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Albert Corn had not always been in charge of the desk but he had decided he would rather be a minion than someone like Agatha who was always bustling about that library of hers. In his own way Albert felt that he was helping people just as much. He was the first person people met, after all. He always tried to have a cherry disposition and for someone who never slept he was particularly chipper. Even when he had been alive Albert had always been quite content with life.

Tonight was no exception. Albert knew something important would happen. This was made apparent when Agatha came walking out of the library as though she were on a mission. He stood as she approached; Albert was surprised at how fast Agatha walked for someone with such legs. She saw the smile he was giving her and smiled in spite of herself.

“He’s coming tonight,” Agatha said.

“Now?”

“Soon, so get your desk organized and empty that bin!”

Agatha went back to the library and Albert got to work on his desk. It wasn’t that he was a messy person but he was in charge of all the paperwork for each person that came through and he had let it stack up around his desk. He picked up a stack of files from the floor, put them on top of the file cabinet, and picked up the first file. Moss, Kaylee Joan. He smiled as he leafed through Kaylee’s file. She had come through not too long ago. Nice girl. American if he could remember straight and he usually could.

Soon he had at least half the files put away. He was working on a rather tall stack when a large black raven landed on the coat rack. The bird cocked his head to one side, cawed, and then flew off down the corridor back into the dark. A few moments later Albert could hear the sound of shoes echoing on the cobblestone floor. Should he turn to greet their visitor or should he stay busy, pretending he had not noticed? He turned to face the tall figure that had stopped by his desk. The man was only a few inches taller than Albert himself but he might as well have been two feet taller for all the presence he carried with him. His dark wispy hair looked like it wanted to take flight on the wind.

“Good evening, Lord Morpheuous,” Albert said, bowing as low as he could. To be honest, he felt quite foolish.

“Mr. Corn, “the Prince of Dreams said, “You need not bow.” His voice was booming yet it soothed Albert’s nerves like a cup of Agatha’s tea. Albert straightened, smiling nervously. “Things are slow tonight, aren’t they?”

“Oh, I suppose, sir,” Albert told him. “Agatha gave me all these things to file.” He turned to show off his file cabinet and his foot knocked over the waste bin, sending balled up paper and used tissues scattering across the floor. Albert immediately bent down to pick up the mess and banged his head on the desk. “Shit!” he said a bit louder than he would have liked. He quickly cleaned up the mess and put the bin next to the filling cabinet. “Sorry about that,” he said guiltily, “Agatha’s been after me about that for days.” Morpheuous simply chuckled.

“Albert!” Agatha’s voice carried down the corridor from the door of the Library. “Are you talking Lord Morpheuous’s ear off down there?”

“Afraid you’re missing out, Agatha dear?” Albert said sweetly, using Agatha’s term for everyone she came in contact with.

“No, Albert darling,” Agatha said, matching his tone, “Just concerned.”

Albert led Lord Morpheuous down the hall to the double doors of the Library where Agatha waited impatiently. The Library only had a few people in it scattered among the geometric tables in the room. There was a woman in a red cocktail dress drawing dutifully; a man in a business suit with a stack of papers next to him; an old man sat at the table in the far right corner with a young child on his lap and they were flipping through a photo album together. Albert wished he shared Agatha’s gift for reading people like the many books she tended.

“Albert, dear,” Agatha said, “why don’t you fetch the tea trolley for us?” Turning to Lord Morpheuous she said, “I find tea helps clear the mind and settle the soul.” Lord Morpheuous nodded his agreement. “Thank you, Albert, dear!” She shewed him off and began to walk Lord Morpheuous around the Library. Albert went to the front of the room by Agatha’s desk and rolled the trolley out of the closet. The pots and cups rattled as he pushed the trolley along from one table to the next.

“This is me in the Army,” the old man was telling the child as Albert rolled the trolley to them. “That’s my buddy Bob Kit.”

“Did you ever fight in a war?” the child asked, moving closer to her gradnfather.

“Korea,” he answered sadly.

“And Bob? Did he fight, too?” As Albert set out the cups of tea he saw a tear roll down the old man’s face.

