“Oh, wow. Thank you so much,” June said, a lump in her throat.
“I try English scone next,” Leila said as she turned and headed toward a table, a look of concentration on her face. June smiled to herself as she put the cake down next to the keyboard, to enjoy later.
“What’s that?” Vera was leaning over the desk, her face scrunched up.
“It’s called basbousa.”
She nodded her head in the direction of Leila. “Did she make it?”
Ever since Alex had told her about Vera’s past, June had been making extra attempts to engage with Vera and encourage her to join in activities at the library, but so far, all her efforts had been in vain. Now she took a deep breath.
“You know, Leila is really keen to learn about English cooking. I heard that you’re a good baker, so perhaps you could suggest some recipe books for her?”
“Who told you that?” Vera said, suspicion etched onto her face. “Well, they’re wrong. I haven’t baked in years,” she spat, and sheturned and headed back toward her chair. She knocked into Jackson on her way past, and the armful of books he was carrying tumbled onto the floor. June hurried over to him.
“Are you okay, Jackson?” she said, bending down to pick them up.
“I’m fine.”
June handed him a tome calledJapan Encyclopedia. “Your gran didn’t tell me you’re going on holiday.”
“I’m not. I’m just doing a project about Japan. Did you know that it’s made up of six thousand eight hundred and fifty-two islands? And the Japanese eat more fish than any other country in the world?”
“I did not know that.”
“Also, Stanley told me that in Japan they have haiku, which is a special kind of poem with only three lines and seventeen syllables.”
“That’s fascinating, Jackson.”
“I’ve written a haiku. Would you like to hear it?”
“I’d love to.”
He stood up straight and started to recite in a monotone voice, “Libraries are boats / And the books are life jackets / Without them we’ll drown.”
June was so taken aback that she didn’t know how to respond. “Wow, Jackson. That’s very... powerful.”
“Do you like it? I’m going to perform it at the library protest on Saturday.”
“I’m sure everyone will love it. I’m sorry I won’t be there to hear it.”
June really was sad she wouldn’t be able to go. Saturday’s event at the church hall was all anyone in the library had talked about all week, and June had picked up snippets of information from her eavesdropping. It seemed that Mrs.Bransworth had gone all CerseiLannister and was driving the rest of FOCL mad with her demands for banners, PA systems, and “a raffle that will rival the one at Favering Summer Fayre.” The one good piece of news was that someone had managed to secure a local news crew to cover the event. The village had talked of nothing else since, and June was delighted that they might finally get some publicity for the library campaign.
Out of the corner of her eye, June saw Marjorie bowling toward her, a determined look on her face.
“Sorry, Jackson, I’d better get on with my work. Good luck with your haiku.”
“June, a word,” Marjorie said when she reached her. June followed her boss behind the Local History shelf. “Gayle tells me you still haven’t replied to her about the hen do. Why not?”
Oh god. Despite her lie to Alex about being friends with Gayle, the idea of attending was giving June anxiety dreams, and she’d put off sending a reply. “I’m sorry, Marjorie, I’ve just been busy.”
“Well, I need you to e-mail now, before Gayle starts to suspect that I’ve put you up to this.”
“Now?”
“Come on, get your phone out.”
June was aware of Marjorie staring at her screen as she began to type, and she prayed she wouldn’t get a sudden Twitter notification from FOCL. She hurriedly wrote,Thanks Gayle, I’d love to come to the hen do. See you on Saturday, and pressed send.
