The next day, Ophelia seemed gloomy as she went to class. Pearl wondered what the matter could be but didn't want to ask Ophelia because it may involve her in ways Pearl couldn't manage at the moment given her current situation. So, instead of facing the problem, she tried to make Ophelia happy by distracting her from whatever was on her mind.
Later on that day, she saw Ophelia beaming so much that she wondered if she hadn't imagined her friend's earlier sour mood.
'What's gotten you in such a good mood?' Pearl asked.
'Just this!' Ophelia proudly placed a sheet of paper before Pearl's face and she saw 75% written boldly on it. Her professor had been generous. She observed the course, biology, Ophelia had never been particularly strong there. No wonder she was gloomy, she had probably been worried about this.
'Wow, that's impressive' Pearl remarked. Ophelia then went on to add that they had a new professor, a substitute, and that she had invited her to her office due to Ophelia's 'exemplary performance' Ophelia radiated joy and pride as she spoke. Pearl had a soft smile, she was genuinely happy for her friend.
Pearl escorted Ophelia to her professor's office. When they were just outside it, they realised that it was locked, so Ophelia walked a little farther down the hall to where a mirror was located to check if she was presentable. Ophelia meanwhile stayed directly outside the office, with the intention to alert her friend should the professor show up while she organized herself.
Another student, Pixie walked up to her. Pixie had short black hair and very rogue lips which stood out against her pale skin. Pixie was a well-known gossip and she was there for much the same reason, to collect the latest scoop. Rumour had it that there was intense chemistry between the substitute and the mathematics professor.
'I caught him staring at her for a full minute' she whispered to Pearl, though there was no one near enough to eavesdrop. Hearing about the maths professor, Pearl perked up, he was her favourite. He was a quiet man, who shuffled about and often stammered when he had to speak to anyone about anything he was unsure of. He was highly non-confrontational and sometimes reminded her of Ophelia. But whenever he spoke of subjects he was familiar with and loved, his voice would ring with a timbre that drew you in. He had a sound mastery of numbers and once in a while, the philosopher within him would emerge. He had no wife to speak of, so sometimes students would create wild scenarios of him with another professor, this time it was the substitute biology professor, Mrs. Rose.
'She's beautiful, isn't she? I'll say they're a good match' Pixie played with her curly hair as she spoke. Mr. Arthur stood in the hallway, a little away from where they waited outside her office.
'Here she comes now' Pixie watched with rapt attention as the professors locked eyes and Mr. Arthur dropped his keys, he frantically dived to pick them up and visibly shivered as he scurried to open his door. The beautiful lady, with her hair in a ponytail, walked up to him, helped him open the door and he, a shaky mess, thanked her profusely, stammering and avoiding her eyes. His tall, slender frame humped over looking down at her shoes as he entered his office and closed the door.
Pixie let out a small squeal of delight and exclaimed 'How romantic'. She then ran out with the latest scoop of the unlikely matchup. Pixie had taken his mannerisms for nerves. But Pearl saw something different, fear. The biology professor came closer and her eyes widened as she identified the face before her.
'You!' She half exclaimed.
'Ophelia, you may come in' returned the lady who had nearly pummeled her the night before, it had taken her a while to recognize her due to her change in apparel and appearance, but it was her, without a doubt.
Ophelia shot Pearl a glance that evidently said don't be rude.
She walked into the office leaving Pearl to wonder about the unfolding events.
Pearl stayed outside the office for a good while pacing up and down, wondering what Mrs. Rose could be telling Ophelia. After some minutes, Ophelia came out.
'Pearl, I haven't introduced you to Mrs. Rose'
'Hello Pearl, do you remember me? We met just yesterday' , Mrs. Rose replied coolly.
Of course, there was no way for Ophelia to know they had seen each other over the night. This was supposed to be their second meeting, Pearl played along.
'I remember now, I haven't thanked you for that. I felt a lot better after you checked up on me, thank you' she replied.
'Don't mention it, if you need anything, my door's always open. I'll be watching out for you' Mrs. Rose added with a smile and a wink. Pearl took that as a threat.
As she wondered what had happened to the previous biology professor, a hand landed on her shoulder.
'Can I speak with you for a moment?' then turning to Ophelia, 'Ophelia, you go on'.
Pearl's heart constricted, she tried to beg Ophelia to stay with her eyes but the unsuspecting Ophelia went on with an 'Alright ma'.
