Chapter Five
Luna found Mrs. Chandler flipping over the pages of a book. The old woman seemed to not have noticed the girl enter. Luna stared at the old woman for a while, hesitating to go in any further. The girl bit her lower chapped lip then nervously licked her upper lip. She cleared her throat a little louder than usual to catch Mrs. Chandler's attention. Apparently, the old woman was too busy browsing over the book that she was holding. Luna sighed at this for she thought the old woman would get mad at her for doing what she did. Luna stood at the entrance of the library for a few more seconds and decided to simply walk in.
The tiger seems to be tamed, she thought as she made her first step in. Mrs. Chandler did not look at Luna or even make any gesture that she noticed the girl enter. Luna walked towards the shelf where the book she was reading was, as quietly as she could. However, half way through, Mrs. Chandler lifted her head and squinted her eyes in Luna's direction.
“Make sure that you read in the proper place now,” the old woman said and went back to what she was doing. Luna nodded then continued to walk, although she was already having doubts on coming back to the library.
It took her quite a long time to find the book. She had forgotten where she found it since all the shelves looked alike. After reaching out for the book, she went to the tables and pulled herself a seat. She sat down and flipped to the page where she stopped.
“Sophie listened and felt sad,” Luna's mind voice droned as she read. It was becoming perkier as she read on and eventually the soothing voice of a radio-announcer came to life in her mind. The gray, gold and brown dust also came to life in her mind's eye. She could see Sophie walking anxiously in a crowded street. Sophie's face had still been empty but Luna knew that she had to look pristine and a little like Cinderella or Snow White.
As the story unfolded like dust scattering aimlessly in the Luna's mind, there was a loud thud of thunder from the sky. Luna's concentration broke and the dust figures along with the radio-announcer voice disappeared from her mind like bubbles popping in space. She stared at the nearest window with both hands clutching the book as her eyes grew wider. Despite her facade of none-carelessness, Luna still feared lightning and more so, thunder. The loud glass-breaking sound of thunder seemed to make the hair at the back of her neck rise. Luna wanted to stand but her fear was great enough to hold her on the spot. She tried to close her eyes, and then she allowed her mind to wander in the words that she had just read. Lightning had broken from the sky and Luna's breathing became faster. She really hated times as such. It's summer and we're having this? She thought as she turned away from the window and back into the book. However, no matter how big Luna's enthusiasm towards the book was, she still cannot get over the rolling thunder passing over. She was incredibly scared. When she was younger, her grandmother would usually hold her tightly and then read a book to her to distract her from the overwhelming tandem of thunder and lightning. When Grandma Sandy died, Luna went through days of thunders and lightnings by holding as tightly as she could onto something and simply closing her eyes until it passes.
“What's the matter?” Luna immediately opened her eyes and looked at Mrs. Chandler, “did the lightning frighten you?” Luna forced a smile, and then she made herself look at the book and pretend to be reading it.
“You know, your hands would turn purple if you held that book any tighter,” continued the old woman. “That lightning will not strike us, just continue to read.” Then the old woman left.
Luna watched as Mrs. Chandler went back to her position by the door of the library. The old woman seemed to be very calm at this very fearful hour. Luna raised an eyebrow as she remembered how calm her grandmother was as well. Luna shrugged her shoulders then went back to the book.
The sky seemed to have quieted down. The lightning and thunder were silenced as the young girl continued to read. Luna was able to concentrate again as dust after dust lay alive in her mind. This time, she was able to see a little bit of facial features and more details that the book described and not just pictures of empty dust figures as what she usually saw. Luna felt her eyes begin to tire, and then she took out her mobile phone from her pocket and swiped it open. There were a few messages from her mother. Luna bit her lower lip then checked the time. It was a quarter to one in the afternoon. She had missed lunch.
Luna got up to return the book. She walked over to the library entrance and tried to say goodbye to Mrs. Chandler but the old woman was not there. Luna did not wait for her and walked as fast as she could back to their neighborhood and to their house. She found her mother napping in the living room with her laptop on the coffee table along with her iPad. Luna smiled at this. It was a rare sight for her to see her mother sleeping and not browsing over the internet. Luna started to walk over to the couch but she thought better of it. She might wake up her mother and so she just went to the kitchen to have her lunch of cold left over pancakes and meatloaf.
After eating, Luna went to her room and laid on her bed. She lacked sleep for staying up almost the entire night but she felt more awake. She wanted to go online and see if any of her friends were available to chat with but she was too lazy to stand and cross her room to her computer. She closed her eyes and images of Sophie, Lettie, Fanny, Wizard Howl and the other characters from the book engulfed her imagination. She smiled at this, even though the images were just monochromatic dust figures that could easily be blown away by wind.
Just as Luna was about to curl up and invite sleep to wash over her mind's morning workout, rain pelleted over their roof and splattered on the windows and on the ground below. Luna sat up from her bed and stared at the splashing droplets of water on her window. The rain made the day lazy and sleepy but for some reason, Luna was wide awake, watching her window as it became clear and blurry while rain washed and dripped over it.
