling the rest of the story. She looked up. “ I’m not real sure. I stayed in Daytona Beach for years man, so I don’t really know when she came back. The first time I saw her again was one night at Follies, you remember a few years back when Iron Rider was playing?”
Both women shook their heads no.
“Oh man, they’re awesome! They do Lynard Skynard and Molly Hatchet cover. Dan and I used to see them all the time in Daytona during Bike Week” Deena enthused. “I got a picture one time of the lead singer autographing this girl’s boobs and she was going to get it tattooed over so it was permanent.”
“So you saw Andie at Follies that night” Karen interrupted Deena’s wandering story and nudged her back in the relevant direction, “and then what?”
“Oh nothing, I just saw her there.” Deena answered.
“Well was she drinking? Was John Mark with her? I can’t imagine them, when they were married anyway, hanging out at Follies partying with some biker band.” Tessa speculated.
“Oh she wasn’t in Follies, she was outside in the parking lot handing out flyers” Donna explained. “Some religious crap about the end of the world or something. I just crumpled mine up and threw it in the garbage when I got inside. The security guys finally came out and threw her off the property. She put up a pretty good fight too. She went all limp and started singing, “Jesus Loves Me” over and over until somebody finally called John Mark to come and get her. It was creepy, man.”
“So then what happened?” Tessa and Karen both got caught up again in the story.
“Well, the band got started late because one of the cords to the bass player’s amp had a short in it, but it was cool they found an extra cord in the van” Deena finished, “they played a righteous set. I just well up when they do “Free Bird”. Seriously, it makes me cry every time. Their lead singer sounds just like Ronnie Van Zant. Man, you really need to go see them if they play here again. I’ll let you know, I check their My Space page all the time to see if they are playing close by.”
“What happened to Andie after John Mark drug her out of there?” asked Tessa patiently, glancing over at Karen who had given up on Deena’s story and gone back to work.
“I don’t know, I don’t really keep up with her. I never did like her in high school, she was a crazy bitch.” Deena shrugged her shoulders and wandered off to find some books.
“How did we get sucked into one of Deena’s go nowhere stories again?” Tessa asked Karen as soon as Deena got far enough away from the desk “I can’t believe she got us again. How the hell does she do that? I always think her stories are going to have a point and they never do.”
“Did you get the part about Andie and her teenage stigmata?” Karen asked, “What did you make of that?”
“ I did hear that, so I guess it’s pretty safe to say Andie has always been just a touch too zealous in her religious practice. I’ll bet you anything that her parents sent her off to a fancy nut house in Atlanta; shame John Mark couldn’t have done the same a few years ago. Might have straightened her out some. Do you remember the time she tried to kill me with that damn reishi mushroom juice she had homebrewed? My god, I have never been so sick in all my life.” Tessa shuddered and made a face at the memory. “Hey are you going to be okay by yourself this afternoon? Marion took off this afternoon for some doctor appointments and I have the book club coming in at four o’clock.”
“I’ll be fine.” Karen said, “Which book are you on now?
“Henry Miller’s “Tropic of Cancer” Tessa answered dryly. “I have been doing the entire program this year based on the greatest writers of the twentieth century. We’re up to the 1930’s now.”
“And you picked Miller? No offence to him, but you picked him for this group?” Karen asked with disbelief.
“Gotta have fun where you can find it.” Tessa grinned evilly at her friend. “This group is the first to complain about any perceived sexual content in the media, yet that damn Nora Roberts writes another poorly written excuse for a screw fest and they will kill themselves to get on the waiting list for it. I just thought it would be fun to have them read some classic erotica for once.”
“You just love to live dangerously, don’t you? How are they taking it?” Karen asked seriously.
“Complaining all the way through it. I think Patsy Haithcock is boycotting the meetings. In all fairness I did try to pick something without too many big words in it. They had a fit when we read Edith Wharton. I should have assigned Anais Nin instead.” Tessa replied ironically.
Karen left for the day at six and around six thirty things had slowed down enough for Tessa to get a chance to clean up the children’s area. The only patron left in the library was Raiford, he only took a short break to walk home for lunch, and then he was back for the rest of the day until they closed.
She dusted the tops of the bookshelves and then got on her hands and knees to start straightening the shelves of the picture books. She crawled down the aisle as she worked; the shelving was set up at the average four year old’s eye level. She was crouched over the Dr. Seuss books when she heard throat clearing. Looking over her shoulder, she was startled to see a man standing at the front of the row she was working on, staring intently at her rear end, which was currently sticking up at a spectacularly unattractive angle. Long blue jean covered legs were the first thing Tessa saw. Long, tight fitting jeans. The rest of him was just as spectacular. She sat back quickly on her heels and held the side of the bookshelf to steady herself as she stood up awkwardly. He looked her over while she was struggling awkwardly up from the floor in a way that made her feel even completely exposed.