'What have you done with the former biology professor?' Pearl asked immediately.
'I told you there would be consequences to your actions' Mrs. Rose's response came. 'Don't worry she's fine but she won't be getting up anytime soon' she assured.
'Now I have an after-school activity that I want you to volunteer for and to take very seriously'
'And what would that be?' Pearl feared the worst.
'I want you to work at the library'
Pearl knew the old librarian, Mrs. Harry. She was taken aback by what she said, what was the relationship between what was going on with her and that unobtrusive lady?
'Why?' She asked
'You'll see, tell her I sent you ' Mrs Rose answered.
Pearl didn't see herself as having much of a choice so she went out to meet Ophelia and explained her choice of volunteer job. Ophelia couldn't understand why Pearl would volunteer to work at the library. She was usually very pragmatic and a volunteer job that seemed to have no benefits to her whatsoever just didn't seem like the kind of thing she would do but Ophelia let the matter drop nonetheless.
So, that very day, while Ophelia took the path that led her home, Pearl went to the library.
On entering the library, the familiar smell of old books met her and she breathed it in, content to be there again. Pearl saw that Benjamin was also there. That wasn't out of the ordinary though, he always was. He was reading a book when she walked in and looked up with delight with those spectacular yellow eyes at her arrival. He rose from where he sat, a towering figure with broad shoulders and dark brown hair.
'I have a new one for you', he said as a way of greeting. Pearl was accustomed to the library, she was one of the few regulars, she always had a quest for knowledge so she and Benjamin got along very nicely.
Benjamin preferred more strange and obscure books though, while Pearl loved the occasional scare, but would rather have a good taste of history, or a documentary of some unknown culture, those were the kinds of books that piqued her interest.
'I'm here for a different reason' she voiced, 'Is she in?' She asked after the elder librarian.
'Yes, why?' He replied
'I want to volunteer,' she said with a small smile. Her declaration filled Benjamin with no small measure of glee. After years of trying to convince her to volunteer, he had all but given up and now here she was volunteering of her own volition.
'That's great, and you're not the only one too!' Benjamin exclaimed and pointed to the corner where another lady sat before a table, her head buried in a book.
Pearl felt a bit sorry for him. His obvious excitement belied the loneliness that he had to face as the only volunteer. She went over to speak to the other volunteer.
'Hi' she waved in front of her, the book obscured Pearl's view of her face, and there was no response.
'Hey', Pearl tried again. This time a nerdy-looking lady reluctantly put down the book before her and looked up. Her features were breathtaking, curly blonde hair, deep green eyes hidden behind gold-rimmed glasses. The quality of her beauty was reminiscent of royalty, it was like meeting a princess in real life.
'Hey' she replied brusquely, obviously not wanting to leave her book to converse.
Pearl tried to keep the conversation going.
'I heard we'll soon be working together'
'I doubt it' came the curt reply 'They only need one volunteer' she said then smirked. Pearl felt instant panic. She didn't know she would have to compete for her position! And what more with an obviously older, more mature lady who most likely didn't have the cumberance of college.
She heard a beautiful tingling laughter and knew a joke had been made at her expense.
'I'm sorry' the lady put a hand over her mouth to stifle the rest of her laughter that came fitfully.
'I'm sorry' she said again in-between peals of laughter.
'So there's no contest?'
'Of course not!' the beautiful joker replied.
'You can call me Suzy, by the way'
'I'm Pearl' Pearl responded and they shook hands. She then proceeded to ask about the book that Suzy was reading. It was a romance novel that Suzy dissected with all the skill of a practised surgeon. She went in depth into the struggles of each character and was still trying to explain the morale behind Faya's poisoning of her pregnant sister, Emeralda when the elderly librarian walked in.
Mrs. Harry made a beeline for the counter where Benjamin was, barely noticing Pearl or Suzy. After answering some basic questions about how the library had been when she was gone, Benjamin mentioned the two volunteers.
Upon hearing her name, Pearl perked up and prepared to inform the librarian of her contact. Although the librarian might take both of them, there was no telling if she would choose. She didn't want to disobey Mrs. Rose by failing to qualify.
The librarian turned and asked
'Is this true? Do both of you want to work here?'
'Yes ma, it's always been my dream to work in this place' came Suzy's response.
'Really, what's your name? You're not from around here, are you? I don't think I've seen you before.'
