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 newest member
of staff was Brittany Hutt and when she joined she 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 Chief Librarian Karen Braiser, 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, so despite
the differences of age style and demeanour, they formed a rather unlikely
friendship, a friendship the deepened immensely after she managed to play match
maker between Karen and her uncle Danny.
As a result,
Karen and Danny, decided to return the favour and she had just the candidate.
Bradley
Coates was a Teacher at the Jubilee Primary School and he was a regular visitor
to the Library and it didn’t take too long for Chief Librarian, Karen Braiser
to figure out that it wasn’t just the books that were attracting him, and
Brittany always seemed particularly attentive to him above all other patrons.
It was after
she had received a letter from Sharpington Council announcing a number of joint
initiatives between the council and other public and private bodies, one of
which was the local education authority who wanted to do something between a
local school and the Library for World Book Day.
It was
something that had been marked by the Schools for a number of years and the
Library also had a special program of events for the occasion.
But this
year the LEA had proposed doing something together, which Karen thought was a
great idea, especially provided she could get the correct School involved.
Karen took
it upon herself to arrange for Jubilee Primary to be nominated, and as the
Headteacher was her next-door neighbour it wasn’t too difficult, once that was
arranged she then suggested that Bradley Coates could liaise with the Library
staff on the planning as he was already a regular visitor and was well known by
all the Librarians.
With that
agreed all that was left to do was persuade Brittany to be the Library’s representative.
“You want me
to do it?” she asked
“Yes” Karen
replied
“But I’ve
never done anything like that before, and I’ve not been here for long, what
will the Librarians with more experience than me think about it” she pointed
out “No, no I can’t do it”
“I know you
haven’t done anything like it before, but then none of the staff have, so no
one has more or indeed less experience for the task than you do” Karen said
“and you are a human dynamo with more natural enthusiasm than anyone I have
ever known”
“Are you
sure?”
“Yes, I’m
sure” Karen assured her “And you won’t be alone, Bradley Coates from Jubilee
Primary will work closely with you on the arrangements, and there will be no
shortage of help when you need it”
After being
persuaded Brittany worked very closely with Bradley, who was not asked if he
would do it, he was given no choice, which he was unhappy about until he
realised who he was going to liaising with.
On the
morning of World Book Day Bradley rose very early and although he was pleased
to have been entrusted with the job he was more than a little nervous, well in
truth he was terrified, and he was pleased that he would not be enduring the
ordeal alone and would be sharing the experience with Librarian Brittany Hutt.
He treated
himself to an extra close shave, a much closer one than usual in order to
accommodate the beard, and as a result when he applied the aftershave it stung so
much that he thought his face was on fire.
He arrived
at the Library, red faced but sweet smelling to find Brittany fussing around
uncharacteristically.
She was
already in her Snow White costume and he thought she looked gorgeous.
“Hey” he
said
“You’re
cutting it fine” Britt said crossly
“There’s
plenty of time” he retorted
“There’s
still so much to do” she barked
He was going
to say “Ok just calm down” but when he saw the look on her face he thought
better of it and instead he said
“Everything
is in hand”
“Look Mr Coates,
it’s not just another day in Sharpington you know, we’re doing something really
special” she said “it’s important for the children so it’s got to be done
right”
Just then Chief
Librarian came through the door behind him
“Hello Professor”
she said brightly
“Hi Karen”
he said, “Hey why aren’t you in costume?”
“Some of us
have had a very busy morning setting up” Karen replied
“Talking of
costumes, go and get into yours” Brittany said sharply
“This way”
Karen said and led him away to one of the offices
“I never
realised that Snow White was so grumpy” he said
Karen paused
by the doorway and let Bradley go ahead of her and said
“She just
wants everything to be perfect”
“Yes, she
would because she is perfect” he said absentmindedly, and Karen smiled and then
left him in the office with the drama teacher from his school, Ruth Andrews, who
handed him his costume.
