Chapter 13 #3
“I ran.” He bent down so as not to be overheard. “I kid, I never run. I asked for a ride. Someone said the Douche Nozzle got himself some kind of campaign manager, so I had to be here. You can’t appear to be outnumbered.”
“Lachlan…” Paloma shook her head.
“Lachlan, nothing. He’s got a manager, you’ve got a manager. He’s got his bimbo wife with him, you’ve got your tomboy ginger cat of a girlfriend with you.”
“Hey!” Deryn protested.
“Are you going to deny it, Crowhart?” Lachlan tried to raise an eyebrow but failed, lifting both at the same time. It made him look startled instead of the haughtiness he was evidently shooting for. Adorable.
“I do. If anything, this is a ‘black cat, golden retriever’ sort of thing, Vesely. So, I renounce the ginger cat comparisons.”
Lachlan was about to launch into a protest when Judge Astor gaveled the meeting of the Library Board open. After the acceptance of the minutes from the previous meeting and roll call, he began with the first and only subject on the agenda.
“The Board has received fifteen challenges to the library catalog. We are hereby convened to discuss and decide on said challenges. Yes, Councilwoman Crowhart?”
Ceridwen stood, which Paloma considered to be a smart strategic move. As the Board members were seated, they weren’t visible to the entire assembly room, since it was full to the rafters by this point, with people sitting on the floor and standing along the walls.
“Your Honor, I believe this is an open attack on our library, on our children, and on our very freedoms. How many of these challenges will we allow? Something needs to be done.”
Shouts of “Hear! Hear!” Rang out from all over the assembly room.
From the front seats, a voice that Paloma recognized sounded, filled with a touch of humor. Humor so misplaced that Paloma thought surely it was just a bad strategy to even speak up.
“Councilwoman Crowhart, while I join you in the expressed sentiment, I fear that, given the sensitive nature of the challenges, it is best that they remain anonymous. Surely, we don’t want to know why someone doesn’t want some purple prose and bedroom scenes on bookshelves.”
John Moss laughed, Gerard Depardon’t joined him in guffawing. Next to Paloma, Deryn tensed. Lachlan cracked his knuckles.
Judge Astor hit his gavel.
“Order, Mr. Moss.”
“I apologize, Your Honor, but surely this is all a bit too much noise and a waste of time over nothing. The good citizens of Crow’s Nest care about the economy of the town, about the opportunities that a mayor could open for them, and not about…
How do the kids call it these days? Smut?
I don’t know a single soul who reads these books—”
Deryn’s tension reminded Paloma of a coiled spring. She didn’t know what the woman would do, but she anticipated the arrival of a breaking point.
It did indeed arrive, but not with Deryn losing her cool. Victoria jumped to her feet.
“And what business is it of yours what people read? Since when is it up to you? When was the last time you opened a book, Johnny boy? As for smut, I can recommend a few titles to you. Might give you a few moves, you limp-dicked asshat.”
“Mrs. Crowhart-Moreau!”
Judge Astor slammed the gavel down hard, even as the entire assembly erupted in laughter.
Paloma took a step forward, letting go of Deryn’s hand, and she deliberately lowered her voice when she spoke. The silence settled around her immediately, the crowd desperate to hear.
“With due respect, Your Honor, before we even begin to discuss the currently challenged titles, which would make it fifty-nine since the Board received the first anonymous complaints, I would like to ask why the Board is accepting such challenges in the first place?” She cleared her throat, now certain every eye was on her, and turned to face Moss directly.
“It’s not for any one of us to judge what grown adults are reading, and unless one is a parent, they aren’t in a position to dictate to any child but one’s own.
Taste is subjective, and people who don’t read have no taste at all. ”
Moss’s dumb smirk didn’t waver. Paloma highly suspected he was not at all understanding her, the insults too subtle for his stupidity.
She went on. “The library is public. It belongs to everyone on the island. Thus, we, as citizens of Crow’s Nest, cannot accept being subjected to cowardly, anonymous challenges any longer.
Either the Board—which the town elected to take care of its library—votes to strike this procedural clause from the Board’s statutes, or this town shall elect a new Board which will fulfill the fiduciary duty of caretaking over a public institution with seriousness and true care. ”
The applause was raucous. Behind her, she could feel Deryn standing close enough that her body heat was both a comfort and a support.
She didn’t touch Paloma, but she was there, and for the first time since they struck their agreement, Paloma regretted it.
For the first time, she wished someone would be there for her.
Truly. No strings and no NDAs. Deryn smiled and held out her hand, and Paloma felt tears prick her eyes.
Still, she smiled back, with hundreds of people watching, and took the proffered hand. A deal was a deal.