WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:07.480 At eight fifty seven in the morning, the library held 2 00:00:07.480 --> 00:00:10.080 its breath. That's how it always felt to me, a hush, 3 00:00:10.199 --> 00:00:12.880 a carpet gathered in the sunlight through wavy glass pooks, 4 00:00:12.919 --> 00:00:15.519 never so quietly themselves as before the day's first footfall. 5 00:00:16.120 --> 00:00:18.039 I had the key in my hand, a rusted old 6 00:00:18.039 --> 00:00:20.079 bronze thing, and tucked between my palm and the key 7 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:22.440 was a list of holes to prepare the cock on 8 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:25.079 the far wall, mounted above the ornate wooden catalog drawers 9 00:00:25.079 --> 00:00:27.679 ticked in contefinance of all the digital beeping elsewhere in town. 10 00:00:28.280 --> 00:00:31.879 I glanced at my watch one minute to nine. Some 11 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:35.359 librarians take a thrill in the hush, the expectancy me. 12 00:00:35.640 --> 00:00:38.799 I liked the moment after better a door opening, regular shuffling, 13 00:00:38.799 --> 00:00:41.880 a in someone's footep squeaking, or a gentle good morning Anna. 14 00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:44.399 It's a ritual I valued even more since the town 15 00:00:44.439 --> 00:00:46.240 installed Wi Fi at the bus stop on half our 16 00:00:46.280 --> 00:00:49.600 morning walkers now linger aside phones in hand before stepping in. 17 00:00:50.079 --> 00:00:51.920 But to day, as the clock tower across the streetch 18 00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:54.439 I'm gently nine, clear as a bell, I realized I 19 00:00:54.479 --> 00:00:57.520 was suppressing an odd kind of anticipation. I unlocked and 20 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:00.679 opened the big double doors. The air outside felt different, 21 00:01:00.719 --> 00:01:03.439 a shopper edge to the coal, despite the season's insistence 22 00:01:03.439 --> 00:01:06.719 that spring had arrived. Then came the first visitors, as 23 00:01:06.760 --> 00:01:08.920 neat and orderly as a school drill, A handful of 24 00:01:08.920 --> 00:01:10.599 old men and women. I could not, for the life 25 00:01:10.599 --> 00:01:13.159 of me name no Edna in her checkered coat, No 26 00:01:13.319 --> 00:01:16.359 mister Collins with his thermost cap, No Missesta Santo hunting 27 00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:19.560 for her crime Saugas. Instead, the newcomers mingled with a 28 00:01:19.640 --> 00:01:22.280 mistakable comfort. They nodded to the bust of Eliza Patch 29 00:01:22.280 --> 00:01:24.799 in the front Foy, patting her bronze shoulders if greeting 30 00:01:24.840 --> 00:01:28.760 an old friend. The clothes I noticed were distinctly old 31 00:01:28.760 --> 00:01:30.719 fashioned and navy hats that looked stolen from a black 32 00:01:30.760 --> 00:01:34.000 and white photo, a man's jacket, tew shop for contemporary tailoring. 33 00:01:34.519 --> 00:01:37.480 Not one more sneakers, Not one checked or phone. As 34 00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:40.599 I perched behind the circulation desk, pretending to busy myself 35 00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:42.920 with the new release's cart, I expected a sheepish glance 36 00:01:42.920 --> 00:01:45.200 from a first timer, or a polite sorry, is this 37 00:01:45.280 --> 00:01:48.920 the right place for large print? Now? The group, perhaps 38 00:01:48.920 --> 00:01:51.200 eight or ten of them, made themselves entirely at home. 39 00:01:51.719 --> 00:01:54.079 They settled in the reading alcove beside the fireplace, with 40 00:01:54.159 --> 00:01:56.400 a pile of World War Room and two novels, all 41 00:01:56.439 --> 00:01:59.599 taken from shells I had only just dusted. I blinked. 42 00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:03.000 One elderly woman, silver hair pinned with an ivory clip, 43 00:02:03.079 --> 00:02:06.480 offered me a conspiratorial glance over her spectacles. Ye never 44 00:02:06.480 --> 00:02:09.759 can trust the memoirs, my dear, she said, fiction always 45 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:12.280 comes closer to the truth. She was reading a copy 46 00:02:12.319 --> 00:02:14.479 of The Night Watch, Spying so crisp. I wondered if 47 00:02:14.520 --> 00:02:16.639 she ordered it online herself. It was months since I'd 48 00:02:16.680 --> 00:02:19.520 seen any one ask for that one. I forced a smile, 49 00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:22.240 cataloging her words for later, then double checked the day's 50 00:02:22.240 --> 00:02:26.000 whole list. No w W two novels, nothing remotely similar, 51 00:02:26.080 --> 00:02:28.400 mark for pick up this week. When she walked the 52 00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:31.120 book to my desk, I scanned her library