After Hours

First gush of darkness blinded Dhee.

She closed her eyes to adjust vision. Opening them she found phosphorescent Grinchin, emitting green light, swaying its teardrop shaped body from top of the picture book pile.

Dhee waved. Grinchin said, “Don’t worry, QV. Just finish. Then you’ll carry me to the shelves for picture books.”

Obviously. Grinchin had no limb, hence, unable to move itself from place to place.

Just before the lights went off, Dhee had finished sorting books into heaps by categories. In front of geography shelves. For freeing the clutter thereof. A painstaking task. Nobody was interested.

Indexing those books and putting them on shelves by their respective indices remained pending. Dhee’s will was torn. She must leave the library somehow. It had already been closed. Otherwise, she could finish pending jobs.

Dhee opted for the latter; finished indexing all books; started shelving with picture books. As she finished there, Grinchin vanished.

It turned dark again. Dhee lost her path to geography shelves. She started circling around shelves of science, history and motor vehicles books.

She attempted reaching the volunteers’ closet, for fetching her purse and leaving. Changed course led her to another circle around biography, technology and fantasy books.

Perplexed, anxious, she touched a book on fantasy shelves. Glowfig jumped from it to floor, emanating pink lights. It started crawling along the aisles, on its head, with tiny tentacle like feet, attached, in billions, to its head, changing its color to yellow, then to cerulean, to pink again, at successive turns, leading Dhee to stacks on floor.

Remembering what happened with picture books, Dhee left the fantasy heap to be organized in the end. Pacing through the aisles, organizing books to their respective shelves, Glowfig asked, “How have you ended up alone in the library, QV?”

Dhee explained, “It closes at five thirty every Thursday. But closed at four today. They told me beforehand. Yet I couldn’t finish and leave timely.”

Glowfig was inquisitive, “Didn’t the lady in the glass box check before leaving?”

Dhee asked for clarification, “Ms. Garfunkel, the librarian?”

Glowfig confirmed, “Yap.”

Dhee reported, “She closed and left the library in hurry for attending an emergency city council meeting.”

Glowfig reflected, “Geography shelves, certainly, needed time and attention. You couldn’t notice gradual drops in footsteps… buzzes….”

Dhee sounded sad, “Did. But….”

Her guesses were correct. As soon as she finished with fantasy shelves, Glowfig was gone. She still needed to reach volunteer’s closet before leaving.

Dhee dragged her feet to the end of isles of fantasy books. All along, dark woolly formless Ghooshfus, a wizard of black magic, tried to blow her towards adult section, filled with horrors and thrillers. Ghooshfus could have frozen Dhee into a graphite lump.

Fighting tooth and nail with Ghooshfus, she took right turn to technology books. Libot greeted her by flashing its white laser headlight thrice and cooing in a metallic voice, as if, it was waiting for her. It shouted at Ghooshfus, “Shoo.”

Even Ghooshfus was scared of Libot’s advanced technological acumen. Also, of its powerful body of metallic barrel, moving smoothly on wheels, lifting, dropping and moving things by levers tucked in its body.

It asked, “Why didn’t you call for help, QV?”

Dhee murmured, “No access to landlines. I don’t have a cell phone..”

Libot questioned abruptly, “Why?”

Dhee informed, “I’m dependent on my husband and we’re on temporary Visa. So, spending thriftily.”

Libot digressed, in front of fantasy shelves, “I don’t like Ghooshfus. His world is full of blood, death and kidnapping. Crimes and criminals. Violent creatures.”

Libot’s words were music to ears of Munchkins from “The Wizard of the Oz”. They applauded. So did the goblins from Tolkien books and Harry Potter’s owl, undermining conflicts in their own worlds. Glowfig joined the pacing in gratitude.

Dhee asked, “Why are you calling me QV?”

Libot explained, “QV stands for Quirky Volunteer…. for your silent meticulous dedication.”

This conversation awakened the whole picture book section. Grinchin teased, “Here comes Glowfig from unreal world.”

Libot placed Grinchin on its flat barrel head.

Glowfig responded, “You visit that world at bedtime, every night.”

Libot tweaked closet lock and brought Dhee’s purse. They went to the exit then. Obviously, it was locked. Libot disabled the alarm, then, hummed in chorus with Glowfig and Grinchin, “Cricketycoo Thicketytoo Hm, Hmm, Hmmm.”

The keyhole expanded enough to let Dhee exit. She slipped a note of gratitude beneath the entrance.

Her husband drove in. She left with him.