“My brother’s name is Cody,” I volunteer. “My parents went from a kind-of-common name to one they might have made up.”
Wow. Am I really wasting the provost’s time by talking about names?! What is wrong with me?
“My siblings’ names are Kyrie, Kip, Kalix, and Kona.”
My eyes widen. “All K? And none of them, like, Kevin or Karen.”
He chuckles. “Nope. Interestingly enough, there was another Kalix in my brother’s grade. That made my parents laugh.”
“There weren’t a lot of Cody’s in school. Actually, I don’t think there were any. I wonder why we think it’s a common name, then?”
“Because it’s familiar in a way yours and mine aren’t.”
I nod and look back out at the mountains. “It’s so beautiful here. I’m not sure I’d ever have come to Iceland if it weren’t for this trip.”
“Because you haven’t traveled much or…?”
“I’m not sure.” My shoulders rise in a shrug. “I guess it’s one of those places that you know about but you don’t reallythinkabout when you’re considering places to travel, you know? I think I have the usual on my bucket list—France, England, Antigua.”
“Let me see—Eiffel Tower, King Arthur… sun?”
I grin and look in his direction. “Yeah. Though not just King Arthur but all the history. It’s just cool. We’re lucky if we have buildings from the start of the United States, right? Two hundred and fifty years. But there are buildings and structures there that are four hundred years old. A thousand. They have sites there that date back before the Common Era. It’s so wild to think about.”
“It is. Do you enjoy history?”
“Kind of, yeah. I like stories that come from history. In my courses, I like to read the old poems and whatever before the ‘modern’ introduction to see if I agree with their assessment.”
“Do you?”
“I’d say about half the time. You can sometimes recognize the person making the introduction as someone very religious or really black and white. Those who try to shove in a Christian ideology or are truly convinced of one for a poem from before Christianity are ignorant, you know? Christianity is just over two thousand years old. It didn’t exist before Christ since it’s literally the practice of worship of this one individual and therefore, adding a Christian argument to a poem that dates back twenty-six hundred years is just dumb.”
“I agree.”
I smile and bow my head. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to rant.”
“Not at all. I can’t say I’m well-versed in historical poetry, but I can imagine how frustrating it is. And I understand what you’re saying. I helped erect all the statues and monuments aroundcampus, so I understand completely what you’re saying about historians refusing to acknowledge something that they may not believe or support.”
“Like Alexander the Great being queer,” I say, grinning.
“Yes. The exact same wording he uses to describe the relationship between him and his partner, who historians insist is just his good friend, would be interpreted as his wife if that friend were female. It’s hypocritical at best.”
“Right? That’s what I’m saying. You can’t just inject your own views into history because you want them to be there when history itself doesn’t support them.”
Kendrick is looking at me with a smile. He doesn’t answer, but his smile remains. Something about it makes my cheeks flush, and I drop my eyes to my gloved hands.
“If I remember correctly, you’re a Bachelor of Science in Library Science student, correct?”
I nod. Wow. He remembers that? “Yes.”
“What do you plan to do with that degree?”
“Well… I’d like to build a library. One that has every single banned book and a copy of all the queer books in the world. But also with a concentrated section on historical truths not clouded by the person’s own religious or whatever beliefs, you know? But not just any library.” I hesitate. I’ve been told I can go on forever about this subject.
“What makes yours special?” Kendrick asks. “Besides the banned and queer books. That’s already super special.”
I take a breath. “Well… my dream is to have an old mansion or castle someday and turn it all into a library. But maybe like a bed-and-breakfast too. All the bedrooms are filled with books. There will be little secret nooks and hidden rooms. One of the hidden rooms will be a coffee bar with the best coffee anywhere. And there will be a speakeasy kind of place, but instead of hiding something like banned books, we’re hiding somethingthat already gets lots of attention, like the classics, but maybe to make it extra fun, they’re first edition classics? I don’t know. I’ve also dreamed that I can convert an old Catholic church with the tall spires and stained glass. I think it would be fun to turn one of those into a library.”
My voice trails off when I look at Kendrick again. He’s smiling. Not the kind of polite smile that means they’d stopped listening ten minutes ago. His is almost… admiring? That can’t be right.
