The Wishmonger, Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

THE KEY IN THE LIBRARY BASEMENT

“Roger, Roger wake up, Honey. Joey’s on the phone for you.” Roger’s mother sat on the bed next to him holding out the cordless phone.

He sat up and rubbed his eyes. The alarm clock on his bedside table said ten to nine. He cleared his throat and took the phone. “Thanks, Mom, I got it,” he waited for his mother to leave the room before he put the phone to his ear, “Dude, where have you been?”

“ I told you we were going to get my new chair tuned. Can’t wait for you to see it!” Joey said.

“Wait until you hear what’s been going on here!” Roger gushed. He couldn’t wait to introduce Joey to Matthias and show him the fountain, “give me fifteen minutes to get dressed and pack a lunch and I’ll be right over.”

Roger dressed quickly and grabbed his backpack,
“Mom, I’m headed over to Joey’s!” Roger rushed through the kitchen throwing together sandwiches, some fruit and several bottles of water.

His mother looked up from her puzzle magazine “Ssshh! Your Father is sleeping in for the first time in modern history, please don’t wake him.”

“Sorry,” he grabbed his jacket from the coat closet and pecked his Mom on the cheek.

“You boy’s have a good time, all right?” his mother took a sip of her herbal tea, and yawned.

Roger flew down the driveway, his wheels left the ground as he cleared the curb. Joey lived two blocks away. He had pointed out which house it was on their tour of the town.

When Roger got there, Joey was waiting on the driveway, basketball in hand, “Watch this,” he laughed maneuvering through a one handed three sixty wheelie and sinking a left handed hook shot, nothing but net.

“Hey, move over and let me try that thing,” Roger said. Joey’s tan complexion and dark hair made a strong contrast with Roger’s blonde hair and green eyes. Joey tossed him the ball and Roger drove for the hoop trying to take it easy on his new friend, it wasn’t necessary.

Joey swooped in and neatly snatched the ball. “What do you think?” Joey asked wheeling around to put
up a perfect shot from near three point range.

“Where’s the jet pack? No, seriously it’s really cool. You ready to go? I got a lot to tell you.”

Joey wheeled into the garage and came back with a pipe frame that looked like a miniature car dolly, with two inflatable tires and straps on top, “This is something Jack’s dad came up with if you want to try it. It hitches under your seat and under the front of my chair. Otherwise, I’ll keep up as I can.”

Roger accepted the front end of the frame, and following Joey’s instructions had the hitch attached to his seat post in no time. Joey popped his front wheels up and let them drop onto the plate between the wheels of the dolly, and they were ready to go. The two boys spent a few minutes perfecting their system of travel with Joey assisting with steering and brakes when needed. Roger picked it up fairly quickly with a few pointers from Joey.

After leaving a note for Joey’s mom they were ready to go. They raced down the streets of Wishful, Joey greeted friends and neighbors as they went. When they reached the square Roger looked for a quiet place to park. They bought a breakfast of cinnamon rolls and OJ from a food kiosk and settled on a bench a little off the beaten path. Sometimes Joey preferred to get out of the chair and share a bench, but not today.

After a couple of bites of roll and some juice Roger launched into his story. “Okay, remember what old man Winters said to you last year? About,” he looked around cautiously, “You know?”

Joey looked at Roger cautiously, “The fountain? Yeah, I remember, what about it?”

Roger told his tale quickly and within ten minutes he had filled Joey in on all the details.

“Whoah! So, it’s really there? Does it work? Did you make a wish yet?” Joey was practically yelling.

“Sshh! Someone will hear you. That’s all I need is a citation for inciting public wishing! Besides I thought this stuff made you nervous.”

Joey laughed again, “There’s no one near us, anyway it’s the festival, so, technically wishing is allowed, right?”

Roger smiled, embarrassed at this overreaction, “First of all we don’t know if it works. We still need the key, remember?”

“Oh yeah, the riddle, ask and receive and all that. Who are you supposed to ask?” Joey looked at his friend.

“You just reminded me. The library, come on!” Roger jumped from the bench and headed for the library. Joey fell in beside him and Roger gave him the details of his latest dream. The two boys made their way up to the front entrance of the library.

“So, what we’re looking for is a door, some kind of entrance where we can get into the basement. Oh, sorry, I guess you might not be able to get down there.”

“Don’t apologize, it’s cool, you be the legs, I’ll be the brains.” Joey rolled past Roger into the library and they made their way up to the desk. The town librarian, Mrs. Mulrooney, wasn’t in today and her assistant had no idea where the door to the basement might be, and no interest in helping them find it.

“Whatever you do, be quiet and don’t disturb the other patrons.” She snapped. The boys looked around the empty library and laughed to themselves as they headed off to begin their search. Joey suggested they begin their search in the adult non fiction section since it was the area he had spent the least amount of time in.

As they moved further into the stacks the light from the feeble overhead fixtures became less. Roger suggested the two boys split up, he took the right aisle and Joey headed left. Immediately Roger came upon a door , maybe this was it. His pulse raced as he turned the knob and swung open the door to reveal…a broom closet. He closed the door and continued down the aisle.

The next opening was draped with a heavy velvet curtain and contained a passage to the other side of the library, the men’s restroom and a staircase leading up to the town records hall, but no stairs leading down, as far as
Roger could see.

As Roger exited the curtain he narrowly missed being run down by a very excited Joey, “Come check this out.” They hurried to the end of the aisle and turned left. Another twenty yards then left again led them to…a tiny freight elevator. The two boys could hardly contain their excitement when Roger confirmed that yes it did indeed have a “basement” button. In addition to the sliding overhead door, the entrance to the elevator was guarded by a folding metal grate, which Joey had to hold open while Roger emptied the car of rolling book carts.

