George emerged from the kitchen, carrying a bag. “Seven pounds forty, please.”
“Thanks, George. And good luck with...” June started to say, but he’d already walked back into the kitchen.
“Well, good seeing you again,” Alex said as she picked up the bag and made her way toward the door. “Let me know if you change your mind aboutPride and Prejudice and Zombies. You never know, you might love it.”
•••
Back at home, June sat down to eat her takeaway. Chicken in black bean sauce had always been her mum’s favorite, and now June ordered it for herself every Monday night. She filled her fork and took a mouthful as the events of today spun through her mind: Rhyme Time, the council’s news about the library, Marjorie’s ashen face. Was it really possible that the library would close? Of course, June knew that libraries were being shut all over the country, but somehow she’d always imagined that a place as small as Chalcot would be safe and that she’d have a job there for as long as she wanted it. June shivered, despite the warm evening, and then jumped when she heard a knock at the front door.
“I just got the news,” Linda said as soon as June let her in. She threw her arms wide and wrapped them round June. “You poor thing, you must be in shock.”
“They want to close it, Linda,” June mumbled into her shoulder. “Mum’s library.”
“Well, we won’t let them, will we?” Linda released her and headed into the kitchen. “Have you thought what you’re going to do yet?”
June followed her and slumped back down at the table. “I don’t know. I’m not sure there’s anything I can do.”
“If your mum were alive, I can imagine her marching down to the council offices and haranguing them until they changed their mind,” Linda said.
“Apparently there’s a meeting with the council on Thursday.”
“You must have loads you want to ask them. Make sure you write all your questions down now so you don’t forget them at the meeting.”
June played with some rice on her plate and didn’t answer. There were so many questions she wanted to ask, but there was no way she could stand up in front of a room full of people and say them. Just the thought of all those eyes watching her made June feel sick, and she put her fork down. “I wish Mum was here,” she said in a quiet voice.
“I know, love. Me too.” Linda gave her a sympathetic smile. “But your mum isn’t here, so you’ll just have to fight this forher.”
CHAPTER SIX
June was watching a woman sitting with an open copy ofSpanish for Dummiesin front of her. She was a mild-mannered patron who’d started coming into the library a few months ago; at first, she’d readThe Beginners Guide to Russian, and next it wasTeach Yourself Complete German. June had concluded that the woman was married with two young kids but led a secret double life as a spy. After she dropped the children at school each day, she’d go on assignments to follow the Mafia in Winton or assassinate a Russian spy posing as a tourist in Favering. And when she told her husband she was going to stay with her sister for the weekend, she was actually having a torrid affair with another MI5 agent who had—
“Massive bollocks!” Mrs.B was peering at June over the top of the magazine rack. “I’ve never read such complete and utter nonsense.”
“What was it this time?” June said, and a moment later had acopy ofOne Hundred Years of Solitudethrust in her face. “I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it, Mrs.Bransworth. I loved that book.”
“So, I’ve been thinking—we should band together with the other threatened libraries and form one large campaign. We could call ourselves the Dunningshire Six.”
“That’s a great idea.”
“All you library workers should go on strike and we’ll form a picket line,” Mrs.B continued, her face pressed closer to June’s over the rack. “You know, I spent six months in Wales supporting the miners in ’eighty-four. That was brutal, but there was no way we were going to let that fucking Thatcher crush those communities. I won’t let the same thing happen here.”
“Maybe we should see what the council say at the meeting first?” June said. “They might see reason and keep the library open.”
“Are you really that naive?” Mrs.B shook her head in disgust. “When I was your age, I’d already been arrested three times for civil disobedience. But we weren’t like you bloody millennials, with your avocado on toast and soya lattes; we actually believed in things and were willing to fight for them.”
Mrs.Bransworth paused, an unfamiliar expression clouding her face. June imagined the memories flooding through the woman’s mind, all the protests she’d been to and the people she’d known, many of whom must now be gone.
“We have to fight,” Mrs.B said, snapping out of her reverie. “If we don’t, then one day your children are going to wake up and there’ll be no libraries left.”
June shuddered at the thought.
“Ah, just the two I was looking for.” Stanley was walking toward them, and June saw he had a small bandage on his head.
“Are you okay, Stanley?”
He touched the plaster with his hand. “Oh, it’s nothing serious; I just had a little fall last night. The doctor said she’d never seen an eighty-two-year-old in such good shape.” He raised his arms like a bodybuilder, a pose that looked incongruous for a rake-thin old man wearing a bow tie. “Now, what news on the council’s dastardly plans for this sacred place?”
“I was telling June here, it’s our democratic duty to fight for the library,” Mrs.B said. “We have to all speak up on Thursday and make our voices heard.”
