Page 21 of Twilight at Croftwood Library
Eunice had been coming to the van for as long as Steph had been visiting Hawthorn Lane. She must be in her eighties, but she was far from a little old lady. She was elegant and always looked immaculate with her perfect hair and make-up along with a hint of expensive perfume.
‘How are you, Eunice? Did you get through that enormous pile of books from last month?’
‘I certainly did. The Jilly Cooper one was delightful.’
Steph grinned at her. It didn’t seem to matter how old someone was, they still loved a steamy romance novel. ‘I’ll have to see what else I can find for you if you enjoyed that.’
‘I could quite easily spend all my time reading about Mr Campbell-Black, but I do need a little more variety over the course of a month.’
‘Quite right, Eunice. Variety is the spice of life and all that.’
Steph loved to try and anticipate what her regular customers might like and often loaded the van with them in mind. She had chucked the Jilly Cooper in as an antidote to the regency romances and sagas that Eunice favoured, just to see what she would think.
‘We’re starting a book club on the mobile library,’ said Steph as she poured a modest cup of tea for each of them.
‘I’ve always thought about joining a book club but it’s difficult to get out in the evenings. How wonderful to have one here.’ Eunice leant towards Steph, conspiratorially. ‘The only thing is, it won’t be much of a club with just me, will it?’
Steph laughed. ‘You’re not my only customer, Eunice. I expect Dottie will be along in a minute with little Bert. Anyway, this book club is different, so you just need to find one person who has read the same book as you and you have coffee – or tea – with them and chat about it. I’m sure you and Dottie can agree on a book together.’
‘Oh, we will, Steph. What a lovely idea.’
Steph was glad that Eunice thought so. She had less faith that the idea would work on the mobile library but wanted to support Lois, however misguided she thought it was to be trying to improve a library that was about to close. But if her customers were interested enough to read the books, it was a start. Most people loved book clubs because it forced them out of their comfort zone enabling them to discover new authors and genres that they’d never have considered before. That was the main thing.
‘It’s Croftwood Library that’s organising it.’
‘I read in the newspaper that it was closing.’
‘It is supposed to be, but the new librarian is trying to drag it into the twenty-first century and this is one of her ideas.’
‘It’s fabulous. What do I need to do to join?’
‘Just choose one of these books, see what Dottie thinks too. Seeing as the two of you are my regulars at this stop it makes sense for you to do it together.’ Steph thought of Bill at the Old Station Road stop and wondered how it would work for him. If he even wanted to join in, that was.
Steph put all three books in front of Eunice so that she could choose her favourite, then began emptying the books out of Eunice’s shopping bag and checking them back into the system.
They heard Dottie arrive before they saw her. Two-year-old Bert was apparently not happy about something and was screaming.
‘If you stop crying, we can choose some new books,’ Steph heard Dottie saying to him as she let him out of his pushchair, leaving it outside.
‘No!’
She appeared at the top of the stairs with an apologetic look as the quiet solace of the van filled with Bert’s screams.
‘Sorry. I think he’ll be okay in a minute once I can distract him. Sorry,’ she said again, ‘I’ve left our books in the bottom of the pushchair.’
‘No problem, I’ll get them,’ said Steph, grateful to nip out of the van for a few seconds of respite from the noise.
Once Bert was sat on the floor beside the picture books along with a tub of carrot sticks which Dottie produced from her bag, he was back to a normal volume and Dottie, looking highly relieved, gratefully accepted a cup of tea from Steph while keeping one eye on her son.
‘How are you, Eunice?’ she asked warmly.
‘I’m very well, thank you, Dottie. Two is a tricky age, isn’t it?’ she said, with a glint in her eye.
‘Oh goodness, you just don’t know what you’re going to come up against from one minute to the next,’ she said with an exhausted sigh. ‘And with Nick away so much, well it’s just…challenging. And living in the village makes it difficult to meet other mums.’
Steph really felt for her. She knew that Dottie lived in a big house which had been done up when they moved to the village. It was a lovely place to live but probably too quiet for people who had upped sticks from London. And rattling around there with Bert when her husband was away so much, well, she must be lonely.
‘There used to be a playgroup at the Village Hall on Friday mornings,’ said Eunice. ‘Does that still go on?’
