Louisiana Saves the Library (25 page)

C
HAPTER
38

B
y August the summer heat was almost unbearable. Even though Louise blasted the air conditioner in the van, she was still covered in sticky sweat by the time she got home every day. She made the kids go in the backyard every morning, knowing that was the only time the weather would be cool enough for them to be outside.

Despite losing their building, Louise and Sylvia continued to add programs and improve library services as much as they could. The owner of the strip mall turned out to be Mr. McDonald's brother. Sylvia convinced him to let the library use the defunct Holy Miracle Church building for office space, Zumba classes, and book clubs for nominal rent. Louise, Sylvia, and Sal spend an entire day ripping down the “Prayers $1” signs and tossing out leaflets advertising the preacher's inspirational cassette tapes and self-published books. The man himself had left town abruptly a year earlier, owing six months' rent. He was a former drug dealer who'd spent months hiding from authorities in the woods surrounding Alligator Bayou before a persistent sheriff's deputy finally discovered him. While serving his two-year sentence, he claimed to have found Jesus and, upon his release, started the Holy Miracle Church especially for former criminals. The landlord was of the opinion that not all of the lawbreakers had actually found the Lord.

After they'd cleaned up the interior of the church, Hope's cousin Hank arrived with a truckload of books. He also arranged for the prisoners to come back and build more shelves with lumber donated by Mr. McDonald. By the time they were finished, the space almost looked like a library.

Mr. Foley was still “out of pocket,” as Hope put it. On his infrequent visits to the branch, Mr. Henry avoided questions about their boss, except to say that he was resting at home. The assistant director seemed to become frailer every time they saw him. He praised their efforts to improve the library, but there was little enthusiasm in his voice.

For a while after the main library closed, patronage was poor. But gradually, people started to come to the new location. Sylvia started scheduling two librarians to work on Saturdays because the new hours were so popular. Louise put one of the church's plush chairs near the periodical rack especially for Ms. Trudy. The B sisters made regular appearances to find new books as well as to use the computers, and Mary came for her summer reading materials. After Louise hired her as a babysitter, she'd gained enough confidence to advertise her services and regularly watched other children in town. Louise slipped her food whenever she could, but as she grew taller, the girl seemed to get thinner. She smiled more, though, and even came to Sylvia's
Gone with the Wind
dance. She wore a dress that Louise bought for her on eBay; Louise had pretended she'd found it in the back of her closet.

On one of the hottest days of the summer, Louise drove by Anthony's Seafood. As a library employee, she couldn't help with any of the Friends of the Library fund-raisers, but there was nothing stopping her from taking a look on the way to her Saturday shift. The minute she turned onto Live Oak Road, she regretted her decision. Lily would have to open the library herself because there was no way Louise would be able to maneuver through the traffic in time. Teenagers in Ms. Trudy's new orange T-shirts waved signs advertising car washes, dog washes, and jambalaya. The line of vehicles to be cleaned stretched around the block. The parking lot was overrun with at least twenty dogs sniffing one another while jambalaya cooked in giant cast-iron pots. Ms. Trudy and her group of old ladies filled Styrofoam boxes from one of the pots, selling them just as quickly as they hit the folding table. The dog washers were similarly busy. Sal coaxed a furry standard poodle into a tub of soapy water while Betta rubbed shampoo into the coat of a mud-brown mutt.

Louise inched the van forward and signaled to turn down the next side street. A car behind her honked, and then someone leaned out the window with a megaphone. “Libraries suck! Suck taxes from hardworking families! Vote NO!”

Louise twisted around in her seat to see who it was, but the car made a screeching U-turn and headed the other way, the person with the megaphone still shouting. The maroon Oldsmobile had been parked across the street from her house long enough to be unmistakable, however. It belonged to her neighbors, the Pettigrews.

C
HAPTER
39

L
ouise's desk was one of the tables the church had used to display promotional materials. Since they hadn't found anything to use for cubicle walls, she'd set up her makeshift office in a corner of the former church sanctuary. Sylvia had decorated the rest of the space with library posters and stacked up most of the chairs to allow room for her Zumba classes.

Louise picked up a copy of
A Tale of Two Cities,
Brianna's selection for the book club. Since the first meeting, it had leveled out at ten steady members, including Sal. Sometimes, Louise caught him shaking his head at the older women, but she thought he enjoyed the meetings, even though he kept quiet most of the time. They talked on the phone almost every night, and he had a lot more to say then. Louise was grateful to Brendan and Julia for making their Saturday dates possible. Even if they just did farm chores together, the time was special, a chance to be an adult.