The wind seemed to have become stronger but the dust figures in Luna's imagination refused to be blown away like the leaves of the trees. Luna simply smiled then got out of bed and went hunting for her umbrella which was probably buried inside her closet. Luna scoured the closet, pushing past unfolded jeans, shirts and underwear. Finally, after what felt like an hour of searching, Luna found her small purple folding umbrella. It had been stuck with a pile of unwanted jeans at the bottom of the closet. There were quite some dust seemingly breeding on it but Luna simply brushed it away and climbed down the stairs.
She slowly crossed to the living room as Mrs. Robbins was still on the couch sleeping. Luna could hear her mother's soft yet loud breathing amidst the turmoil in the sky. She gave her mother a smile then carefully opened the door, and she was welcomed by flush of wind and rain. She pushed open her umbrella on the front porch. The umbrella was quite a fighter. It refused to open as Luna's legs felt cold due to the water seeping through her jeans. She finally pushed open the umbrella and she crossed their front lawn. She was careful to walk only on the stone steps just so her shoes and feet would not carry mud along with it.
Luna crossed the street, walked as fast as she could, stopped at a few stalls where there was enough roof to cover her from the rain, and then she was in front of the library again. This time, the building looked like the type they used in horror movies. It gave Luna the chills but she was too cold and wet to think twice about entering. One of the doors was closed while the other was slightly open. Luna could see light inside and so she pulled open the slightly opened door and made herself fit at the narrow opening she had made. It was a good thing that she was skinny.
Mrs. Chandler was on her desk sipping a hot beverage from a white mug. Luna could not ponder upon the contents of the mug as her hair was sticky from rain and her jeans were sticking to her legs like cold, wet glue was placed on them. She closed her umbrella then shook the coldness by ignoring its existence. Mrs. Chandler lifted her head and looked at Luna through her magnifying eyes. The old woman's eyes gave Luna another set of chills.
“Put your umbrella on the rack over there,” Mrs. Chandler
said, pointing at the wooden umbrella rack just beside the door, although she had not removed her eyes from the girl.
“Y-yes, ma'am,” Luna replied through the chattering of her teeth.
Luna walked over to the umbrella rack and folded her umbrella as carefully as she could. It, however, still looked messy. She stood there for a while seemingly waiting for the old woman to give further instructions. When Mrs. Chandler did not say anything else, Luna walked over to the shelf where her book was. Despite the protests of her shivering legs, Luna walked over to the tables and sat on the cold, hard wooden chair. Luna flipped over to the page where she stopped and just as she was about to continue reading, Mrs. Chandler's clacking strides stopped beside her.
“Here,” offered the old woman as she placed a mug of steaming green liquid on the table in front of Luna.
Luna stared at Mrs. Chandler for a while, and then she thanked the old woman.
“There's a blanket just over that shelf, get one and dry your jacket over by my stove for a while so you won't catch colds,” Mrs. Chandler said, and then Luna removed her jacket and handed it to the old woman.
Mrs. Chandler left Luna as the girl watched her clack away. Luna held the mug for a while as her numbing hands felt the the rush of warmth flowing to it. Luna sighed with relief, and she took a sip from the beverage. It was hot tea, a drink that she did not particularly like. She wrinkled her nose then placed down the mug with both her hands still holding it. As she gulped down the seemingly tasteless drink, her stomach felt a warm cozy feeling. The shivering of her body decreased. The hot tea calmed her. She then stood up and walked over to the shelf that the old woman referred to earlier. She saw a plastic box at the bottom of the shelf. She pulled it out then took off the lid. There were several old blankets in there. She pulled a brown wool blanket and wrapped herself with it. She felt better. Even though her legs were still cold and wet, her body felt warmer. Luna then walked back to her seat and began reading.
The soothing voice had drowned the noise of the chaos outside. Her mind had awoken the dust figures which were now moving in accord to the book. Luna's brown eyes only saw the words before her. As she continued to read and as water continued to spatter on the windows, the male radio-announcer voice that had been reading for her in her mind began to change to a familiar voice that Luna had not heard in a long time. Luna did not notice this happening until a thunder rolling in the sky woke her from her dust imaginations.
Grandma Sandy, Luna thought, and then she felt tears swelling up in her eyes. Just as the first tear was about to roll down, Mrs. Chandler came over to Luna with a warm teapot.
“Do you want another?” the old woman asked as she placed a hand over Luna's back.
“Uhmm...” Luna began, clearing her throat and sniffing her tears back in, “I'm fine, ma'am. I think I have to go home, it's getting late.”
Mrs. Chandler simply nodded, and then she left Luna. The girl wiped her wet eyes with the blanket. It took her a few more minutes to compose herself, and then she grabbed the book and the mug from the table. She placed the book back then went over to Mrs. Chandler to return the mug and blanket and to get her slightly dried jacket.
“Thank you, ma'am,” Luna said, and then she was back on the wet street, crossing from here to there, skipping in their front lawn, careful to not step on the wet and muddy grass.