ONE FOR THE BOOKS

ONE FOR THE BOOKS September 08, 2007
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Charles walked up to Lillian’s desk and patiently waited for her to acknowledge him. Lillian let him wait an awkwardly long time. "Yes," she said condescendingly to the young library technician.
"Miss Jones, I was wondering if I might take off a bit early this evening. All of the returns have been shelved; I was invited to a party tonight."
"Sorry, Charles, I would like you to read the reference shelves tonight. Please do a good job and straighten the stacks when you are done with that." Lillian smiled at him insincerely, knowing that reading the shelves, also known as putting the books in proper order, was the most unpleasant work a technician could be assigned. Charles said nothing; he resentfully walked to the reference section.
"Ha ha ha ah ha ha...," loud belly laughter came from the back of the library. It unnerved Lillian as if a demon was looking into her soul. At last she rose to deal with the disrupting noise.
At the back she found an athletic forty year old man reading a Calvin and Hobbs cartoon book. She barked an order, "Keep it quiet or leave the library, now...no other option." Robert looked up to see a handsome woman with a scowl on her face. Sensing a mystery, he was cautious to respond. "Ain't you being kind of bossy in your old age?"
Lillian did not expect a stand off. Men usually retreated from her unveiled contempt. "You're as old as me. You know better. Are you going to stay quiet or do you want to tell it to the police?"
Staring with disbelief at the hostile woman he blurted out, "Yes! Let's invite the police to our little get together." Immediately Robert regreted his tone. There was more to this woman than he understood. Something of a serious nature was amiss.
Lillian did an about face, marched to her office and closed the door. Tears exploded from her eyes; weakly she dropped to her knees.
She knew she was emotionally sick, yet she also knew that psychiatrists could do nothing for her other than prescribe a pharmaceutical cocktail to blunt memories and feelings. The tears became accompanied by sobbing and by the time she let herself fall prone to the floor sobs became cries. Loud wails were followed with the sound of blubbering, "Mommy, I love you. Daddy, I love you. Bobby, I love you."
Robert had entered the office; Charles stood staring from the entrance. Robert kneeled before the emotionally shattered woman and tenderly touched her face.
"Get away from me!" She shrieked repeatedly as she backed away from him. Robert had never seen such terror in a person's face. Quickly, he led Charles  outside the office and left Lillian alone in her office.
Robert trusted a gut feeling that told him it would pass. He then looked at his watch and decided that if she did not come around in ten minutes he would call 911. Looking through the glass partition, he saw her rise and find her composure. At last she entered the main room and spoke to Charles in a distant voice. "Charles, you may take off early. Forgive me for having been so unkind to you." She then turned to Robert. "Sir, I apologize for being so...no I don't apologize. But, go do what you want. It won’t matter to me anymore."
Robert knew. He knew because he had seen that look before...he knew that look from ten years ago when he saw it in the mirror and several times since. "How do you plan to do it?" Robert said solemnly.
At this Lillian looked carefully into his eyes. They were moist to the point of tears. Robert's eyes seemed to reflect the center of her heart. How could he know? How could this be?
Lillian straightened. She didn't care about appearance anymore. The hostility she felt toward men didn't matter anymore. There was nothing to prove.
"I'm done. It's over. God will forgive me. It doesn't matter how I will do it. It is time." The plug was pulled. The cat was out of the bag. She couldn't stop herself from talking if she tried. "Some people seem to heal. I never did. It's not about forgiving. Twenty-eight years have gone by and the wound is still open. It's on my face. It's in my voice. I don't want to hurt people anymore. At my best, I hurt people." She was surprised at her words. They came from an unfamiliar voice.
Sadness came over Robert's face. "I don't blame you. I also plan to go. It's been a long time coming. I agree: it doesn't matter how you do it. I only asked because I thought it might be easier to have company."
Lillian looked puzzled. "Are we talking about suicide? If we are, then what reason do you have? I haven't laughed since I was a girl. You were having a ball tonight. It's the end. It's over for me."
"Ha," Robert laughed softly. "Go figure, I'm not afraid to tell you I plan to kill myself, but I don't have the courage to tell you why."
"Let me guess," Lillian snapped. You killed a nice family and now you don't like the way you feel."
"I need to sit down." They walked to a couch, both feeling as if they were in a fast river that was taking them somewhere beyond a point of return.
Everything was so strange. Even on a Friday night there where usually some patrons in the library. It was empty except for her and Robert.
"Lily was brutally raped," she began by speaking of herself in the third person. "It was worse than I can tell; I've never told it before. Lily was only twelve years old." The memories came vividly. She paused until muscles in her throat relaxed and allowed her to continue. "My family never came to visit me in the hospital. When I got out they told me. They told me...Mom, Dad, my younger brother, Bobby...they where all killed by a reckless driver. Lily died. In a real sense Lily died, and I am the biological tissue that remains. My heart and soul died with that twelve year old girl." The woman without realizing it had clasped on to Robert's hand. Tears washed down her face.
Since the bad event she had never felt anything but revulsion toward all men. She did not understand why she was now letting Robert look into her heart. When she saw her hand in his it seemed as though she were watching a movie.

"Talk to me." Lily said as she lifted Robert's hand. "Just what is the evil thing that you did?"
Robert hesitated to respond.   Looking at Lily's face he knew that she had no clue as to how beautiful she looked.  He was no longer looking at a bitter librarian with a bad attitude but at the most beautiful woman in the world. He tried to look for physical imperfections in her face but could not find any. Could he be hallucinating? Tender emotions were welling within him.
Taking a deep breath, Robert touched his other hand to his crotch and stammered. "It's gone. All of it's gone." He looked toward Lily.
"It is suddenly so simple. It was such a big deal, now it's nothing. Ha ha, I was parachuting... showing off... started swinging too high of an arc... next thing one of the thin nylon lines cut my privates...cut them clean off. Hahaha, my wife... can't really blame her. She took the baby and bugged out."

"Ahhahaha hee hee. Lily could not control her inappropriate laughter. It was the first time in twenty-eight years that such sound escaped her lips. The more she tried to restrain it the more uninhibited it became, and soon Robert joined in the laughter and giggles.
 
That very night Lillian received her first romantic kiss. She kind of liked it; she liked it a lot. That very night, for the first time in ten years, Bob made love to a woman who would become his wife for life.
How can such a thing be, you ask?
It is a mystery, my son; it is a mystery.

Creature

CREATURE
John watched the terrible alien creature emerge from the cocoon.  It was stranger than anything he had ever seen on Earth.  With an exoskeleton that was impervious to all weapons the creature was as malignant as hideous, and destruction followed its course.  Acid sprayed from  razor sharp mandibles and dissolved flesh and steel alike.  From orifices at the ends of its tentacles oozed a toxic gas.
Experts from all over the world exclaimed that this creature defied all the laws of science.  Churches became full as preachers struggled to explain this hellish abomination which gave new meaning to the Apocalypse. 
Radio and  TV  newscasters squirmed with a schizophrenic ambivalence: they were elated at the biggest story of their life and dejected by the realization that it might be their last story.

There is nothing that can stop this creature from destroying all life on earth was the hourly mantra. "This creature gets stronger and more powerful with  with each day."
  
John suddenly sat up. "It is a creature," he said aloud.  "It is only a creature, just another creature which depends on the benevolence of God for its existence.
"Because it is a creature it must eventually come to an end, and like all other creatures its knee must bend before Almighty God."  With that realization John  rose from his seat and left the movie theater. 
He went home and fervently prayed that the people of the United States would survive the policies of the new president.