She stacked the cataloged book on the finished pile and took another one.

Hope walked in from the former preacher's office where she'd set up her desk. “I done got some bad news.”

Louise straightened her pile of books. “What?”

“Mr. Henry. He's in the hospital over to Saint Jude. Heart attack. Marsha says we best get on over there.”

“So he was at the Oak Lake branch when it happened?”

Hope nodded. “Marsha said he come to help them plan the summer reading. Was sitting there drinking a cup of coffee, stood up, and fell right down again. Glenda will watch the library while we go.”

 

Riding in the library van with the entire staff, Louise felt like she was on a school field trip. Sylvia was in the driver's seat, Lily and Matt occupied the far backseat, Hope was in the middle, and Louise rode shotgun. Sylvia adjusted the mirrors before pulling out onto the street. “Do you think we should get some flowers or something?”

“We can do that later,” Hope said.

Louise turned all the way around to look at her. “Wait a minute. What's going on?”

“He ain't awake.”

“You mean he's not conscious?” Lily asked, sounding even more timid than usual.

Hope folded her arms across her chest and refused to say anything more.

 

The Saint Jude General Hospital was a dark-brown building with gray-tinted windows. The sunlight was blocked so effectively that inside was a constant twilight. Hope led the way to the intensive care unit. There, they had to state their business to an appropriately dour nurse in green scrubs before being allowed to proceed.

Hope strode down the hallway with the rest of the employees trailing behind. Sylvia hadn't said a word since they left the library. For the first time since Louise had known her, she looked afraid.

Hope stopped in front of room thirty-one. She hesitated, and her shoulders slumped uncharacteristically. Louise stepped up next to her and looked inside. Mr. Henry was lying on the bed, his face barely visible behind the respirator mask. His arm was hooked up to an IV filled with clear fluid. Mr. Foley sat next to the bed, holding his other hand. The library director looked vulnerable, like a sad old man rather than a tyrant.

Hope pulled herself up straight again and marched forward. “Hello, Mr. Foley.”

Their boss raised his head. He seemed to have no color in his face at all except for the faint black rings under his eyes. He had lost weight, and his skin hung on him like a too-large shirt.

The library staff ventured in after Hope, stepping lightly on the tiled floor as though they were worried about waking the comatose man.

“Hey, y'all,” Mr. Foley said, his tone as lifeless as his skin.

“What you been doing?” Hope asked. “You done took off on us.”

Mr. Foley shrugged. “I sold the ranch.”

“What'd you do that for?”

“I'm done with it. The goats, the library, everything.”

“Well, what the heck you gonna do?”

Sylvia put her hand on Hope's shoulder, a hint that she should lower her voice. Hope shook it off.

“I got enough money to retire now. That's what I'm gonna do.”

“What you mean ‘retire'?” Hope put her hands on her hips. “Ride off into the sunset? Check yourself into the old folks' home?”

“I don't rightly know.”

“What's wrong with you?”

“You want to know what it is?” Mr. Foley sat up straight and pointed at Louise and Sylvia with his free hand. “It's them two. Me and Henry had a good thing. We ran this library system together. It was ours. And when y'all came, you took it away. Now this.”

“Bull,” Hope said. “Y'all didn't do nothing before these two came. Just farted around like a couple of store clerks. I remember whenever anyone had an idea to make things better, you shot it down. Mr. Henry, he might have been willing to give it a try, but you said no. And I didn't never figure out why, but he respected you. You held him back. Held the whole library back because you're so darn scared of everything. Don't fix what ain't broke, you said. It might not have been broke, but it didn't run real good neither. Louise and Sylvia pushed Mr. Henry, and they done got that spark going in him again. He tried to hide it from you some, but he was letting them do stuff.”

“Y'all ruined it! You ruined him and me and everything.” Mr. Foley let go of the assistant director's hand. “This is all y'all's fault.”

“It made Mr. Henry happy,” Lily said. She clapped a hand over her mouth. “
Makes
him happy, I mean.”

“Fine. Have it your way. I quit.” Mr. Foley collapsed in on himself, his head falling to his chest. His breath came out in labored gasps as he sobbed with complete abandon. Lily held out a box of tissues, and he knocked it away with a limp hand.

