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.Puffing out her cheeks, Hester was about to give Karen a carefully edited version of the story when a disturbance in the Children’s Room erupted into the foyer from their left.Three stout matrons wearing huge coats and carrying Walmart shopping bags were being pursued by Linda Dimple, the children’s librarian.“You may not remove any books from the Children’s Collection without checking them out!” the slight, blonde librarian announced in as commanding a tone as her squeaky voice could muster.“And you may have only three books by the same author!”The ladies steadfastly ignored her and beat a hasty path to the front door.Here their way was blocked by the checkout desk, straddled by electronic security panels that set off a buzzer when an unchecked book passed them.Linda Dimple was out of patience.“You are REQUIRED to empty your shopping bags at this desk,” she shrilled, dashing ahead of the three and blocking the exit with her outstretched arms, displaying all the fervor of a 1960s protester blocking a campus doorway.This was clearly not what the trio expected.The leader of the group, the stoutest of the three and the eldest, held a wrinkled hand to the temple of her rhinestone-rimmed spectacles and spoke up indignantly.“We are the Women Who Care About Children and we insist that the library remove all Teri June books!” Her voice cracked with intensity.“We will not be stopped!”“So who’s going to go limp and throw themselves in front of the door first?” Hester whispered to Karen, who watched with her lips pursed.But while the leader put up the brave front, the two followers had second thoughts.One, a woman of about 35 with long braids and glasses, emptied her bag on the counter.Her haul included eight Teri June novels, a dozen paperback young-adult romances and five sci-fi fantasy books.Her companion also emptied a loaded bag.Seeing her troops give in took the fight out of the ringleader.She shoved her own bag of books on the wood-grain counter as she grabbed her accomplices by the elbows.The trio bolted past Linda and out of the library.“Did you see that?” Karen hissed at Hester.“The gall of those people.”Hester tried to peer over Karen’s head to see which way the trio had gone and was rewarded by the vision of a grim-faced Marge Kenyon entering the building.Annoyance played across her face as she stormed into the Children’s Room.“What on earth did they think they were doing?” Hester asked in amazement.Linda Dimple directed a clerk to collect the books from the checkout counter and reshelve them in the Children’s Room.She walked over to the information desk.“Did you get a good look at those three?” she asked.“Not really,” Hester confessed.“They looked pretty ordinary.If they come in together again, I’ll spot them.”Linda was not pleased.“This is the second time they’ve done this.The first time they got away with it.They just walked in and took about 10 Teri Junes.With what happened to old Duffy, you might think they’d give us a few days of peace!”“Linda!” Hester scolded.She took a deep breath and let it go.“Watch what you say.The woman’s dead.”Linda hung her head.“I know, I sound awful.But you know half the staff isn’t exactly in mourning.Science and Business sent out for doughnuts this morning.Jelly-filled.”Looking toward the exit where the WWCAC trio disappeared, Hester reconsidered what Linda had said a moment earlier.“So just how many books has Teri June written?”“Oh, you mean different stories? Only about eight, but we have multiple copies of them.They are so popular, with the preteen girls especially, we can hardly keep them on the shelves.We just bought 10 of each in paperback.”From behind Linda a clerk wearing an expression like a frightened mouse hurried over from the Children’s Room.“Linda,” she whispered, almost out of breath.“There is a woman demanding to see you.”“Demanding?”“I think she’s one of those WWCAC people.”Linda closed her eyes for a moment, straightened her back and strode off purposefully.“She’ll get eaten alive,” Karen said, watching the back of the youthful looking Children’s Librarian disappear behind a timeworn cutout of Oscar the Grouch peeking from a cardboard garbage can next to the entrance.“If I had the money, I’d bet on Linda,” Hester said, sitting back.“She looks like a kid herself, and that’s what makes her so popular in there.The kids have no problem asking her for help and she is so open and friendly the parents just love her.But at the same time, she is an absolute stickler for the Library Association Bill of Rights.Anybody trying to censor her collection is facing a brick wall.And the Library Board backs her up.”“But why target Teri June?” Karen asked [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]