'It's Suzy, and you're right, I'm not from around here. I came to Lorpat to start afresh' she said, her voice nearly a plea.
'I see,' the librarian said, then turned to Pearl. Pearl, who was more conversant with the librarian tried to garner favour with the elderly woman with a singularly dimpled smile. She felt that she could use the fact that Mrs. Harry was almost like her grandmother to her advantage but Mrs. Harry's face remained grave.
'And why have you suddenly decided to join us? You have been here all this while, what's your excuse?'
Pearl was stunned by the question, she had never felt anything like resentment from Mrs. Harry due to her refusal to volunteer before, she had occasionally mentioned it, but that was all. Could Mrs. Harry have been secretly nursing a grudge?
'I was sent by Mrs. Rose' she started with what she thought to be her trump card, her contact.
'Who's that?' Came the librarian's answer. That witch had set her up. She would have been better off just acting like she suddenly gained interest or something. Now, she looked like a complete idiot.
'It's the new biology professor' she stuttered, her voice dying away. Mrs. Harry's grimace showed her disapproval. It seemed like a complete foreigner just suggested something to Pearl and she went along with it meanwhile, Mrs. Harry had been trying to convince Pearl to volunteer for aeons and she never did. As though Pearl thought so little of the elderly librarian's opinion.
'Of course, I won't be biased in my choice,' she said pointedly, looking at Pearl. 'You will both be tested and whoever passes, will be hired'.
A test? Benjamin never mentioned a test. Pearl stole a glance at him and he looked away.
Mrs Harry went into the library for some moments, calling Benjamin to follow her, leaving Pearl to wonder what the nature of the test would be. Suzy was jittery beside her.
The librarian returned with six books, Benjamin holding three of them. He dropped Suzy's before her while the librarian dropped Pearl's. The books on top of both piles were identical. It was a comprehensive guide on library ethics. Pearl groaned internally. Accusing eyes shot up again at Benjamin but he stalked away.
'You have one month to read those, then you will be tested.' The librarian announced. Till then, you will continue to come on your regular shifts. Benjamin would be the one to assign you. With that, she left, not so much as sparing a second glance at Pearl. Pearl finally understood what Benjamin meant when he told her that Mrs. Harry was a very strict employer. This wasn't the loving grandma she was used to.
Pearl turned to where Benjamin was, but the coward had gone.
'May the best man win,' said the beauty beside her.
Pearl mumbled assent.
...….
Pearl started studying intensely from that day onwards. Her shift usually consisted of her reading the books she had gotten. It was strange, she never actually wanted the job before but now that she had gone for it, she couldn't fail!
Pearl had just finished the first book and was preparing to open the second, a blue-backed one, which she thought looked unlike an orthodox textbook when a hand-drawn invitation card was slipped on top of the book cover.
'You're invited' Benjamin held out the invitation card with a smile on his face.
'To what?' Pearl looked up in surprise, her anger had completely blown over in the three weeks following her first proposal to join the volunteers.
'To a recital' Suzy continued, joining from the back of the library where she had been reading for hours, she stretched and let out a whistle when her body creaked and cracked.
'Much better' she mumbled.
Suzy was on duty right now but it wasn't uncommon to see all three of them in the library. They all preferred to spend their extra time here than elsewhere and were becoming fast friends.
'It's at the school where I teach,' She added with a smile.
Pearl took the invitation card from Benjamin and looked it over. She believed at first that it was some sort of trick, that Suzy was trying to get her to slack off on her studies, thereby gaining the upper hand, she stole a glance at the unsuspecting beauty, who was presently speaking to Benjamin, and looked over the invitation. The time was after the selection exams, she heaved a sigh of relief, then internally berated herself for her suspicion.
'Won't you invite her too?' Benjamin asked after the elderly librarian.
'There's no need,' Suzy replied. 'She already knows'.
'She knows?' Pearl asked, with minimal interest, looking over the second book given to her by the librarian, interestingly enough, on opening it, its contents also made it seem like a journal.
'Yes, she sometimes comes to my school to tell stories. The play is based on one of her stories. A favourite among the children.' Suzy replied.
Benjamin nodded sagely and said nothing while Pearl felt a surge of panic at the fact that Suzy had more in common with the elderly librarian than she knew. Pearl mentally tried to ascertain if her position with respect to her relationship with the librarian was superior to Suzy's.
