The traditional seaside resort of Sharpington-by-Sea with its Victorian Pier, seafront hotels, crazy golf, The Palladium ballroom, well maintained gardens, promenade, theatre, and illuminations, has all the usual things to have a great time by the seaside, as well as amusement arcades and of course the Sharpington Fun Park, but in addition to those attractions the town obviously benefitted from all the normal amenities, such as the Public Library.
The longest serving member of staff
was Chief Librarian, Karen Braiser, who was the very epitome of her kind.
Her dark greying hair was pulled back
severely into a bun arrangement, she wore heavy framed spectacles and dressed
in black pinafore dress over a long-sleeved blouse, black tights and wore
sensible shoes.
She dressed like that all year round,
whatever the weather, the only variety being the addition of a black or grey
cardigan, in the depths of winter.
Karen was thirty-seven years old and
had worked at the library since she left school and she loved it.
She was a private person and didn’t
really socialise with the other staff up until the point Brittany Hutt joined
the staff.
Brittany was a breath of fresh air
around the place, she was a University graduate and openly admitted that she
had only taken the job at the Sharpington Library until she decided what she
wanted to do with her life.
Brittany was the antithesis of Karen,
for a start she did not dress in the subdued manner that Karen did, she was an
explosion of colours and styles, and her hair seldom stayed the same colour
more than a week at a time, nor was she mousy or private she was loud and proud,
and you always knew when she was around.
The one thing they did have in common
though was their love of the printed word, they were both well-read and shared
an encyclopaedic knowledge of books, and so despite the differences of age
style and demeanour, they formed a rather unlikely friendship.
Another great lover of books was
local Taxi Driver, Danny Tomkins, who was a regular visitor even before his
niece Brittany started to work there.
From the first moment that her Uncle
Danny walked into the Library and said good morning to Karen, and she responded
curtly, Britt could read between the lines, they wanted each other.
Despite the fact that she was aloof
and standoffish, and he was brash and over familiar, they wanted each other,
and Britt knew it, even though they did not.
Karen had not been enamoured of him
when he was a complete stranger, but when Britt formerly introduced them she
was even less so.
For Danny’s part he found her mode of
dress unappealing, her hairstyle old fashioned and she was older, by seven
years.
But when they were discussing a book
or an author, they communicated as equals.
Brittany didn’t understand why nobody
else saw what she did, or why they didn’t see it, what she did know was that
she was powerless to change it.
However, after she had watched them
do the same dance for months the germ of an idea formed and quickly grew into a
fully developed plan, and she didn’t have to wait long to implement it.
It was the 4th Wednesday
of January and the day started the same as any other, but it didn’t remain that
way for long.
Karen, Brittany, and Danny were all
stood by the main desk when Karen asked.
“What on earth is going on today?”
Her question was in response to
seeing more than a few of the Libraries patrons walk eagerly into the library,
take a selfie, and then leave just as briskly.
“It’s Library Shelfie Day” Britt
replied and laughed.
“What on earth is that?” Karen and
Danny asked in unison.
“It’s self-explanatory really” Britt replied.
“You visit your local library, take a selfie in front of a bookshelf,
i.e. “shelfie” and then you share it on social media”
“Why?” Karen and Danny asked again in
synch.
“Well primarily it helps to promote
Libraries” she replied, “and the better the selfie the more times it will be
shared and the more times its shared then ergo the more visibility “your”
Library gets on social media”
“Oh, I see” Karen said, “I think”.
“Come on let’s do one of our own”
Britt suggested.
“You, me and Uncle Danny”
“Oh, I’m not sure about that” she
said doubtfully.
“Come on it will put Sharpington
Library on the map” Britt said.
“Oh Ok” she agreed “Where?”
“In front of the poetry section”
Danny suggested.
“Which ones,” Britt asked
“Modernists, Postmodernist, or English Romantics?”
“Edwardian”
Karen replied
“And
Georgian” Added Danny
“Oh yes”
Karen agreed.
“Ok then” Brittany said, “Let’s get
into position, I’ll take it and you two can stand behind”.
“No, that’s no good” she said.
“It’s no good just standing there
pulling a face” Brittany said.
“I was smiling” Karen protested.
“Or just smiling” she said, “I know,
kiss Uncle Danny”.
“Absolutely not” Karen protested.
“That’s not going to happen” Danny concurred.
“You have to kiss, we need to do
something that people will do a double take on, you two kissing will definitely
do that”.
“Seriously?” she asked.
“Seriously” Britt replied
“Is this alright with you?” she asked Danny.
“Well, as it’s in a good cause, I suppose I’m in” he replied.
“Ok then let’s make this quick Britt” she said, and she turned to face him,
and he stooped down to get in shot
“Ok, go” Britt said and the reluctant couple puckered up and they kissed,
but as her lips touched his it was evident that it was so much more than a
“good cause kiss” and the kiss lasted for a full five minutes and might easily
have gone on for another five had the assembled patrons not given then a
rousing round of applause which were loud and boisterous enough to bring the
kissing couple back to the moment.
“Well, if that’s a reluctant kiss,
I’d like to see the one when you’re actually up for it” Brittany said.
“Well, you’re not going to get an
opportunity” A red faced Karen said and took Danny by the hand and dragged him
down the medieval history aisle.
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