“Bob, too,” he said. Albert handed the man a small packet of tissues and moved on to the next table. The woman in the red cocktail dress sat bent over her book, which was red as well. She had a set of coloured pencils out and was sketching an elaborate green ball gown. When Albert set down her tea cup she looked up at him beaming.

“I do all my best brainstorming asleep,” she said, holding out her book to Albert. “What do you think? Too flashy?”

“It’s a beautiful dress, madam,” Albert took the book in his hands to examine it more closely. “You might add a ruffle here, though.” He pointed to the picture.

“Brilliant!” the woman said. She quickly began sketching again, completely forgetting Albert. Albert moved on to the business man’s table.

By now the man had paper spread all over his table and Albert had to clear a spot off for the tea. Just as he set down the tea cup the business man’s arm whirled around to grab a piece of paper and sent the tea cup flying across the table; liquid got on most of the papers.

“Oh bloody hell!” The man jumped up and quickly began to blot up the tea. Albert tried to help but was pushed aside. “I think you’ve done enough, don’t you?” Albert pushed the cart away, deciding the man needed something stronger than tea – a scotch maybe or a lobotomy. He thought he might talk to Agatha about the scotch.

Once the cart had been put back in its proper place – Agatha was very particular about these things – he wondered back to his desk. There wasn’t much do to after he finished filing so he took out a book he’d been reading. He was in the middle of “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka. Albert could remember the man from when he had frequented the Library. Nice chap.

¤

Albert stood at his desk leafing through a stack of files in his arms. He glanced up when he heard the clicking of heals on the cobblestone floor. It was the Woman in the Red Dress. When she saw Albert she smiled at him wiggling her fingers under her chin in a hello. Albert did the same. As she passed, Albert moved to the filing cabinets with his now alphabetized stack and opened the drawer until it reached all the way across the hallway.

“Zungoli, Zungoli,” he muttered as he fumbled through the files at the back of the drawer. Behind him he could hear the tapping of a loafered foot. He chose to ignore it and continued filing. “Ziegler.” The tapping got louder. “Zielinski.” Behind him someone cleared their throat and he continued to ignore them.

“Excuse me, sir!” Albert looked around behind him and saw a very annoyed man in a business suite glaring at him.

“Oh hello!” Albert said, as if he hadn’t known the man had been there the whole time. “Good evening. How may I help you?”

“You can start,” Business Man said, through clenched teeth, “ by moving this damn drawer so I can pass.”

“Of course, sir,” Albert set the files on top pf the cabinet, walked over to where the man was, and pushed the drawer in so the man could pass. “Have a good night, sir.” The man muttered something under his breath as he passed. Albert ignored him and went back to filing. Once he had finished he closed the drawer, stretched his long body toward the ceiling, and sat at his desk ready to delve into his book again but the sound of shattering glass could suddenly be heard coming from the Library. Quickly, he got up and went to see what had happened.

“Why don’t you watch what you’re doing?!” Business Man demanded, glaring at the Woman in the Red Dress.

“I’m terribly sorry,” she said as she mopped up wet papers that had already been stained tea brown from a few nights before. “I tripped on your foot. I’ll clean it up.” The Business Man yanked the papers out of her hand which made some of them tear.

“Look at what you’ve done! Maybe if you were paying attention to what you were doing instead of looking at your stupid drawings this wouldn’t have happened!” The woman’s face was red with embarrassment. She said something apologetic and moved back to her table. Albert thought she looked like a little girl clutching her book.

“You mustn’t let him get to you, dear,” Agatha said soothingly, “You do beautiful work, Malinda.” The woman’s face brightened and she went back to her sketches. It wasn’t long though, before she took her book to Agatha’s desk and left wiping away her tears.

As Albert left the Library to go back to his desk he past the grandfather and his granddaughter looking at a photo album. The little girl was pointing to a picture of a small boy wearing a Goofy t-shirt and a red baseball hat. In his hand was a small red bat.

“Is that Daddy?” the girl asked.

“Yes, it is. That’s him when he was your age. Bob wore that hat everywhere.”

“Did you name him after your friend Bob?”

“Yes,” the grandfather said. Albert thought the old man’s eyes had the look of being far off.

“Why don’t you tell me about your friend?” his granddaughter asked.