'She does?' Pearl asked with a forced smile, thinking of ways to get more information about their acquaintanceship.
The door opened and Amber walked in. Benjamin's face immediately lit up.
'Amber! How are you?' He was the first to greet her. She smiled at him, with a thumbs up in response to his question. She wasn't very comfortable around him, because she didn't know him that well.
Pearl turned her attention to her sister and wondered what she was doing there. In recent days, Amber had shown up more and more consistently to the library. Pearl wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that she was there or with the fact that Ophelia wasn't. Anyway, she was grateful for the time spent with her younger sister and for her company.
Ophelia had become more and more distant. No, that was wrong, Pearl had become more and more distant, causing Ophelia to withdraw and to spend more time with Mrs. Rose, who all too willingly stepped in to fill the gap left by Pearl. And Pearl would sometimes wonder what Mrs. Rose's true intentions towards Ophelia were.
Pearl remembered her book and focused again, she opened it and looked through its contents, there she saw an itinerary for grocery? Eggs, milk, meat? She turned the book back to look at its front page again in puzzlement, what exactly was she reading?
'What's that?' It was Amber, peering at the book.
'It's for a test' Pearl replied puzzled.
'On what?'
'Give me a second' Pearl walked over to Benjamin.
'Is Mrs. Harry in?' She asked him
'No, but I need something from you' Benjamin called Suzy over.
'I'll be showing you both around today.' Benjamin explained.
'Who's going to watch the library?' Suzy asked. It was her shift right now, and she was responsible for the library.
'Amber will,' Benjamin replied. Pearl raised a brow to this idea. But Benjamin remained cool.
'Amber, please watch over the front desk for us,' Benjamin called out to her while the trio walked out into the recesses of the library.
Benjamin showed both of them around, pointing to the various rooms, at first they remained in the main library and Benjamin showed them the different sections of it, then they went on to the living quarters where Mrs. Harry spent most of her time and the older rooms where the family that had inhabited this building had lived. There was even a room for babies, untouched. As they roamed, Benjamin gathered items like a brush, a mop, a broom and by the time they had gotten to the basement, Benjamin held several cleaning equipment.
The basement was stuffy and dusty. Then Pearl understood, he actually wanted help cleaning the basement, that was the reason for the elaborate tour. Benjamin lit a torch he had picked up earlier and announced.
'Welcome to the catacombs' His voice echoed against the large empty space, leaving Pearl in shock at its size.
He handed Pearl a broom and a duster to Suzy, and they all set to work cleaning the place. They worked tirelessly until suddenly a loud screech sounded from amongst them. It was Suzy, her eyes were fixed to a group of scrolls on which perched an adult cockroach. She screamed again, and shaking all over, ran out of the room. Pearl resisted the urge to laugh at her immaturity while Benjamin quickly rushed to kill the offender.
'Well, that leaves us two' he sighed.
After the event, Benjamin and Pearl finished up and went back into the main library. Time was far spent by now and when they got back, they met Suy and Amber talking excitedly. Pearl felt a bit disturbed that Suzy was busy bonding with her sister while she was doing back breaking work underground but said nothing of it.
'The librarian's back' Amber said to Pearl when she noticed her return.
Pearl tried to recollect why she needed the elderly lady in the first place, then she remembered. She must have been given the wrong book by accident. So she scooped up the journal in her hand and went over to the librarian's quarters, which she knew now thanks to Benjamin.
She knocked on the door and Old Ann answered her from within, without so much as opening the door.
'Yes?'
'It's Pearl. I need to show you something'
'What's this about?' Her voice was stern and warning. Pearl paused in fear but decided not to back out now.
'I believe you made a mistake in the choice of books you gave to me' Pearl tried her best to sound polite.
'I see, so you would like a different book' her response bothered Pearl. She wasn't shirking responsibility and didn't want to seem so.
'No, that's not what I mean' She tried to defend herself.
'What do you mean by this young lady?' The elderly woman asked, irritation plain in her voice. Pearl hung her head, if only Mrs. Harry would come out, then she could show her.
'I mean the book you gave to me has a grocery list in it, it's not really a book to study for a test, if you can understand me' Pearl tried again, there was a prolonged silence, then the librarian's response came.
'Pearl, please read all three of your books and prepare yourself for the test. I will hear no more of this.'
Pearl, frustrated, went on to pick up the book, her bags and left the library.