The Librarian

by Sbusiso Mnguni

I wonder what happened to the librarian, I mean the real librarian who knew where all the books were, I couldn't get much help when I walked in here, there was a lady sitting in a desk facing the detectors in the little hallway from the entrance. It's a tiny desk, big enough for one person, with a pile of books and a tall glass of water which I thought was just for show, noticing that it was still full to the brim. I greeted the lady who just gave me an unflossed grin and excruciatingly stuck her face to the screen of her phone, I dropped my rucksack on the counter and went to the lady and asked her to point me to where I'd find a collection of flash fiction, particularly by Lydia Davis. She panicked and stammered, which caught me off guard because of how poised she was in her desk. She called for a certain lady, who apparently was a new volunteer so she couldn't be of much help and asked the lady to call the book lady as she referred to her who was on lunch. I waited for the book lady and when she finally arrived, she gave me a bullshit story about new and old books being cramped together, blah, blah, blah... so I gave up and went to the far end corner of the study hall and sat there with my thoughts.

6S

Sbusiso Mnguni is a freelance writer who enjoys writing flash fiction, nonfiction and poetry. He takes pleasure in experimenting with form.