After a few minutes, he stood up, staggering briefly before regaining his balance. Hope stepped forward, arms out to embrace him. He shook his head and sidestepped her, covering his face with his hands. The library employees parted to give him a clear path out the door.

After Mr. Foley was gone, Hope took the chair next to the bed and held Mr. Henry's hand, tears standing in her eyes. Matt set the assistant director's American Library Association coffee cup on the end table. “Like, just in case he needs it,” he said.

Lily and Sylvia sat on the two remaining chairs and stared at the old man's shrouded body. To Louise, he looked cold with only the thin sheet and hospital blanket covering him, but she was afraid to touch anything. When the nurse came in to tell them it was time to leave, she noticed a rosary near Mr. Henry's hand. Hope saw her looking.

“Did you put that there?” Louise asked.

“Nope. Reckon Mr. Foley left it.”

C
HAPTER
40

L
ouise was ambivalent about Max's fourth birthday party being held at Brendan and Julia's house. She had pictured a day on Sal's farm with the kids running around outside. But since the temperature hovered around ninety-five degrees, it was better to have a larger indoor space.

Brendan had set up a rented bouncy castle in the shaded backyard. Max and his friends from school bounced and pretended to shoot one another, oblivious to the sweat running down their faces. Zoe refused to go in the castle, playing with Madeleine and her baby toys on the lawn instead.

Louise was glad that she and Brendan could tolerate each other well enough to share this experience. He'd mostly kept his promise about not criticizing her parenting. Things he really didn't like, he simply changed himself, like Max's haircut. He and Julia also bought him some new clothes. Louise couldn't complain, since taking Max shopping and getting his hair cut were chores she was only too glad to delegate. To her own surprise, she found herself willing to give up this bit of control for some welcome assistance.

Sylvia walked over, holding two bottles of beer. “Hey, girl. This one's for you. You deserve it. This is a great party.”

“I had nothing to do with it,” Louise said.

“You let Brendan take charge, which was smart and also kind of nice.” Sylvia sounded just a little bit drunk.

“He let me invite Sal,” Louise said, accepting the beer. She watched as Sal and Jake pretended to be upset that they were too big for the bouncy house and settled for standing outside, making faces at the boys. Whenever Sal played with the kids, Louise fantasized about him being their father. The shadow of her disastrous marriage to Brendan was slowly receding.

“I think y'all are going to be okay,” Sylvia said, echoing her thoughts. “Hey, when are you going to marry this guy? Summer is no good, but fall weddings are nice. Or even Christmas. You could have red bridesmaids' dresses.”

“Come on. Anyway, I thought red made you look blotchy or something.”

Sylvia waved her beer bottle. “Yes, but I'm stunning in green. The point is, we're not getting any younger. You need to get this guy to propose to you already.”

“I'm not in a big hurry. It didn't work out too well for either of us last time, as you know.”

“Shut up. That means nothing.”

“It means that I'm going to be more careful this time.”

“So you'll turn him down if he asks you?”

“I didn't say that.”

Sal waved to the kids, took a beer from the cooler, and joined them. “Y'all talking about me?”

Louise answered before Sylvia could say anything about rings. “Nope. We were talking about Jimmy's birthday party.”

Sal opened the beer with his keychain bottle opener. “When is it?”

“Um, I forget.”

“January. A good month for weddings,” Sylvia said.

“Oh, really? And why is that?” Sal stared at the label on his beer bottle.

Sylvia tossed her hair. “Christmas rush is over. It's nice and cool so you can actually wear stockings with your dress. And you beat the spring wedding season. I'll bet even the wedding dresses are cheaper in winter.”

“Good to know. I'm going to see how the boys are doing.” Sal tipped back his beer bottle as he headed back toward the bouncy castle.

“Now you did it,” Louise said.

“Yeah, I planted the idea in his head.” Sylvia shrugged.

“Mommy!” Zoe appeared at Louise's feet holding a stuffed giraffe that belonged to Madeleine. “Horsey!”

“That's a giraffe, honey,” Louise said.

“Horsey!” Zoe insisted, dashing off across the lawn.

“I have to get inside before I die of heatstroke.” Sylvia finished her beer and scooped up the baby.

 

After Brendan and Julia coaxed the kids out of the bouncy castle, everyone went inside and Max blew out the candles on Louise's cherry-chocolate chip cake. The sight of him accomplishing this task by himself brought tears to her eyes. Julia cut and served the cake, which the kids ignored in favor of playing with the party hats and noisemakers.

