The unknown woman taps one nail on the tabletop.Tap-tap-tap-tap. With the other, she runs a yellow highlighter over a sentence in the book in front of her. At the top of the page is a large, mostly blurred out stamp. The third word, the word "Library", has been left unedited and is clear to read.
Her nails are of the acrylic sort. Long and mauve with silver tips. The tapping is loud in the otherwise quiet library.
With a sigh, Bess looks at her and places her book on the table. Then she reaches out of shot and produces a badminton racket. In two quick movements, she swats the woman's tapping hand so that it collapses flat on the table, and hits the highlighter out of her fingers. It flies out of shot.
Then she leans forward, grabs the book and snaps it closed before sweeping it under her elbow where she leans on it. She picks upMeet Me in This Lifeand resumes her reading.
Real Life Bess doesn't look like she regrets her actions with the wisdom that time affords most people. She looks like she's reliving the satisfaction of thwacking the highlighter into orbit. "That was a good one. I particularly enjoyed that one."
I peer at my phone. "And so did your viewers, judging by the number of them."
"Right?" Bess beams and her beauty becomes almost unbearable.
I have to look away from her.
"I'm thinking of upping my fee."
Busying myself with pouring a G'n'T, I say, "How about you think of sourcing content from outside the library."
"She was defacing library material – ruining it for other readers. You should be thanking me."
I do look at her then. I marshal all the frustration I've felt in the last few hours over this event and bring it to the surface so that it can subdue any other emotion simmering under my skin. "Had Mistral acted according to library policy, the patron would have been made to pay for the book. Seeing as Mistral was the one holding the bloody camera, however, I've had to convince the woman not to lay an official complaint. So the sum total is one less book in our collection and one angry patron who should have no right to be. Angry people do silly things, Bess. Especially if they fancy themselves a keyboard warrior."
Bess is quiet. It's very rare that I reduce her to thinking and not reacting.
Eventually, she says, "Alright. I'll use material outside the library." She flashes me a grin. "You have to admit, it was good while it lasted."
I try very hard not to grin back at her. "No, I don't."
She reaches out an arm and pokes me in the cheek with her finger.
It's just a fingertip, but it sends a tiny bolt of lightning to ricochet off the walls of my stomach.
I pull my head away from her reach.
"I see the smile you're trying very hard to hide. You think I'm a master of candid comedy who incidentally is going to pull enough attention to save the gallery and this community."
"I think you're a reckless individual who continually pushes her luck."
"Sure. But a very funny one."
Oh Bess. If only you knew how highly I think of your bold talents. I busy myself with pouring a drink from her thermos. "You do amuse me. On occasion."
"On occasion. You can don the staid librarian persona all you want, Ed Chakrabarti, but you don't fool me." She raises the binoculars again.
And that right there is what I'm worried about. How long before she sees through my pretence and our friendship is irrevocably changed? Damaged? Over?
So I change the subject. "Any advance on your plan to prevent a Pinkerton take over?"
Bess removes the binoculars to look at me. "Yes and no. Which would you like first?"
"The 'yes'."
"The online store for the gallery is booming for everyone. I’ve sold nine paintings in total and all the artists have had the shock of their lives by having to up production from intermittent to consistent in order to restock the store. I now have to pay Jeanette, Elly and Lutek to wrap stuff for postage after the café closes for the day."
So the hard dox worked. "That's amazing. I knew it was picking up, but I didn't realise it was to that extent." And now I have to have it confirmed. "Is it off the back of the letter TikToks?"
"Definitely. There's a massive spike in ordering after each one. I'm desperately hoping more letters are going to turn up."
