September 2015

Christian watched as Coach DuBose sent Linus and Lincoln to sit on opposite ends of the bleachers. The coach gave the offending hackey-sack a toss, pocketed it, and blew his whistle. The girls stopped playing volleyball, and Riley slumped like she’d just finished the third act of a very long play. She sulked over to where he was standing by the wrestling mats.

“You alright?” he asked.

“I’ll survive. For now. I hate volleyball. Why do we have to learn volleyball?”

“You,” he corrected. “You have to learn volleyball.”

She stuck her tongue out at him.

“I just don’t understand how Coach DuBose is so chill. Literally every other teacher is on the verge of strangling the two of them,” he said, pointing between the twins. Linus had snuck his cellphone out and was texting furiously. Lincoln appeared to be reading his math book with uncommon interest.

“You haven’t been to the library yet, have you?” Riley asked.

Christian frowned at the segue. “No. Why?”

Riley straightened up and smiled, fatigue forgotten. “Meet me out front after school.”

“What does the library have to do with anything?”

Coach DuBose blew his whistle again.

“You’ll see!” Riley called back, hurrying toward the weight room.

**********

The aging building smelled vaguely of lemon furniture polish. Despite outward appearances, not a speck of dust was to be seen or a single paper out of place. A tiny woman with cat-eye glasses and bright red hair down to her butt bustled by with a stack of flyers hot off the copier.

“Hey, Mrs. DuBose,” Riley said.

The woman paused and gave them a pleasant smile. “Is school out already?”

“Just ended.”

“Guess I should wrap things up. Who’s this?”

“This is Christian. He just moved here.”

“Nice to meet you, Christian. It’s a little late in the semester to be getting a library card.”

“I haven’t needed one yet.”

She raised her eyebrows. “What about your summer reading?”

“I bought them.”

“Assignments?”

“Ms. Hargrove had copies.”

“Are you here for a card now?”

“No.”

She looked crestfallen.

“But, I mean, I can. If you’re free. You look busy.”

“Never too busy for a patron,” she said, brightening. “I’ll get you all set up.”

Twenty minutes later, when they’d extracted themselves from the librarian and made their way back into the sunshine, Christian gave his tour guide and askance look.

“I still don’t understand why we’re here.”

“That’s Coach DuBose’s wife.”

“So?”

“You wanted to know why Linus and Lincoln don’t faze him.”

“Just because they all have red hair, I don’t see—”

“You haven’t heard the stories?” she cut him off. He shook his head. “A couple of years ago, she had a stalker. He tried to kill her right here in the library. She beat the ever-loving shit out of him.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“Rumor was he ended up in the hospital, and they say there’s still damage in the back room.”

“Her?”

“She once threatened to burn the city council building down because they cut her funding. There’s a video on ViewBox. Absolutely terrifying. Stay on her good side,” Riley warned.

“What’s she done to you?”

“Nothing. She’s great.”

“None of that segues.”

“People are complicated, Christian. Keep up. Anyway, they’ve also got twins just as redheaded as Linus and Lincoln. You could probably wave a gun in Coach DuBose’s face, and he’d tell you to knock it off.”

Christian laughed, and Riley smiled back.