“I am so sorry” she apologized “ I didn’t hear you at the front desk. What can I do for you?”
“It’s okay” the man said, “you seemed pretty wrapped up in what you were doing. I didn’t want to scare you.”
Tessa realized why he seemed familiar then. The leather jacket, the golden skin, and those blue eyes; it was Taylor’s dad. What was he doing back in town? His long black hair was drawn back in a neat braid and his mustache and goatee were perfectly trimmed. Now that she was standing next to him, she realized how well built he was and was surprised. Terri was the same age Tessa was, so he must be in his forties too, she assumed. She couldn’t imagine guys like him working out, but he looked extremely healthy and solidly muscled. He had a well-maintained leather jacket covering his tattoos on tonight, but she remembered both arms being covered with colorful designs. He only had one earring in, a small silver look in his right ear.
“I wanted to get a library card.” He spoke suddenly, breaking Tessa’s concentration.
“Of course you do.” She replied in a stupidly bright voice. She wiped her hands off on her pants and headed toward the desk. “The applications are on the desk by the door, and those flowered things are pens. I just need your driver’s license. It’s a Georgia license isn’t it, because Florida residents have to pay a small fee” she continued “we just started that, charging out of state residents.” Her voice trailed off as she realized must sound like a rambling idiot.
She watched him covertly while he filled out the paperwork, and then pretended to be totally engrossed by something on her computer screen when he came up to the desk with the application.
He handed her the form and his driver’s license and watched her as she made him a new card. She opened up the program and began typing in his information. “Do you have a middle initial?” she asked as she filled in the fields. “ It’s a” he replied, relaxing over the front desk and resting his elbows on it while leaning closer to her. Normally this annoyed the hell out of Tessa. When customers leaned all over her desk she always had the urge to rap them on the knuckles and tell them to straighten up. However when he did it, she found she had trouble getting a deep breath. He leaned a little closer in so he could see the screen better.
“No, the a is in my first name” he said and placed his finger on his name on the application. “It’s Harald, not Harold”.
“Oh” Tessa said “I’m sorry” and she adjusted it on the screen.
“It’s okay, everybody does it.” He smiled at her and stood back up, “my middle initial is T.”
Her fingers trembled slightly as she tabbed through the rest of the application. She explained the rules of the library to him as she typed to try to distract herself and found herself speaking much more rapidly than she normally would, and worse her mouth was so dry she lisped through half the words.
She handed him his new card and a pen to sign the back. Glancing at the clock she noted the time. “I don’t want to rush you, but we close at seven o’clock. Is there something I can help you find?” She figured he was probably not much of a reader and would head straight for the movies. The majority of their patrons did. The library was known as the place to get free movies when your bills at the movie rental place prohibited you from getting any good new movies there.
“I’ll take anything you have on Native Americans” he replied as he carefully placed the new card in his wallet.
“Fiction or non-fiction” she asked, and then started to automatically explain the difference.
“Non”, he interrupted her. “Specifically the Cherokee and Creek tribes.”
Wordlessly she walked him over to their local history section, which had a good collection of books on the history of the two Native American tribes in Georgia.
She finished cleaning up while he looked around the rest of the library. Raiford came up to her desk when the computers shut down to turn in his earphones.
“You got a lighter I can borrow?” he said, pulling the cigarette he kept behind his ear out.
“I don’t smoke Raiford and neither should you.” Tessa scolded, “but I might be persuaded to find you a book of matches when if you find a book to check out.” It was her personal goal to get all of her library patrons to at least check out one book a year, and so far Raiford was about four years behind.
“Never” he replied in his perpetually sulky voice, “I ain’t never liked to read.”
“Raiford, you spend all day on the Internet. I know you must read something while you sit back there all day” Tessa reasoned with him.
“I listen to music and look at My Space” he replied. “Man, you should see the girl I’m meeting this weekend. She wants me to get married with her, but I ain’t ready for that yet.” He slouched out the door for home. “She’s old, like forty or something and she’s got kids. I sure don’t want kids, but she’s hot for an old lady.”
Tessa sat there feeling indignation for all the forty-year-old women in the world that had just been disparaged by Raiford’s insensitive observation. She wondered exactly how desperate one would have to be to even consider going out with someone like Raiford. Considering she hadn’t had a date in the last three years, she hoped she never hit rock bottom like that.
Harald came up with a stack of books and handed them too her. Tessa got them checked out and bagged without ever looking at him.
