“What the hell?” she thought. “It’s not Halloween so what’s this dude’s game?” she mused.
The thought had not completely vanished from her mind before the door swung open and an excited Seymour hustled through it and approached the desk and Blanche.
“Hey Ms. Delaney, how ya doing?” he said, as he tried to catch his breath.
“I’m good Seymour, what’s the rush?” the librarian replied.
“The bus was late so I had to run from the drop off.”
The war vet was still in the back of Blanche’s mind and she asked, “Did you see the guy with the green army jacket before you came in?”
“Yeah, ‘bout ran him over at the bottom of the steps. Why — what’s up?”
“He was in here doing some research and just seemed really weird. I would swear one minute he was using the cane with the right and limping with the left, then when he exited just now, it switched and he was using the cane with the left and dragging the right. Just seems kind of out there to me. Didn’t appreciate me offering him any help either, almost acted like I was stepping on his toes,” she said.
“You offered to help him or something?” Seymour asked.
“Yes, thought I could be helpful seeing how he’s a bit crippled and a vet.”
“That was nice of you. Was he deaf, dumb and blind as well?” he questioned sarcastically.
She laughed, “Why do you think that?”
He continued, “That’s the only thing I can think of that would prevent him from accepting help from the best looking woman in Valdosta.”
“Well Seymour, you’re making me blush, but thanks anyway.”
The outfit Blanche was wearing had not gone unnoticed by Seymour. His pulse continued to be north of 100 beats per minute and not because he’d been running. On the few opportunities he had worked with Blanche he had learned a number of things about himself. Firstly, he had a hard time expressing what he really wanted to say without tripping over his tongue and twisting his thoughts into a jumbled mess before they came out. Blanche had picked up on this and found it somewhat sweet and endearing. Secondly, he found it increasingly difficult to focus when she was around.
He had no illusion that he was infatuated with the beautiful librarian and there was no doubt he loved being around her. She was so pleasant, with such a wonderful listening ear and people skills that were genuine and caring. He was impressed and enchanted with Blanche after watching her interact with the staff and public. Increasingly he found himself thinking about her during the day, at school, losing track of where he was and what he should be doing, but he just didn’t care because the thoughts of her smile and timid laugh made him feel good, right down to his toes.
“What’s the deal with the sign?” he asked, pointing at the donation sign still prominently displayed on the counter.
“Oh that, I almost forgot it was there,” she replied, leaning over the desk to get a better view of the sign and in the process sending Seymour’s heart rate ten percent higher.
“Mrs. Anderson was giving me a hard time about my outfit and thought it would generate a few more bucks for the coffers if we had it on the desk.” She paused, and with a sly grin continued, “What do you think?”
Without saying a word, Seymour pulled his wallet from his back pocket, took a $20 bill and put it into the receptacle. His point made, he kicked himself mentally, “There’s my lunch money for the rest of the week but I think it was worth it.”
“Why thank you my good man,” Blanche said, “Lean over here.” She planted a tender kiss on his cheek, after he leaned in.
Two hours into the shift, Seymour basically had his responsibilities taken care of and was anxious to do some work on the assignment given to him earlier by his instructor, Pink. There had been no further news regarding the photo taken of Thelma or a follow up among the college students and no one had come forward to claim responsibility, but he was fascinated by the prospect that it wasn’t a joke and there perhaps was someone out there that was somewhat disturbed and doing these types of things.
Blanche was seated at the desk looking over a list of books that the local chapter of The Southern Ladies Society had put together and wanted to donate. Some of the titles evaded her recollection but the dates of many were impressive and would add some wonderful flavor to the historical section of the library.
“What’ve you got there?” Seymour asked, stepping around the desk and coming to stand next to Blanche.
“Oh, some ladies want to give us some books and I’m just looking to see which we want and if there are any duplicates we already have on the shelves.” She looked at her watch, “You finished very quickly tonight, is everything done?”
“Yup, hustled my buns so I could work on something, if that’s okay with you.”
“As long as you’ve got everything in order I don’t see any reason why you can’t have some time. What are you working on?”
Seymour took a breath to organize his thoughts so he didn’t sound like a moron and said, “You’re familiar with that weird thing in the paper a week or so ago? The guy in that woman’s house that took the picture of himself?”
She nodded in the affirmative.
“Well, I’m taking a course at the college about criminal deviant behavior and Mrs. Wild, the instructor, wants us to do some research about this type of aberrant behavior and how it can escalate into more troublesome crimes.”
“That sounds really quite interesting. Myself, I’ve never given it much thought, not really my cup of tea but there seems to be quite a bit published and those are some of the books that are checked out most often both here and where I’ve worked in the past.”
Seymour summoned his courage and almost shyly asked, “If you have a few minutes tonight would you mind helping me out? I’m not that great at researching and finding material and I suspect you’re a pro.”
“I don’t know if I’m a pro at anything Seymour, but I’d be happy to help. Why don’t you get started and see what you can come up with and bring what you find here to the front desk and we’ll work on it. Is there anyone else in the library right now?” she asked.
“There’s just some geezer in a lounge chair reading old Life magazines, but that’s it.”
“Good, I’ll be here getting some stuff taken care of while you’re collecting your sources,” she cheerily added.
Seymour thought to himself, “that was much easier than I expected, wish I could come up with something more exciting than looking at old books with me.” Then under his breath as he headed up the stairs he whispered, “at least it’s a start.”
The librarian thought she heard Seymour say something as he trudged up the stairs but couldn’t make it out. He really was cute and she found herself more attracted to him each time they worked together but she just couldn’t get past the age difference, even though it sure didn’t seem to matter to him. It was pretty obvious, to the more seasoned of the two, that he was flirty with her and she undoubtedly was flattered by it, but she just wasn’t sure if it was a big sister kind of caring or something deeper than that. For now, at least in her mind, she decided not to fight it and just take it as it comes, “can’t have too many friends” she thought.
Over the next thirty minutes Miss Delaney watched as Seymour scurried from one shelving unit to another and from one floor to the next, leaving magazines and books at the front desk, as he hurried by without disturbing Blanche with her responsibilities. Several customers entered while he was chasing about but they didn’t seem to care, the place was still very quiet and a little commotion helped to keep some of the patrons from falling asleep in the comfy chairs. Satisfied that he had enough to start with he returned to the main lobby and the pile he had created.