card, feeling 53 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:33.960 oddly like I was intruding. The name Iras Tuley was 54 00:02:33.960 --> 00:02:38.080 not in our circulation database yet our paper GUESTLOGG, sitting open, 55 00:02:38.280 --> 00:02:41.520 already boasted her curling signature at dated to day. It 56 00:02:41.560 --> 00:02:43.680 was another twenty minutes before I realized that not a 57 00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:46.639 single regular had walked in. I wandered out to the lobby, 58 00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:48.719 figureding with the placement of the returns cart, which no 59 00:02:48.759 --> 00:02:51.319 one had used yet. Through the doors frosted glass, I 60 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:54.599 saw only the odd procession, these elderly nucomers, arriving doubtless 61 00:02:54.599 --> 00:02:57.360 from somewhere and smiling with the serene air of frequent visitors, 62 00:02:58.080 --> 00:03:00.879 usually by nine dirty the hushes, broken chart of greetings, 63 00:03:00.919 --> 00:03:04.400 a baby wailing, someone banging on copper for help. Instead, 64 00:03:04.520 --> 00:03:06.639 the library's only activity was the clinking of a silver 65 00:03:06.680 --> 00:03:09.000 tip walking stick on the stone floor, and quiet discussions 66 00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:11.639 about war, rush, Nane and novels. I was almost suddenly 67 00:03:11.680 --> 00:03:15.240 lived only in the past. The participants swapped recommendations iris, 68 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:17.240 pressing a volume into the hands of a white haired 69 00:03:17.240 --> 00:03:19.439 man whose voice carried the soft broke of the islands. 70 00:03:20.120 --> 00:03:22.759 I strained to catch the titles. One was a thick 71 00:03:22.759 --> 00:03:24.879 card back I'd never seen on our shelves, its spine 72 00:03:24.919 --> 00:03:28.520 emblazoned with the Victory Garden nineteen forty seven. My locks 73 00:03:28.520 --> 00:03:31.159 hadn't shown any acquisitions in years from that publisher, if 74 00:03:31.159 --> 00:03:34.840 it even existed. At nine fifty three, one man folded 75 00:03:34.919 --> 00:03:37.280 up his reading with military precision, tucked his book under 76 00:03:37.319 --> 00:03:40.240 his arm, and said ten sharp round the coroner friend. 77 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:43.360 Something in his tone held no expectation of question or 78 00:03:43.400 --> 00:03:45.919 protest than just as predictably a tan zero. With the 79 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:47.719 tower's next chime, every one of them headed to the 80 00:03:47.719 --> 00:03:49.840 front door. A scrap of me wondered if I'd slept 81 00:03:49.840 --> 00:03:52.199 through a remembrance event, or if a local retirement home 82 00:03:52.280 --> 00:03:55.680 was trying to surprise us. I even half formed an explanation, 83 00:03:55.840 --> 00:03:58.639 perhaps a new Manibus route, But even as I wrote 84 00:03:58.639 --> 00:04:01.479 that off, my doubt turned over us. The crowds took 85 00:04:01.560 --> 00:04:04.439 lack of confusion, their share covered with the strangers beside them, 86 00:04:04.479 --> 00:04:06.439 and the odd specific books that passed to each other. 87 00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:09.520 It all round too perfect. They belonged here, but not here, 88 00:04:09.639 --> 00:04:12.439 not quite. I returned to my desk, picking at the 89 00:04:12.439 --> 00:04:15.759 memory of those vanished mornings. Was this a scheduled event? 90 00:04:16.439 --> 00:04:19.279 Had I, of all people, missed an email blast? I 91 00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:22.959 checked the library calendar, a town newsletter, last week's meeting minutes? Nothing. 92 00:04:23.560 --> 00:04:26.279 I turnt ree. The building was empty, every chair left, 93 00:04:26.279 --> 00:04:29.920 perfectly squared under russ red reading tables. Sunlight lingered on 94 00:04:29.959 --> 00:04:33.120 the beast tile, tentative and cool. I found myself counting 95 00:04:33.160 --> 00:04:35.879 the minutes anticipating who would appear next, and wondering for 96 00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:37.759 the first time in years, if the building itself might 97 00:04:37.800 --> 00:04:40.759 have seecret to cerin staff didn't know. My seeking turned 98 00:04:40.800 --> 00:04:43.920 to routine. I clicked through our digital dashboard, one eye 99 00:04:43.920 --> 00:04:46.759 on the glass entrance, and found noblip to explain the morning. 