Page 74 of Years in the Making

“Magpie, just because five Marmots agreed you should be their representative in regional disputes does not make you the city planner. I’ve got them setting up shop at the north side of the lot, far enough from the road to keep the kids safe from traffic and a good distance from the woods to keep them safe from ornery mooses.”

“It’s moose, Al, for the three thousandth time. The plural for moose is moose.”

“And for the three thousandth time, I’ve been saying mooses for seventy-two years, and I ain’t changing now.”

“So the setup area?” Teddy interrupts the argument about the moose, and both George and Midge look in our direction.

“I’ll take you over there now, and you can get situated.” George comes around the counter, ducking under the fishing nets hung across a beam.

“Other than my brood, you should be expecting some locals to visit within the next couple of hours. I told everyone they had to be here and gone before five,” Midge prattles on as we all follow George out of the store.

“Oh, they don’t have to be so precise,” I insist.

“Nellie, if you give these Marmotans an inch, they will take it and stretch it into a mile. Best set a hard time and be done with it.”

“She’s not wrong there,” George calls over his shoulder.

“Besides, that will give you two plenty of time to get set up in the bunkie before dinner.”

“Bunkie? Oh, Teddy has a tent, and there’s a bed…”

“I told the lady from the library…Amaranth?”

Amaranth? “Amelia?” I ask. My boss has a very slight accent, but I can’t imagine her name would have sounded that far off.

“Ah, yes, reception isn’t what we’re known for up here.” Midge laughs off the misunderstanding. “Amelia is much less of a mouthful. Anyhow, I told her you’d have proper accommodations for the time you were here with us.”

“That really isn’t—” I try and continue only to be cut off again.

“The bathroom isn’t the most ideal, but other than a few bugs and the odd porcupine mucking about, it’s private and has a real flushing toilet.”

I look up at Teddy who mouths, “A flushing toilet,” as his eyebrows bounce up and down.

George stops in front of a patch of gravel, outlined in orange paint about fifty meters behind the gas station that is about an equal distance from the road and the forest. “This is it, the literary playground,” he says dramatically.

“It’s ah, well, perfect. Thank you, George,” I say, taking in the area I’ll be parking the Airstream on. There’s enough room to have a couple of portable shelves outside as well as a few folding chairs for those who’d like to read and return within the same day. The gravel isn’t ideal for the outdoor rug, but the rug will still add to the atmosphere. “I’ll just go bring the trailer around, then we can start getting set up.”

Teddy follows me back to the truck and the minute the doors are closed he lets out a laugh.

“What’s so funny?”

“This entire thing is going to be a blast. I feel like we fell through the looking glass. I’m only slightly disappointed that Midge isn’t a rabbit and George isn’t a moose himself.”

TWENTY-NINE

TEDDY

Only about twenty very enthusiastic people visit the library on our first afternoon, and most of them spend the majority of their time playing with Kevin. Apparently, a dog of his size is unusual around these parts. “Good-sized meal for a decent-sized bird,” George had said, squinting up at the sky.

Nellie is in her element. She has helped several of Midge’s grandkids find books highlighting their favorite hobbies, including a taxidermy for dummies book for Devon. He insisted he wasn’t a dummy, but once he opened the book, we’d lost him for the remainder of the day.

“How long can we have a book for?” one of Midge’s grandkids asks me.

“Oh, um,” I stammer, looking around for Nellie who had just been rearranging some books on the one carousel. “Just let me—” I hold up a finger and head towards the Airstream.

Nellie is bent at the waist, rooting through a crate of books, and it stops me in my tracks. It hasn’t been lost on me how the dark denim of her jeans hugs every curve from her waist down, but in this position it freezes me, even my breathing seems tohave halted. I shamelessly watch as she shifts her weight and pops a hip before peeking back at me.

“Can I help you, Teddy?”

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