THE JOURNEY HOME

PEARL II (CONTINUED)

She heard a burst of beautiful tingling laughter and knew a joke had been made at her expense. 

'I'm sorry' the lady put a hand over her mouth to stifle the rest of her laughter that came fitfully. 

'I'm sorry' she said again in between peals of laughter. 

'So there's no contest?' 

'Of course not!' the beautiful joker replied. 

'You can call me Suzy, by the way'

'I'm Pearl' Pearl responded and they shook hands. She then proceeded to ask about the book that Suzy was reading. It was a romance novel that Suzy dissected with all the skills of a practised surgeon. She went in-depth into the struggles of each character and was still trying to explain the morale behind Faya's poisoning of her pregnant sister, Emeralda when the elderly librarian walked in. 

Mrs Harry made a beeline for the counter where Benjamin was, barely noticing Pearl or Suzy. After answering some basic questions about how the library had been when she was gone, Benjamin mentioned the two volunteers. 

Upon hearing her name, Pearl perked up and prepared to inform the librarian of her contact. Although the librarian might take both of them, there was no telling if she would choose. She didn't want to disobey Mrs Rose by failing to qualify.

The librarian turned and asked 

'Is this true? Do both of you want to work here?' 

'Yes ma, it's always been my dream to work in this place' came Suzy's response. 

'Really, what's your name? You're not from around here, are you? I don't think I've seen you before.' 

'It's Suzy, and you're right, I'm not from around here. I came to Lorpat to start afresh' she said, her voice nearly a plea. 

'I see' the librarian said, then turned to Pearl. Pearl, who was more conversant with the librarian tried to garner favour with the elderly woman with a singularly dimpled smile. She felt that she could use the fact that Mrs Harry was almost like her grandmother to her advantage but Mrs Harry's face remained grave. 

'And why have you suddenly decided to join us? You have been here all this while, what's your excuse?' 

Pearl was stunned by the question, she had never felt anything like resentment from Mrs. Harry due to her refusal to volunteer before, she had occasionally mentioned it, but that was all. Could Mrs Harry have been secretly nursing a grudge? 

'I was sent by Mrs. Rose' she started with what she thought to be her trump card, her contact. 

'Who's that?' Came the librarian's answer. That witch had set her up. She would have been better off just acting like she suddenly gained interest or something. Now, she looked like a complete idiot.

'It's the new biology professor' she stuttered her voice dying away. Mrs. Harry's grimace showed her disapproval. It seemed like a complete foreigner just suggested something to Pearl and she went along with it meanwhile, Mrs Harry had been trying to convince Pearl to volunteer for aeons and she never did. As though Pearl thought so little of the elderly librarian's opinion.

'Of course, I won't be biased in my choice' she said pointedly looking at Pearl. 'You will both be tested and whoever passes, will be hired'.

A test? Benjamin never mentioned a test. Pearl stole a glance at him and he looked away.

Mrs Harry went into the library for some moments, calling Benjamin to follow her,  leaving Pearl to wonder what the nature of the test would be. Suzy was jittery beside her.