100 00:04:47.279 --> 00:04:49.920 The record showed nothing. Nobody had checked out, nobody had 101 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:52.959 checked in. All those names, all those faces, and our 102 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:56.279 white gapress flat between calendar entries. I stared out at 103 00:04:56.279 --> 00:04:58.319 the brass plaque in the lobby let his sunken green 104 00:04:58.360 --> 00:05:00.839 black patterner found it on the side of Convergent's house 105 00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:03.959 eighteen ninety three. But before I could decide whether to 106 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:06.959 be amused, unsettled, or embarrassed, the lobby clocks men at 107 00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:09.240 hand twitched to the vertical, and the door is swung again. 108 00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:11.959 The town has always loved its routine as much as 109 00:05:11.959 --> 00:05:15.240 its stories. Four blocks from the center, the library sits 110 00:05:15.240 --> 00:05:17.680 with a kind of proud permanence. Is Brookwick, not quite square, 111 00:05:17.839 --> 00:05:21.319 history visible in every window sash. The building is modest 112 00:05:21.360 --> 00:05:24.000 by city stander, its two floors, stained glass skylight, a 113 00:05:24.079 --> 00:05:26.319 tel vestibule with an oil portrait of a founder. None 114 00:05:26.360 --> 00:05:29.439 of us can place the sign outside painted navy and 115 00:05:29.480 --> 00:05:32.480 cream Haile's Patrill Memorial Library, though most simply call it 116 00:05:32.519 --> 00:05:35.519 the library. I suppose I Anna McCall fit the rhythm 117 00:05:35.519 --> 00:05:37.800 as much as the brick and dust. I live two 118 00:05:37.839 --> 00:05:41.079 houses down walk here. Every morning before seven bridge fall 119 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:43.759 fills my days, unlocking the heavy doors, brewing the first 120 00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:46.040 drip coffee on our battered hop plate, and boxing holes, 121 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:48.839 often with Marjorie's posterous commentary swirling around my head though 122 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:50.959 she's not due, and until noon, checking the bat at 123 00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:54.439 hand written calendar tacked up behind my desk. Most mornings, 124 00:05:54.560 --> 00:05:56.959 there's a comforting throm of repetition. The same names on 125 00:05:57.000 --> 00:05:59.680 the circulation slips, Dennis's smile as he tromps in around 126 00:05:59.759 --> 00:06:02.240 lunch time, complaining about traffic from his off campus job. 127 00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:05.120 Marjorie's weekly story time mark the gentle, loyal chaos of 128 00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:07.639 a public library at the heart of town. I value 129 00:06:07.680 --> 00:06:10.000 all of it. The regulars, the logic of predictable mess, 130 00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:12.360 the shy kids in the graphic novel corner, the knitters 131 00:06:12.399 --> 00:06:15.360 debating nonfiction at the back table. That's why the honest 132 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:18.000 struck me as so wrong. The pattern was what mattered, 133 00:06:18.040 --> 00:06:20.560 and today there was an interruption without warning or consented. 134 00:06:21.160 --> 00:06:24.079 Dennis wouldn't be in until after twelve. He's a history 135 00:06:24.120 --> 00:06:27.279 major midw through some wildly complicated honors thesis on post 136 00:06:27.319 --> 00:06:29.519 war architecture, and his shifts are meant to patch over 137 00:06:29.600 --> 00:06:32.920 our lunchowers and the busiest staft as cool windows. Marjorie, 138 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:35.439 a board member since before I started, comes in a 139 00:06:35.439 --> 00:06:38.199 swell of perfume and printed scarves, presiding over the Monday 140 00:06:38.199 --> 00:06:41.439 Book Club like a benevolent duchess. If there is institutional 141 00:06:41.480 --> 00:06:44.800 memory here, it lives inside Marjorie's purse, somewhere among backup 142 00:06:44.839 --> 00:06:47.120 netting needles and a wad of library cars belonging to 143 00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:49.839 her ground kits. There's a wistful pride at play the 144 00:06:49.839 --> 00:06:52.360 Library Board's vision of itself as the memory keepers to 145 00:06:52.399 --> 00:06:55.879 our lettle community, as head librarian and keeper of both. 146 00:06:55.879 --> 00:06:58.519 The digital circulation system knew this year after a fussy 147 00:06:58.519 --> 00:07:00.920 grant and the batter of paper logs still use by 148 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:04.680 unbreakable tradition for visitor chickens. Some of my colleagues from 149 00:07:04.720 --> 00:07:07.560 larger towns tease us, but I like the old ways. 150 00:07:08.319 --> 00:07:11.439 Cross reference is insurance. Paper doesn't crash, nor does it 151 00:07:11.519 --> 00:07:14.079 update itself on a whim. The library has seen a 152 