Mrs. B really was a lovely woman, but early on, she scared me. She was a formidable woman: the guardian of the gates, the keeper of the keys, the dragon guarding the horde of knowledge. She seemed to wear a perpetual scowl. She waged a constant war on noise and damage to the school's precious collection of books.
But, she saw something in me.
I'll never forget the day I was in the library, digging through the stacks, peeking around corners to make sure that I wasn't caught -- either by her or by the other kids. I caught a lot of flack from the other kids for my reading habits.
I was voracious.
So, I watched for them, and I watched for her, but I couldn't watch everywhere. She knew the place better than I did. She knew how to walk the Ways.
She appeared behind me. "Angle," (of course, she used my real name, but you can't) "Angle," she said with her disapproving look, "Are you looking for something?"
I nodded. I was too afraid of her to answer otherwise.
"You looking for a book?"
Another nod. (I wonder if she thought at this point if I might be a little slow.)
"Come here. I think I've got something you might be interested in."
That day was the beginning. She started giving me new books, asking me what I thought.
As Rick said: "It was the start of a beautiful relationship."
More to come!