“Are you by yourself here?” he asked as she handed them to him.
That got her attention. She looked at him blankly, unable to respond immediately.
“No, my son knows I close tonight and he’s waiting at home” she finally replied, vaguely implying that Drew would call the police if she were even a minute late. Chances were he was heavily involved in a game of “Call of Duty” and wouldn’t notice if she didn’t come home for hours.
Harold stood there looking intently at her for a few uncomfortable seconds before he spoke. “It’s dark out, so if you would like for me to wait to walk you to your car I would be happy to” he shifted the books to his other hand and waited for her answer.
Tessa immediately began to fluster. “Thank you, that is so thoughtful of you. Give me a minute to check over the library and lock up my office.” She hurried around the building, checking that the meeting room door was locked, bathrooms cleaned, and all the computers had shut down. There was more, but she couldn’t remember for the life of her how to close her own library. She patted her face; she knew she must look like a mess. She hadn’t looked in a mirror all day, and knew every bit of makeup she applied that morning had to be long gone. She could feel the shininess of her skin without even seeing it, and as usual her hair was pulled up unattractively in a scrunchie. She grabbed her purse off the hook on the back of her office door, and then pulled it shut loudly. Forgetting to lock it, she headed for the front door where he was waiting for her. She set the alarm and let them out of the building. Harald walked behind her to the parking lot and she kept trying to slow down so he would catch up to her. Tessa got the feeling he was walking behind her just to look at her behind and tried to walk as stiffly as possible. She had not felt this painfully self-conscious since high school and could not imagine why. He was totally not someone she would ever be attracted to for dating unless she was completely desperate. He was some sort of biker, criminal, long hair, tattoo sporting freak that someone like Terri would find attractive. Someone that could sit around a trailer smoking pot all day and go drinking all weekend. She had gotten over guys like him way early in life and under no circumstances would she ever even consider dating someone like him. No matter how good-looking he was; he was not her type at all. She just wished she didn’t feel so awkward around him because he might think she was attracted to him, and then she would have to set him straight. A man like that could get really upset over being rejected and then people in town would probably hear about it and talk about her. Actually he might not be attracted to her either. He probably liked much younger women than her. Terri had dressed like a teen porn star well into her late thirties, and as awful as she looked, someone like her was more his type. He probably looked at Tessa with her safe little outfit and pulled up hair and thought she was a boring, old, dried up, middle aged suburban housewife. Bastard! She was so pissed off at him she walked even faster to put as much space as she could between them. It wouldn’t do at all for Mary Lindsey across the street to see a man like him walking her to her car any way. She would call everyone in the book club by eight o’clock, and by tomorrow Tessa and her dirty book selections would be the talk of Lightsey.
Stomping the last few feet to her car, she turned to politely thank him and say goodnight. He was standing at the back of her car with an amused look on his face and was holding something out to her. “You almost forgot this,” he said as he handed her purse to her, “you left it on the ground when you were locking the door.”
“Oh my god, thank you so much. I guess I wouldn’t have gotten far though without it” she gushed, reaching out to grab it from his hands. Stop it; she thought, why are you so nervous with this man? You’re acting like a complete fool over nothing. Now get in your damn car and get out of here now.
“Hey, I noticed earlier when I came in that you had a really low tire in the back. Here, let me show you” he said walking around to the right side of her car. “If you want, I can follow you down to the gas station and put a little air in it for you.”
“Oh lord no,” She began to paw through the mess in her purse looking for her keys. Tessa was completely unhinged now by his thoughtfulness, “no really, I can do it this weekend or something.” She had finally found her keys in the big purse and was stabbing at her car door ineffectively with them.
“It’s not a problem, it’ll only take a second” he reasoned. “It messes up the balance of your tires to drive on them when they are uneven like this. You’ll even get better gas mileage.”
Tessa had finally managed to get in her car. “I don’t have to drive far, but thanks so much Harald.” Saying his name aloud for the first time seemed so intimate that her face started to get hot with the embarrassment of it.
“Call me Hal. Harold’s my dad.” He leaned down to talk to her through the rolled up window on the passenger side. “I don’t mind, if you want I could even maybe call you this weekend and meet you at a gas station.”
Tessa smiled frantically at him “No, really I’ve got it.” Was he asking for her phone number? She got her car started and backed up quickly; then peeled out of the parking lot without turning on her lights.
Hal backed up in time not to be run over by her car and watched her careen down the street. She was as pretty as he remembered from the Halloween night he first had seen her. She seemed really nervous around him, so she must have a boyfriend or maybe even be living with someone. Hey, he could still try anyway. Some things in life were worth fighting for, and Tessa just might be one of them.