00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:17.199 handful of updates since I first started wireless, new copeting, 153 00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:19.720 motion detect lights in the stacks that startle the bravest 154 00:07:19.720 --> 00:07:22.199 among us when we bend for a drop bookmark. The 155 00:07:22.279 --> 00:07:25.199 best features have endured. High thus scented alcoves lined with 156 00:07:25.240 --> 00:07:28.279 box starkhoves, west facing windows which on a clear display 157 00:07:28.319 --> 00:07:31.279 color right cross the check out desk. It's cozy, if 158 00:07:31.279 --> 00:07:34.079 a touch sentimental, the kind of place where you can 159 00:07:34.120 --> 00:07:36.399 guarantee the clock will chime on the hour every hour, 160 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:38.480 thanks to the mechanism in the tower across the street, 161 00:07:38.600 --> 00:07:42.879 calibrated by the local hardware store sun every First Friday. Reliability. 162 00:07:43.560 --> 00:07:45.600 That's what I expected at I tidied the whole shelf 163 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:47.879 that morning straight in the event flies and scanned Ya 164 00:07:47.879 --> 00:07:51.399 Suday's guest brook. There was Marjory's dramatic scrawl and two ciphers. 165 00:07:51.439 --> 00:07:53.480 I placed a newcomer as a man from Pennsylvania, a 166 00:07:53.560 --> 00:07:57.680 mother with her son, familiar, predictable comforting. Nothing in any 167 00:07:57.759 --> 00:07:59.680 log prepared me for the hour that had just passed. 168 00:08:00.279 --> 00:08:02.399 I texted Dennett, as I shall to return copy of 169 00:08:02.439 --> 00:08:05.920 the Secret Garden I've crowd this morning retirement home field trip, 170 00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:10.000 I wrote, half expecting a meme in response. Instead, my 171 00:08:10.040 --> 00:08:13.040 phone buzzed back super slow. Here lucky you enjoyed the choir. 172 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:17.160 I snorted some quiet at ten zero while I leaned 173 00:08:17.160 --> 00:08:20.040 in the stacks. The air trembled, not audibly, just the 174 00:08:20.079 --> 00:08:23.319 sense of silence changing gears. The lobby doors creaked open 175 00:08:23.319 --> 00:08:27.360 in confident unison, and an entirely new assembly arrived. Teenager's 176 00:08:28.040 --> 00:08:30.279 not just a pair or a scout troop, but a swarm, 177 00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:32.679 at least a dozen, by my count, all unfamiliar, not 178 00:08:32.759 --> 00:08:35.559 one wearing a vasty jacket, not one staring at font's green. 179 00:08:36.120 --> 00:08:38.320 Each carried door wore something out of place. A boy 180 00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:40.720 in an unpink turtle neck, girls with beef hair and 181 00:08:40.759 --> 00:08:43.000 a crew cut like a yearbook photo from decades ago. 182 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:45.559 They moved with the directed energy of a class room 183 00:08:45.600 --> 00:08:48.039 field trip, but without so much as a glance of supervision. 184 00:08:48.600 --> 00:08:51.840 Several clustered around the magazine section, peering at covers, as 185 00:08:51.840 --> 00:08:54.759 if searching for clues in a treasure hunt. Their interests 186 00:08:54.840 --> 00:08:58.639 zeroed in to produce spyril notebooks with lists calling out dates. 187 00:08:58.679 --> 00:09:00.919 Did you see October sixties seven? There was a special 188 00:09:00.960 --> 00:09:04.080 on London swings that year. I braced myself for a request. 189 00:09:04.120 --> 00:09:06.840 Missing magazines were a perennial headache, though the bulk of 190 00:09:06.840 --> 00:09:10.039 those have migrated to digital Arcove. Sure enough, a short 191 00:09:10.039 --> 00:09:13.159 girl was shot. Bands approached the circulation desk, magazine open 192 00:09:13.200 --> 00:09:16.200 in her hand. Do you have Flare October sixty seven? 193 00:09:16.279 --> 00:09:18.159 My friend says, there's a photo shoot with the Marquess 194 00:09:18.200 --> 00:09:20.919 of Albourne. She asked, her voice crisp, with practice confidence. 195 00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:24.559 Let me check, I replied, already recalling that our collections 196 00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:27.799 get straight from nineteen sixty five to nineteen seventy one, decay, 197 00:09:27.919 --> 00:09:31.559 budget cuts and loss. Still, I tugged into the LPAK, 198 00:09:31.759 --> 00:09:34.960 poised to deliver my apology. In my bafflement, not only 199 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:37.600 was Flair Otober nineteen sixty seven listed, but it was 200 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:40.120 marked aus on shelf. In disbelief, I hurried to the 201 00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:44.519 magazine Arcoves wedge between Gardening and National Geographic. After a 202 00:09:44.559 --> 00:09:47.000 moment's search. There it was fresh as a a print, 203 00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:50.559 glossy and bright, precisely where she'd indicated. I handed her 204 00:09:50.600 --> 00:09:53.519 the magazine. She smiled, triumphant, told you, she said, over 205 00:09:53.559 --> 00:09:55.200 her shoulder, as she showed it. Off to her group. 