“Not now, honey. Why don’t I tell you a funny story about your father and that hat of his instead?”

¤

“I don’t remember Ms. Fisk,” Albert called down to Agatha who stood by a nearby table with a box full of books. Albert stood on the ladder with a dull pink book in his hand. The spine of it read Netty Fisk. Carefully he slid the book in between two grey volumes.

“Her great-granddaughter comes here now,” Agatha said, “Charming girl; going to be a writer one of these days if she can get her act together.” Albert had to laugh to himself. Agatha had a way of reading people that he never understood but every now and then she shared her “readings” with Albert and they were usually very opinionated. “I’m sending the next one up, dear.” The book in Agatha’s hand floated up to Albert and he caught it. “I do appreciate you helping me. The ladder can be tricky for me sometimes.”

“No problem,” Albert said brightly.

“Can you two keep the loud chatting to a minimum please?” asked Business Man, who sat at the table Agatha was standing by. Albert looked down at him.

“Terribly sorry,” Albert said, “it must be hard to add up all those numbers with a calculator when people are carrying on a conversation.” Malinda, who sat one table over, laughed out loud. When Business Man saw her she covered her mouth with her hand but kept laughing just as loud as before. Albert thought she looked like a girl he had known once when he was about ten. She laughed at everything and that’s the way Malinda was. Albert also noticed that Malinda had started using crayons more than her standard coloured pencils.

Albert and Agatha finished the box they were on just as the old man walked into the Library carrying a shoe box. Agatha went over to him and helped him find his book as Albert climbed down off the ladder. Albert wondered over to where the old man sat. The man was going through the things in the box which turned out to be photographs.

“How’s the photo album coming?” Albert asked.

“It’s difficult,” the man said, “So many memories.” Albert picked up a photo of a boy in an officer’s uniform. On the back was a name: Henry Foster.

“Is this you?”

“Yes,” said Henry. “I had just arrived in Korea and I got my friend Bob to take a picture of me to send back to my mother. Here’s one of both of us.” Henry pointed to a photograph in his book. It was of him and another boy both in their uniforms. They couldn’t have been more than twenty years old.

“Were you two stationed together?”

“Yes.”

¤

Albert and Agatha were sitting at Agatha’s desk drinking tea and talking when –

“LEAVE ME THE BLOODY HELL ALONE!”

The two jumped to their feet in time to see the Business Man toss Malinda’s pencils and crayons across the room.

“I’m sorry, sir,” Malinda was saying, “I just thought you’d –“

“SORRY! Sorry? I don’t care about ‘sorry’! What I care about is being left ALONE! You can’t even draw. You’re using crayons for God’s sake! I wouldn’t mind your constant nagging nearly as much if you had any TALENT!” Malinda sunk back into her chair clutching her book.

“I am sorry,” she said and turned herself back to her table. Agatha motioned for Albert to collect the crayons and pencils Business Man had thrown across the room and she went to poor Malinda who was now crying over her book trying not make too much noise. As Albert went about the room picking things up – most of the crayons had snapped in two – he saw Business Man gathering his things up and begin to walk briskly toward the door. Just as he was about two feet from it Albert stood up straight to his full height and blocked the doorway.

“Excuse me, sir,” Business Man said through clenched teeth. Albert just stared down at him with no expression on his face. Business Man broke eye contact and shoved passed Albert.

¤

Albert sat at his desk reading a book. It was a new one by some author he had never heard of but he found that he quite liked. Suddenly he read a small voice say, “Excuse me, mister.” Albert put his book down and saw a little girl standing in front of his desk clutching a doll.

“Yes, miss,” Albert said.

“I’m lost,” the little girl said.

“You’ve come to the right place, miss. Here, take my hand and I’ll bring you to Agatha.” The little girl took Albert’s hand and he led her the rest of the way down the hall and into the Library. There they found Agatha up on a ladder. “Agatha, we have a visitor.” Agatha looked down from her perch and smiled.

“Hello, dear,” Agatha said warmly, “Forgive me, but you look familiar. Have you been here before?”

“I think so,” the little girl said, “I’m not sure.”

“Well, since I’m up here give me your name and we’ll see if we can find you.”

“Rosa, ma’am.” the little girl said, “Malinda Rosa.”