“Get this on
and then I’ll help with your wig and beard, and do you face a bit”
“Ok” he said hesitantly
“Don’t worry
I do this for the amateur dramatics group” she reassured him
He didn’t
vocalise it, but he didn’t find the “Amateur” in her statement to be
particularly reassuring.
But he
needn’t have been worried as he looked very convincing as Professor Dumbledore
when he returned to the library proper he saw Karen again and this time she was
in costume, and he did a double take.
Karen
Braiser, was the very epitome of the archetypal Librarian.
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 and 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.
So, to see
her dressed as Wanda from Where’s Wally, took him a back.
Karen was a
riot of red white and blue with not a square inch of black on the whole outfit.
“Wow” he
said “Liking the outfit”
“Me too” a
voice from behind him said, and when he turned around he saw it was Postman
Pat, or more precisely Danny Tomkins, who was Karen’s love interest.
“Hi Danny”
he said, “Are you wondering where the black outfit has gone too?”
“No, I was
wondering whether Wanda is wearing stockings or tights” he replied
“Behave
yourself” Karen said
“On that
note I’ll go and track down Snow White” he said
The whole
Library had been decorated with coloured drapes festooned with images of
literary figures and the main area had been subdivided into a number of reading
circles, where the Librarian’s and Teachers would read stories, one was
dedicated to Harry Potter, another to Disney and another to Roald Dahl and so
on.
There was a
final meeting of costumed Librarian’s, Teachers and volunteers to run through
the schedule one last time, but Bradley wasn’t really paying attention as his
mind had wandered, as his eyes wandered over Brittany dressed as Snow White and
he found her staggeringly sexy.
They
finished all the last-minute preparations and half the Children from Jubilee
Primary School arrived at 10 o’clock, and they looked amazing dressed as
characters from their favourite books.
Then they
all went off to the reading circle of their choice where someone would read to
them dressed as one of the characters, as Bradley was dressed as Dumbledore he
read from Harry Potter and Brittany
(Snow White) read from a Disney story book.
About an
hour into the event they had a surprise visit from Actress Kerry
Freeborn, who was performing at the Bluebird Theatre in town, and caused a
great deal of excitement, and then she releived Bradley and read in his place.
At lunchtime they walked back over to the school
and then after Lunch it was the turn of
the other half of the School children to join the fun and they were treated to
a live reading from local Children’s Writer Alesha Khan who read from her
latest book “The Wayward Wiccan”.
At the end
of the school day the parents began to arrive to collect the children and the
teachers returned to the school,
When Bradley
had escorted the last of his charges to the door and handed him over to his
parents he returned to the Disney reading circle where Snow White was tidying
up and asked
“Is that
definitely the last of them?”
“I think so,
I’ve checked under all the cushions” she replied and laughed
“But I
suppose we should check the stacks”
“Ok lead on”
he said
They
wandered up and down the rows of books and when they reached the end of the
last stack she said
“That’s
definitely all of them then”
“Excellent”
he sighed “I’m shattered”
“Me too” she
said and leant against him
“It’s been a
great day though”
“It has” he
agreed
“In fact, there
is just one thing that would make it better”
“Oh, what’s
that?” she asked looking up at him
“This” he
said as he leant down and kissed her expectant lips
After the
dispersal of the schoolchildren Karen and Danny both needed to spend a penny
and when Danny exited the gents he spotted the red and white striped legs of
his girlfriend by one of the stacks, and as he got closer he saw that she was
peering through a gap between the reference books on one of the stacks.
“What are
you looking at, have you found Wally?” he asked
“Shush” she
said and put her finger to her lips “Come and have a look”
He tiptoed up
behind her and also peeked through the gap between the books and could see Snow
White snogging Dumbledore.
“Well, well”
he said “Just wait until her Prince Charming finds out about this”
“Oh, I think
he already knows” Karen said
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