“Time for presents!” Julia announced.

Max sat in the midst of the gifts and began tearing them open. Louise wondered whether Brendan had stuck to his idea of buying Max an educational board game or if he'd listened to her suggestion about action figures. Max ripped the paper off the suspiciously board game–shaped box and triumphantly held up a set of plastic dolls. “Yay! Superman! And Batman! And Green Lantern!”

Julia took a picture with a professional-looking camera, and Brendan actually smiled at Louise, a little sheepishly. They were finally beginning to act like co-parents. And, amazingly, Louise wasn't jealous, just glad. As they stood watching, Sal slipped his arm around her waist, improving her mood even more.

 

“I hope next season is better for my heirloom strawberry experiment,” Sal said, stacking up bags of potting soil.

“Me too,” Louise said. One of the chores she'd agreed to help with after the party was cleaning out the greenhouse. It wasn't used much in the summer, Sal had told her, and he normally liked to put things in order before the scorching heat started. This year, the time had gotten away from him. Part of what had put him behind his schedule was helping Louise with yard work and fixing things in her new house. They also hung out and talked for hours whenever the kids were with Brendan and Julia, engaging in time-wasting activities like watching TV and spending whole afternoons in bed. It was heaven.

They had just gotten the clutter reduced enough to begin sweeping the concrete floor when Louise's phone rang. She ran to her purse, terrified that something had happened with the children. But the number was Sylvia's.

“Mr. Henry's passed on.”

“I'm sorry to hear it.” Louise wasn't surprised. Since their hospital visit, she'd had periodic updates from Hope, who had insisted that they didn't need to go again. He didn't realize that anyone was there anyway, she explained. But Hope felt an obligation since she knew his family. Mr. Henry's sister, who had died a few years previously, had been a good friend of Hope's mother.

“The visitation will be Monday. We'll take turns dropping by so someone will always be in the library.” Sylvia sniffed. “He was a sweet man.”

“Yes, he was,” Louise said. “We have to keep fighting for this library. He wanted that.”

 

When Mr. Foley's resignation letter arrived with the library mail, Glenda gave it to Hope. Louise thought she would open it immediately and hang it next to the picture of the blond-haired Jesus that the preacher had left in his, now her, office. Instead, Hope turned the yellowed envelope over and over in her hands. “I don't like the way this went,” she said.

Sylvia walked over from her makeshift young adult section in the corner. “He resigned. That's what we wanted, right? Now we can actually do something with this library if the tax passes.”

Hope slid a fingernail under the seal and the envelope popped open. “This here envelope's old as the hills. Glue don't even work anymore.” She took out a typewritten letter and scanned it. Wordlessly, she handed the tissue-thin paper to Sylvia.

“ ‘Dear library staff and police jury members, by this letter, I officially resign effective immediately,' ” Sylvia read. “ ‘I feel that the library has gone in a direction that is counter to everything I have worked for in my twenty years as director. Since I am powerless to stop this degeneration, I prefer to retire and spend more time on my hobbies and other interests. Sincerely, Foley Hatfield.' ” Sylvia refolded the letter. “Good riddance. Begone, demon!”

“He weren't no demon, just an old man,” Hope said.

“You said you didn't like him either,” Louise said.

“I could hardly abide the man, but that don't mean it ain't sad, what's happening to him.”

Sylvia stuffed the letter back into the envelope. “What's that?”

“He done lost everything he loved: the farm, the library, Mr. Henry.”

“You have to tell me something,” Louise said. She glanced around the front room of the library. There were no patrons in evidence. She kept her voice low just in case. “I've been wondering this for a long time, but I never wanted to ask. Were he and Mr. Henry—”

Hope cut her off. “I reckon so. They didn't never live in the same house, but everyone knew they were together.”

“I feel terrible.”

“Don't. He is a mean old bastard. Mr. Henry deserved better.”

“Yeah, but being gay had to be tough,” Sylvia said. “Especially around here.”

Hope took the letter from Sylvia and shoved it into her back pocket. “Didn't nobody mind. Didn't talk about it much neither, though. 'Cept for that time Mr. Foley got caught trying to pick up dates in that park in Saint Jude.”

“Shut up,” Sylvia said. “He did not.”

“Yes, indeed. I was the one got to run out to the parish jail in the middle of the night to bail him out. Improved his attitude toward me considerably, at least for a while. Mr. Henry was a saint to put up with that man and all those goats.”