206 00:09:55.840 --> 00:09:57.679 All the while I watched, trying not to stare as 207 00:09:57.720 --> 00:10:01.759 the page through stack after sack of nineteen sixty s tabloids, speculating, reminiscing, 208 00:10:01.919 --> 00:10:03.840 laughing as of these with their built in reference points 209 00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:07.240 rather than nostalgia, kitch, I kept thinking, where are you 210 00:10:07.279 --> 00:10:10.080 all from? What happened to our regular crowd of school 211 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:13.039 kids and Tuesday tutors. On a whim, I scanned the 212 00:10:13.039 --> 00:10:17.039 group for familiar faces. These were not local students, the 213 00:10:17.120 --> 00:10:20.399 hair styles, their dress, even this lying slept between their sentences. 214 00:10:20.440 --> 00:10:23.919 That's far out felt imported. Maybe a drama troupe, I reasoned, 215 00:10:24.039 --> 00:10:26.639 or some immersive field trip from the city's experimental school. 216 00:10:27.159 --> 00:10:30.440 But why here today? I tried the next step, cross referencing. 217 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:33.320 We require non member patrons to sign the guest look 218 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:35.960 for day passes. Yet when I checked, every student's name 219 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:38.440 already appeared neatly on the list in handwriting. I could 220 00:10:38.440 --> 00:10:40.799 have sworn I did not see them write. The school 221 00:10:40.840 --> 00:10:43.440 listed for each was patch Field West, which hasn't existed 222 00:10:43.480 --> 00:10:47.320 since the nineteen seventy eight school district merger. Confused, I 223 00:10:47.360 --> 00:10:49.919 flipped further, only to find the guest book dated for Tuesday, 224 00:10:49.960 --> 00:10:53.320 though the income my receipt said Wednesday. I texted Dennis again, 225 00:10:53.559 --> 00:10:55.240 is the highest school doing an event? Here? Got a 226 00:10:55.279 --> 00:10:59.279 dozen sixties kids. The reply was almost instantaneous, you're in 227 00:10:59.320 --> 00:11:01.799 for it. It's dead head, not even teens on tik tok. 228 00:11:01.960 --> 00:11:03.960 Grab a coffee and put your feet up if you can. 229 00:11:04.559 --> 00:11:06.639 I was left again with my own eyes and increasingly 230 00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:10.159 unsettled positions. When the public clock struck eleven, the ear 231 00:11:10.240 --> 00:11:13.519 change again without a word. The teens filed out, collecting 232 00:11:13.600 --> 00:11:16.639 up their magazines and were shelving, somehow with more orderliness 233 00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:19.639 than the local Honor Society ever managed. I watched the 234 00:11:19.639 --> 00:11:22.639 door swings off behind them, traffic noises from outside momentarily 235 00:11:22.639 --> 00:11:26.039 fill in the vacuum, and, as if prompted by choreographer Unseine, 236 00:11:26.200 --> 00:11:29.519 a completely new crowd ended. This time. The visitors wore 237 00:11:29.559 --> 00:11:33.039 travel uniform skirts and blazers. Single colored cravats thence to 238 00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:36.120 noting what looked to my librarians I like joining associations, 239 00:11:36.200 --> 00:11:40.200 perhaps even diplomatic badges. The movement projected group energy, but 240 00:11:40.240 --> 00:11:43.600 were silent, punctuated only by the excitement of deciphering guide books. 241 00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:46.600 I greeted the first group that approached the information desk, 242 00:11:46.840 --> 00:11:50.480 working to some more cattle and curious looking for anything special. 243 00:11:51.039 --> 00:11:53.799 One man, impressively tall and with a blue sash embroidered 244 00:11:53.799 --> 00:11:56.440 with the word Tailia spoken a Chris Pax into English. 