Frozen Coffee on Library

Solomon Bensalem

April 17, 2012 2:46 AM

Frozen Coffee by Solomon Bensalem

The book was as normal as any other to Solomon as he picked it up from the shelves at the Library. It wasn’t but one of the first few days there at Sonora and nothing but his strong desire to understand his surroundings had gotten him to leave his room. He was lonely for home, yes, but he also knew that he would have to get over it if he wanted to help his village to become even more wonderful for the generations to come than it was for him.

His tall and lanky frame made it very hard for him to move, so he often tripped over his own two feet and his curly black hair was in a sort of afro. He felt as if he was oddly proportioned and many people outside of his small village had called him dopey. Those were only some of the things that made the boy not want to leave his room in the big place called Sonora.

Those that didn’t see him as dopey, saw his skin the color of coffee set off with light cream and his eyes of the same tint with the exception of a few green flecks in them. They called him handsome and wished him the best of luck in his new endeavors. They were his family, his friends and he missed them terribly. The one thing I don’t miss… he thought as he turned the pages of the book in front of him that he’d picked off the shelf about the Isla Ángel de la Guarda. He smiled just thinking about home and his white teeth sparkled in the light of the room. He turned to the first page and what he saw made him freeze in terror.

The Angel Island Speckled Rattlesnake in the picture was moving and its tongue moved fast towards the boy. The sound of the rattle brought the boy back into reality and he slammed the book shut with a snap so loud that it could have woken a sleeping giant.

His hard breaths and the recent memory brought tears to his be-speckled eyes as he remembered how a snake just like the one he’d just seen in the picture had bit him when he was little. He wiped his face hard with his shaking left hand to be sure that he wasn’t crying out in public but that movement only made the situation worse in his own mind. Solomon now remembered that he could not feel anything in either his pinky or ring fingers.

The only thing I don’t miss, was that. he repeated softly and then finally finished as his small black kitten, Tiburón wove around his legs. Tib’s tail tickled through his thin moccasins worn on his feet. They were his grandfather’s old moccasins which were a present to him for going to school. At home, he never wore shoes. Here at school he knew that he was supposed to, but he’d truly rather not. Solomon, however, was going to follow the rules for classes and things of that regard. He was told he must, by his grandfather, the Chief. I must listen to Grandfather. he thought to himself as he heard someone shout for whoever was making all that noise to be quiet.

He zipped his lips and padded towards the door back out of the library. He pulled off his moccasins and carried them in his hands so that he could move faster. Almost to the door he knocked into a tall pile of books and the whole bunch went thudding to the floor. Another yell in his direction and he froze.

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Angel Shield

April 20, 2012 5:00 AM

... by Angel Shield

Angel had never been fond of the library. The large towering shelves full of books whose words were so difficult to fathom always seemed to press in on the young albino. It made the large room feel more like a crowded broom closet than the grand room it truly was. After a year of one on one tutoring with Dulce, Angel had become resigned to the claustrophobia inducing room. Now, even before he was called there by Dulce, he found himself lingering in its confines, his bare feet made no sound as he paced though the stacks to reacquaint himself with the dreaded books. Another year of bitter struggle with quills, parchment, and the inherent difficulties of communication.

The normal muffled quiet was shattered by a loud THUMP of someone slamming a book shut. The noise was quickly followed by a shout to keep quiet which caused Angel to cringe slightly and lighten his steps even more. Curiosity led the pale boy’s bare feet as he edged around one of the book shelves in time to see a darkly shaded boy stand. His blood colored eyes watched intently as the stranger bent and pulled off his shoes to carry them instead of wearing them on his feet. A soft hum of approval escaped the albino as his own naked toes curled lightly against the soft carpet.

Shoes were terribly uncomfortable to Angel, and last term he’d found that no one seemed to notice his lack. For outside activities he knew a pair of charms that would protect the soles of his feet and heat them so that he didn’t get frost bite if there was snow. Usually he only used the heating charm, seems he didn’t like the muffled feeling he got when using the protective one. It was…pleasant seeing another student who apparently didn’t have a fondness for footwear.

Before Angel could observe anything else of interest about the dark boy he left. Or at least he attempted to, on his way out he bumped into a large stack of books, sending them crashing to the ground in a wave of noise that earned him another yell. Angel reacted without thinking. Quickly he padded over and began to gather the books up without giving the dark boy a glance, hoping that the other would take the opportunity to leave so he wouldn’t get in trouble.

