Chapter Ten
Luna sat at their drying front lawn the next morning. The sky was clear and the sun was shining quite brightly that morning. She had a bowl of cereals for breakfast since her parents decided to leave early to enjoy a morning trip to the beach, which meant that Mr. Robbins received his promotion. They asked Luna to come with them, but the girl declined, reasoning that she still had a paper to finish, although she just wanted to return to the library. Mr. and Mrs. Robbins will not be home until that afternoon and so Luna decided to bring a few sandwiches with her so that she could stay in the library until the afternoon.
The girl planned to wait for Mrs. Chandler and walk to the library with the old woman. It was half past the hour that the old woman usually came out but there was no sign of her. Luna quietly sat by the front lawn, observing joggers as she looked left and right for any hint that the old woman was coming, but still, there was none. An hour later, Mrs. Chandler came out of her house. Luna was surprised to see that Mrs. Chandler was wearing a pair of black slacks and a peach cotton blouse, although her hair was still in a tight bun. She has other clothes? Luna asked herself as she stood up and walked fast, towards the odd old woman.
“Good morning, ma'am,” Luna excitedly greeted, waving a hand at the old woman as the other clutched on a tattered brown bagpack.
“Good morning to you too, dear,” Mrs. Chandler replied, her voice was a notch higher than the usual. “Were you waiting for me?”
“Not that long, ma'am,” Luna lied, smiling as the old woman fixed her shoulder bag.
“I see. Are you that excited to finish your book?” The old woman laughed and Luna laughed with her.
On their way to the library, Mrs. Chandler asked Luna about the story that the girl was reading. Luna explained the story up until where she stopped. As they were crossing the street, Luna stopped talking, and then she laughed when she saw a man with quite a long beard and a pointy nose walking down the street to the other direction.
“That man looks like Wizard Howl, from the book!” Luna laughed as the old woman looked at the man and smiled as well.
When they arrived at the library, there were two men wearing black suits by the doors. The taller of the two was holding up a piece of paper on one of the doors. The shorter one had his mobile phone out and was swiping rapidly as he texted. Luna looked at the two suspicious men while Mrs. Chandler pursed her lips and drew her eyebrows close to one another. The old woman was not angry or happy to see the men standing by the building, instead, she was worried. Out of an old habit, Luna held on to Mrs. Chandler's hand. The old woman gave the girl a quick smile.
“It's okay, dear,” the old woman assured as she gave Luna's hand a squeeze.
In the back of Luna's mind, she saw her grandmother smile at her and felt her grandmother squeeze her hand. She bit her lower lip as she tried to control herself from crying. The longer she got to know Mrs. Chandler, the more she remembered Grandma Sandy. Old people are probably the same, she told herself as they approached the building.
The closer they were to the door, the clearer the poster on the door became to Luna. Her eyes widened when she saw what was written on it.
Notice
Please be informed that by the end of the month this building, the Library, will be shut down. It will be further developed into an interactive library.
The City Government Office
Luna looked from the sign to the two men, then to Mrs. Chandler and then back again. She was waiting for any reaction from the old woman, but the old woman's magnifying glasses were masking her expressions. The two men smiled and waved at Mrs. Chandler as they greeted her.
“We're sorry, ma'am, but it's the city's order,” the shorter man said, patting Mrs. Chandler's back as though they had been friends before.
“I know, Bob,” Mrs. Chandler replied, smiling at the man.
The two men then left while Mrs Chandler went to open the doors. Luna helped the old woman but she was too preoccupied to do more. Mrs. Chandler quietly went to her desk and brought out a pile of paper from under her desk. Luna wanted to talk to the old woman but it was as though Mrs Chandler did not want to say anything, she's probably devastated. Luna went to get her book and finish reading. However, as she read, her mind kept focusing on the notice pinned on the door of the building. It was the last chapter and the words on the book seemed to be floating in her head. The usual soothing voice that read to her in her mind was as uneasy as she was. They could not close down the library, it has way too many books to be transferred. Luna's mind started to race. She started to think of various ways to save the library from the devastating eviction that it is now facing. For the rest of the morning, Luna did not make any progress. She was stuck on her chair against the table, holding a book that she was no longer reading. When lunch came, Luna went over to Mrs. Chandler with half-thought solutions. After all, I'm still a child, maybe she could polish my plans.
“I brought sandwiches, Mrs. Chandler,” Luna said, carrying her bag with sandwiches. “There's tuna and chicken,” she added, trying to sound as casual as she could.
“Oh, that's nice of you, dear,” Mrs. Chandler replied. “Sit on our table from yesterday and I'll make you a salad to add to your sandwiches,” the old woman said, and then she disappeared in her homey office.
For the first few minutes of lunch, the two of them ate in silence until eventually, the girl could no longer hold her peace. She chewed on her sandwich then opened her mouth to speak but she closed it again as she tried to arrange her thoughts.
“Oh, this old building had been quite my home for the past few years,” Mrs. Chandler said as she tried to keep her voice from shaking. “I guess I always knew this day would come, with all those new technologies we keep on having, I just never thought it would be today.”
“Then, why don't we try and save it?” Luna asked as she stared at the old woman, “I mean, it's still two weeks until the month ends, I think that's plenty of time to stop them from closing it down.”
“Oh dear, you do not quite understand.” Mrs. Chandler smiled at the innocence of the girl.
“What do you mean? We can. We can still save it. I have a plan,” Luna said, drawing her eyebrows together.
The girl seemed to be determined that Mrs. Chandler allowed Luna to explain what her plan was. The old woman humored Luna and so they spent the afternoon making posters and flyers out of markers and recycled sheets of bond papers.
Help us save the library!
Sign the petition now!
Mrs. Chandler was amazed with the enthusiasm of the girl that she helped in stapling papers together for the petition and then, as they walked home, they gave out the flyers and pasted posters they have made on walls and electric posts. When Luna came home, she immediately thought of inviting her friends to join her cause; apparently, she remembered that they were against it and they might make fun of her, so, she laid on her bed and allowed her mind to drift for a few minutes.
When her mind cleared for a little bit, she jumped out of bed and started thinking. She thought of telling her parents about it but the words of her father telling her not to go to the library flashed in her mind. She went over to her computer to tell her best friend across the world about it, but she had a feeling that 18phoeb2014 will not understand her as well. She felt lost. Her mind was still racing with other things to do. Her heart was beating uneasily in its chambers and her hands started to clench. She had to do more.
She opened her computer then her blog window. She clicked on a new post and started typing. It was her best idea and, in her mind, it was going to work.
I have been struggling to remember the past. I guess I blocked too many memories, including the good ones, that's why I had a hard time remembering, until recently.
I walked in the doors of that library not knowing what was in store for me. I never had the slightest idea that I would be able to see, hear and feel what I had lost, in the four corners of that incredibly scary building.
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Now, the place where I found my peace and my memory is about to be changed and crumbled. I do not want that to happen and I think there are those who would not want that too. Why don't we come together and preserve it? Protect it, like it protected years of history and knowledge drafted in millions and millions of pages. Pages that revived every sense in my fingers and every strand of creativity in my mind. And like it had protected the memories that I had lost.
#letssavethelibrary
#feelingabook
Little Luna
After publishing her post in her blog page, Luna stretched her hands then turned off her computer. She was not very hungry that night and so she forced sleep to come as she waited for the next day.