245 00:11:56.559 --> 00:11:59.720 Touring the lowlands. I believe the gods suggested Samaston coast 246 00:11:59.720 --> 00:12:02.200 was the highlight. Is the gazette for that region indexed here? 247 00:12:02.679 --> 00:12:06.840 I blinked, tirely, is gazette, I repeated, not wanting to 248 00:12:06.879 --> 00:12:10.559 sound foolish. He nodded. We heard the coast of maps 249 00:12:10.559 --> 00:12:13.080 are bess in the first stacks west window. But I'll 250 00:12:13.080 --> 00:12:17.200 followed the librarian's lead. I tried to laugh, deflecting. Let 251 00:12:17.240 --> 00:12:20.960 me look again, I replied, keeping my amusement close. Internally, 252 00:12:21.039 --> 00:12:23.559 I willed myself to remain calm. I searched in the 253 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:27.360 online catalog nothing, just to be sure. I checked the 254 00:12:27.360 --> 00:12:30.840 apples section. Thenfroze. I pulled out a substantial blue leather 255 00:12:30.840 --> 00:12:35.320 band volume Samasen cosed maps and views. It was meticulously 256 00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:38.919 stamped patch Field Memorial Library. The cover carried a nineteen 257 00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:42.759 fifty eight copyright. I scanned the index entirely of Samasen, 258 00:12:43.000 --> 00:12:45.480 even references to long Reach and Rosolne baying none more 259 00:12:45.559 --> 00:12:48.720 names from any geography in you my brain did cartwheels. 260 00:12:48.919 --> 00:12:52.320 Were these visitors playing some elaborate game. Our collection had 261 00:12:52.360 --> 00:12:55.159 all the usual lonely planets, a battered selection of fromers, 262 00:12:55.279 --> 00:12:58.240 never anything like this. But here I held a book 263 00:12:58.279 --> 00:13:01.120 in my hands which had somehow always been here. Here 264 00:13:01.159 --> 00:13:03.600 you go, I said, presenting it with what composure I 265 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:07.039 could muster straight from our stacks. He thanked me with 266 00:13:07.080 --> 00:13:09.799 the bau Axen heavier. Now the group retreated to a 267 00:13:09.840 --> 00:13:12.039 window table and of into a spirited discussion. I could 268 00:13:12.039 --> 00:13:15.120 pick out words in two, possibly three languages, but couldn't 269 00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:17.639 pin any of them to a country with confidence. I 270 00:13:17.679 --> 00:13:20.440 half needed to laugh at myself. Of course, there were 271 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:23.200 new places, new towns in this world, but there was 272 00:13:23.240 --> 00:13:25.679 a flavor to the speech, to the names that suggested 273 00:13:25.679 --> 00:13:28.679 a different world altogether. With the chimes at the next hour, 274 00:13:28.759 --> 00:13:31.720 the scene entirely re wrote itself again. In swept a 275 00:13:31.720 --> 00:13:34.879 new assembly young parents with children, hands firmly held, asking 276 00:13:34.879 --> 00:13:37.440 for story books whose titles The Cranewis Tree, the Moon's 277 00:13:37.440 --> 00:13:40.600 Little House did not exist in our cataloging system. Even 278 00:13:40.600 --> 00:13:42.480 the dust jackets were unfamiliar to me, as though the 279 00:13:42.480 --> 00:13:44.960 books had always been here, but just outside the periphery 280 00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:48.200 of my attention. I started to track the patterns every hour, 281 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:52.480 as if by supernatural programming, the entire population changed. Parents 282 00:13:52.480 --> 00:13:54.720 and children vanished, were placed sharply at one p m 283 00:13:54.759 --> 00:13:58.600 by solitary scholars, each carrying philosophy volumes, which again defied 284 00:13:58.600 --> 00:14:01.879 inclusion in familiar bibliography. Through it all, I tried to 285 00:14:01.919 --> 00:14:05.480 record what experienced in the daily locks. Our system, digital 286 00:14:05.519 --> 00:14:10.279 and paper should be foolproof circulation histories, checkouts, guess signatures, 287 00:14:10.840 --> 00:14:13.159 but every time I cross checked, the evidence simply didn't 288 00:14:13.159 --> 00:14:16.279 A line. At noon, for example, a young mother checked 289 00:14:16.279 --> 00:14:19.440 out a stack of brightly colored fables. Her name Isabel Wren, 290 00:14:19.480 --> 00:14:22.600 appeared nowhere in our system. By twelve three, her checkout 291 00:14:22.639 --> 00:14:25.039 slip had furnished and the stories had been reshelved back 292 00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:28.039 to mint condition. That single hour's record on our server 293 00:14:28.120 --> 00:14:31.399 showed only two other checkouts, Marjorie's usual mystery time stamped 294 00:14:31.399 --> 00:14:34.480 at Adam, and a magazine renewaled by Dennis. No trace 295 00:14:34.519 --> 00:14:36.720 of the crowd I just served. I thumbed through the 296 00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:40.000 paper day can mount in confusion. Names in unfamiliar pemage 297 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:42.799 at Paul Hornstone Chalvrin lined the Indian page. But when 298 00:14:42.799 --> 00:14:45.000 I tried to recall writing their visit or hearing them 299 00:14:45.039 --> 00:14:47.559 say their names aloud, I've found a blankness, an odd 300 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:51.159 gap in memory. I needed another set of eyes. I 301 00:14:51.200 --> 00:14:54.519 dialed Marjorie's number. The first rings carried a static calm. 302 00:14:54.679 --> 00:14:57.960 She answered in that scatter brained, familiar chirp. Anna, dear 303 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:00.600 midday trouble. Have you noticed anything thing odd about the 304 00:15:00.600 --> 00:15:05.720 schedule or maybe the visitor looks, I asked. Marjorie laughed, untroubled. 