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Midnight the Library Cat (and Librarian Miss Diaz)

April 24, 2012 11:59 AM

What a commotion! by Midnight the Library Cat (and Librarian Miss Diaz)

Midnight enjoyed being the library cat. She could laze around in patches of sunlight - some real, some magically conjured - that streamed from the windows. She could chase insects, the occasional desert mouse, and sometimes she'd go after a prairie elf just for fun. It was a quiet environment, and her mistress was forced to shower Midnight with affection whenever the feline chose to sprawl herself across whatever book or paper happened to be distracting her attention at the time. Sometimes Midnight would let the other students fuss her, too - usually the older students, because some of the younger boys and girls could be too enthusiastic, and Midnight would like to keep her fur in tact, thank you very much. Sometimes the students would bring other cats into the library, and Midnight usually didn't mind, so long as the visitors realized precisely whose territory they had entered into. For the past four years the library had been Midnight's home, and she wasn't above a vicious swiping claw or two to make sure her domain remained sacred.

Generally, Midnight was a very happy cat. She had spent some time this morning sitting in shadows, concealed there by her black fur, and strutting out when it would most surprise a passer-by. Then she had chased an imaginary butterfly for a while until she had used up her energy, and since then she'd been lying atop a table on yesterday's newspaper, dozing peacefully. She was not at all impressed, therefore, when she was woken by a couple of loud human noises and then the sound of tumbling books. Eager to find those responsible and glare them out of her territory, Midnight stretched briefly and then lightly hoppped off the table, landing silently on the floor, and fluidly progressing into a rapid trot until she countered the source of her distrubance. There were two young boys by a pile of books, and a small black kitten. Distracted from the boys for the moment, Midnight sat next to the younger cat and bopped it ruefully on the head with her paw. Not enough to hurt, but sufficient to let the rascal know that this sort of behaviour would not be tolerated.

Meanwhile, Midnight's mistress, who likewise had black fur (or what passed for fur on humans, anyway - they usually referred to it as hair and clothes), had also hurried over to the boys. With a quick flick of her wand she'd righted the pile of books, and was asking if either of them was hurt. Midnight let out a loud yowling miaow, to show that if they had been hurt it would be their own fault for messing around in her library.

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Solomon

April 28, 2012 12:51 AM

Did I do that? by Solomon

Solomon had frozen in his spot. The shoeless boy in front of him must have heard the kerfuffle and come to either help him or gloat on his stupidity of making that much noise in the library of all places. Solomon wasn’t sure which but he’d sincerely hoped it was the former rather than the latter. His grandfather’s old moccasins fell out of his hands and landed right next to Tib on the floor and the eleven year old boy had a feeling he was about to be in serious trouble.

The books still lay on the floor and the boy with the red eyes walked over and started picking up some of the books off the floor while Solomon stood there shaking in his shoe-less feet. I’ve only just got to school and I’ve already failed Grandfather… he thought as his mind reeled and told him that he would get sent back home to the Island as a failure to his people.

Tib pushed the moccasins towards Solomon’s feet with his nose and saw that another cat was walking towards them. Tib looked at it and it bopped him on the head. The kitten looked at the bigger cat, then up at the still frozen Solomon and back down to the cat again as if to tell it to leave his boy alone.

A dark shadow landed across the lighter colored boy’s back and Solomon shook visibly now. Now he KNEW he was in trouble. Oh my gods… Please don’t let them send me home a disgrace! he thought as she asked the boys if they were okay. Maybe she won’t send me packing?

“Uhm…” the boy said, still shaking in his footwear-less feet.

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Angel

April 28, 2012 11:08 PM

... by Angel

Angel noticed the black cat before he noticed the Librarian. The creature was one that he enjoyed watching in the times when studying became too frustrating. Sometimes, he would even approach it and it would permit him to touch its dark fur. The soft warmth was something the pale boy enjoyed and it hadn’t taken too long to figure out how best to touch. It didn’t care for him to brush the dark fur backwards, but the other way seemed acceptable.

The cat’s focus wasn’t on the albino today, but on the tiny version of cat that followed the dark boy around. Angel’s head tilted slightly as he watched the larger feline bop the smaller on the head. While he was watching the cats, the books took care of themselves, leaving him with only a single heavy tome in his thin fingered grasp. Quickly he scrambled to his feet and set the book on the table with the rest. Angel’s relationship with the librarian wasn’t the best due to the fact that he was terribly messy when he studied. After hours of study, the floor around the albino was usually cluttered with balled up parchment, half shredded quill bits plucked by frustrated fingers, and a liberal amount of ink splotched on both boy and table. In short, any time he did his school work in the library, a small disaster resulted.

But, the fact that he was trying probably harder than most students just to achieve a passing grade, taking hours longer on each assignment than the rest of the students, was likely the only thing that kept him from being kicked out of the library all together. “No.” He murmured in his soft Georgian monotone as he stared at the floor, his naked toes neatly hidden by too large robes.

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