305 00:15:06.320 --> 00:15:08.960 You always get the mid day rush, Anna, Everyone rotates 306 00:15:08.960 --> 00:15:11.480 through eventually. It's what makes us a community. Maybe you're 307 00:15:11.519 --> 00:15:13.519 overtired to get some fresh air and watch from my 308 00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:17.559 book club or two so breezy, so ignorantly wise. I 309 00:15:17.559 --> 00:15:19.799 couldn't help but smile at her kindly dismissal, but it 310 00:15:19.840 --> 00:15:23.240 sharpened my frustration. I turned my focus to documentation of 311 00:15:23.320 --> 00:15:27.080 librarians recourse. With the next transition looming, I resolved to 312 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:29.759 catch evidence something that would persist, even if only from 313 00:15:29.759 --> 00:15:32.919 my own reassurance. At twelve fifty five, has set my 314 00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:35.279 phone up in camera mode, pressing record. Propped on the 315 00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:37.159 edge of the children's desk, with a clear view of 316 00:15:37.159 --> 00:15:40.039 the main floor. After the chime, I hurried to check 317 00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:43.720 the gallery. Every shot, every second bore only a static image, 318 00:15:43.720 --> 00:15:47.799 empty lobby, silent sunlight, no trace of incoming or outgoing crowds. 319 00:15:48.440 --> 00:15:51.799 The phone's memory card offered nothing but stillness. A spike 320 00:15:51.840 --> 00:15:55.360 of panic prickled up, quickly smothered by practicality. This was 321 00:15:55.399 --> 00:15:57.679 the kind of anomaly that invited madness, and I would 322 00:15:57.720 --> 00:15:59.519 not be the first librarian to be defeated by a 323 00:15:59.519 --> 00:16:03.399 pile full to admin evidence. Still, the contradiction was undeniable. 324 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:06.960 Something someone was matching their routine but writing the narrative 325 00:16:07.000 --> 00:16:10.159 behind my back. I reconsidered the possibility that my own 326 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:12.519 memory was failing me. I ran myself for a series 327 00:16:12.519 --> 00:16:15.919 of routines, inventing questions to test my recal the week's 328 00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:20.159 calendar I could recite it bliss of book club picks, 329 00:16:20.200 --> 00:16:25.200 no issue, the full number of Dennis's supervisor memorized, no 330 00:16:25.320 --> 00:16:28.120 other lapses. Just these are a level blanks and contradictions. 331 00:16:28.799 --> 00:16:31.919 I started to track not only people, but dialects, dress codes, 332 00:16:31.960 --> 00:16:35.639 even conversational interests. The noon group wore rinkked with ornate 333 00:16:35.720 --> 00:16:39.840 patches discussing unfamiliar fair retales in dense musical tones. The 334 00:16:39.879 --> 00:16:43.399 one o'clock scholars reference philosophers whose names Javann series meant 335 00:16:43.399 --> 00:16:45.399 nothing to me, and pulled books off the shelf that 336 00:16:45.399 --> 00:16:48.799 I had never once cataloged. No single visitor seemed aware 337 00:16:48.799 --> 00:16:52.080 of those who came before or after them. Again, no 338 00:16:52.120 --> 00:16:55.960 one else seemed remotely surprised. Marjorie and Dennis both responded 339 00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:58.519 with practical shrugs. It was as if a large a 340 00:16:58.600 --> 00:17:00.799 script were writing itself around me, and only at a 341 00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:03.840 glimpse of past sewn into the margin. Had I lost touch? 342 00:17:04.680 --> 00:17:07.920 Or was the routine itself impossibly quietly segmented a structure 343 00:17:07.960 --> 00:17:11.480 too strange to dismiss his scheduling, confusional calendar error. I 344 00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:13.920 wandered the library in a quiet fugue. This hour a 345 00:17:13.960 --> 00:17:17.039 haven of scholars, Next a congregation of travelers, after an 346 00:17:17.160 --> 00:17:20.440 enclave of young parents. The building's heart be ticked hourly 347 00:17:20.480 --> 00:17:23.839 and implacable. I could not un see the pattern. Enough 348 00:17:23.920 --> 00:17:26.799 was enough? I decided that the next morning I would 349 00:17:26.839 --> 00:17:29.839 not face this alone. I asked Dennis to come before means, 350 00:17:29.839 --> 00:17:32.200 something he regarded as a mild miracle. When he arrived, 351 00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:35.119 yawning and rubbing the back of his head. I offered 352 00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:38.200 coffee and the explanation, just humor me. Let watch together 353 00:17:38.279 --> 00:17:41.440 on the hour. You'll see what I mean. He was patient, curious, 354 00:17:41.440 --> 00:17:44.400 though skeptical. As always. He perched on the white arm 355 00:17:44.440 --> 00:17:46.559 of the reading chair beside me. As we neared the chimes. 356 00:17:47.200 --> 00:17:50.200 I watched the clock with mounting tension. Five minutes to 357 00:17:50.240 --> 00:17:55.119 the hour, bow Fay. People moved around us, parents packing 358 00:17:55.200 --> 00:17:57.519 up fairy tales, children wriggling out of their coats, all 359 00:17:57.559 --> 00:18:02.039 bidding cheerful goodbyes. Two minutes. I watch, no book in hand, 360 00:18:02.079 --> 00:18:05.000 determined to draw every detail. At the precise moment of 361 00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:07.720 the chime, something shifted, not the air, not the furniture, 362 00:18:07.799 --> 00:18:11.160 but an indefinable note of other denistrationed as though focusing 363 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:13.480 on a sound only he could hear. When he looked 364 00:18:13.519 --> 00:18:16.519 at me, his expression was all business. Let's set up 365 00:18:16.519 --> 00:18:19.519 the chess table for the philosophers, he said, they've got 366 00:18:19.519 --> 00:18:24.400 so many opinions about can't remember. I faltered, can't. We 367 00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:27.119 did not have a philosopher by that name. More to 368 00:18:27.160 --> 00:18:29.880 the point, we had just watched departing families, no scholars, 369 00:18:30.039 --> 00:18:33.599 no academics. I pressed him, didn't you see the parents 370 00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:38.279 the fairy tales. His brow furrowed. I mean we get families, sure, 371 00:18:38.279 --> 00:18:40.680 but to day's the scholars write the logs already sorted 372 00:18:40.680 --> 00:18:42.599 for them. He picked up the guests book and showed 373 00:18:42.599 --> 00:18:44.319 it to me, as if that was final proof that 374 00:18:44.440 --> 00:18:46.839 on the page, in sharp blogscript were names and times 375 00:18:46.880 --> 00:18:49.160 most would check outs, all correct for the philosophy hour. 376 00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:52.559 No mention of children, no trace of the families, I remembered. 377 00:18:53.160 --> 00:18:55.720 I brought up the early paper locks the digital entries, 378 00:18:55.880 --> 00:18:58.720 challenged him again. He simply stared, amused by my insistence, 379 00:18:58.880 --> 00:19:00.480 as if I were trying too hard to invent a 380 00:19:00.519 --> 00:19:03.680 twist to the day. Then I realized Dennis's memory matched 381 00:19:03.680 --> 00:19:06.079 the records, not the live though I had seen with 382 00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:09.279 him present, but though official account signed contemporaneously in both 383 00:19:09.319 --> 00:19:12.000 the digital and paper logs. It dawned on me, what 384 00:19:12.039 --> 00:19:15.400 if nobody remembered these alternate hours. What if the routine 385 00:19:15.400 --> 00:19:18.599 wereset not just for the guests, but for everyone's staff included, 386 00:19:18.640 --> 00:19:22.480 except may be me. Dennis remained cheerful, checking off his duties, 387 00:19:22.519 --> 00:19:26.200 refiling philosophy books, offering commentary on the usual crow. But 388 00:19:26.279 --> 00:19:28.200 I knew would I uncertainty. He had not until just 389 00:19:28.200 --> 00:19:30.079 now seen them at all. Because near the header before 390 00:19:30.079 --> 00:19:32.920 the hours druck, I decided to test the process to 391 00:19:32.960 --> 00:19:36.200 remove myself from the main floor during the transition. At 392 00:19:36.240 --> 00:19:39.240 exactly one fifty five, I retreated to the supply closet, 393 00:19:39.279 --> 00:19:41.559 a small windowless room between the back office in the 394 00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:44.759 north stacks. I left the door prop just barely enough 395 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:46.440 to peek through the glass pane at the fast side 396 00:19:46.440 --> 00:19:49.559 of the children's section. I waited nope, but gripped pen 397 00:19:49.640 --> 00:19:52.480 and capped. I forced myself to focus the smell of 398 00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:55.279 lemon disinfectant, the humming frigein back, the scrape of a 399 00:19:55.319 --> 00:19:59.200 cart wheel, then the chimes. I squeezed my eyes shut, 400 00:19:59.279 --> 00:20:03.079 expecting nothing in particular. Instead, a dizzy rush washed over me, 401 00:20:03.079 --> 00:20:06.039