As they pulled the heavy, wooden, overhead door closed behind them, they were thankful for the tiny bare bulb in the ceiling of the elevator. Joey set the brake on his chair in case of a sudden jolt and Roger pressed the button labeled “basement, dead records”. At first nothing happened, but after a whirr and a slight humm, the car began to creep slowly down. With a jarring bump the elevator settled on the lower level.

“Ready?” Roger asked his friend. Joey nodded and roger folded back the iron grate, latching it open. “You sure?” Joey nodded, not quite as gamely as the first time. Roger wondered if Joey could hear his heart thumping. Gently he pulled up on the wooden door. With a bang! It shot out of his hand and opened, raining a cloud of dust down on them. Joey coughed. They peered out into the darkness. “Great, I forgot my flashlight!”

“No problem,” Joey grinned. He reached into a small satchel behind his seat. He pulled out two headband lights and handed one to Roger. Roger stepped out into the bright pool of light, so far so good. Now if they could only find the shelf from his dream.

Roger turned left and Joey rolled right behind him. They reached the end of the aisle and Roger looked both ways. Although the elevator had been against an outside wall on the upper level, it seemed to be situated somewhere in the middle of the basement. Roger knew the shelf he wanted should be visible from the back windows.

“Okay, which direction do you think is the rear of the building?” He asked swinging his head lamp both directions.

“Well. It’s the south side, but since I don’t exactly have a compass I’d guess that way.” Joey indicated right.

“What, no GPS tracking system?” Roger joked.

“No, but if we get trapped in here I am equipped with a homing beacon. Just make sure you don’t hit self destruct by mistake.” Joey took the lead, pausing every now and then to shine his light up onto a bookshelf, “Anything look familiar yet?”

“No all of these shelves look the same. The Card I saw said, “answers” which probably doesn’t mean much, but it was hand written. All of these are printed or typed.” Roger sneezed.

“Gesundheit. Hey, here we go, these look handwritten.” Joey said pointing to a series of handwritten labels.

“Let’s see. ‘town plats’, ‘water rights’, ‘land use contracts' ” Roger’s pulse quickened as he read the next label. It was attached to the top shelf. It read, ‘fountain maintenance’. He looked to his left and could just barely make out the outline of a window high on the wall at the end of the aisle. “I think I got something, shine your light up here.”

“Really?” Joey turned to face him, “What’s it say?”

“Fountain maintenance,” Roger reached up and pulled down a crumbling pressed paper carton filled with ledger books. The box fell apart in his hands scattering ancient leather bound books in a cloud of dust and mold. Both boys covered their mouths and coughed.

“What was that?” Joey asked when the dust settled.

“The box crumbled,” Roger began stacking the ledgers, “where should we start?”

Joey focused his light down on the floor, “No, that noise.”

“ What noise Joey? The only thing I heard was us coughing our guts up,” Roger joked.

Joey was sweeping the light back and forth now, searching for something, “No, a clink, like metal. Sounded like a key!”

“A key!” Roger fell to his knees and began sweeping the ledger books aside, “are you sure?”

“No, but that’s what it sounded like.” Joey was following Roger’s movements with his light now.

“ It can’t be that easy,” Roger’s hand hit something cold. He reached for it but it slipped away under the nearest bookshelf, “shoot! I almost had it!”

“Where?” Joey nearly tipped his chair over turning to find it.

“Over here, under this shelf.” Roger scrambled to clear away the dust and debris while Joey refocused the light. Roger carefully ran his hand under the edge of the shelf, there, there it was! He brushed it out into the floor and picked it up! “Wrong key!” he groaned and started to toss it.

Joey grabbed his hand, “Wait, ask and you shall receive. So, what did you ask for?”

“A key, so what? Not this key. This is like one of those old fashioned skull keys or something.” Roger answered impatiently.

Joey held out his hand and Roger dropped the key into it, “You mean skeleton key. Maybe this is just the first piece to the puzzle. Ask and it shall be given…what’s next?”

“Seek and you will find.” Roger began to get excited, “So maybe this key unlocks the door to the fountain key?”

Joey smiled, “I don’t know, maybe. What I do know is we better get out of here. I’m starting to smell like mold.”

Roger pocketed the key, “I guess you’re right. I’m getting hungry anyway.”

The two friends made their way back the way they had come. Just as they reached the elevator they heard it buzz to life. They watched speechlessly as the light drifted up and out of sight. The car thumped to a halt on the floor above.

“Do you think someone is coming down?” Joey asked, frightened.

Roger looked for a quick place to hide, “We’d better not get caught down here. My parents won’t like it.” They maneuvered themselves around to the other side of the elevator shaft and waited.

Joey was the first to break the silence, “When they get out, we wait for them to walk away and then rush back into the elevator. We can send it back down after we’re gone.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Roger whispered.

The boys waited, and waited. Soon it became clear that no one was coming down. They had hidden for nothing.

“Well I guess we better go back up, I’m sure there’s a call button down here somewhere.” Roger walked back around to the front of the shaft and in the light of the head lamp he searched for and found the call button, “Hope this works.” He pushed it, nothing. He pushed it again, still nothing, “ how long have we been down here anyway?”

Joey checked his watch, “It’s almost twelve fifteen so, almost an hour I’d guess.” A sudden realization hit Joey,
“What day is it?”

Roger laughed, “Saturday, Dude.”

Joey looked sick, “Are you sure?”

“All day long…what’s wrong with that?” Roger was beginning to get nervous.

“The library closes at twelve on Saturday!” Joey said, “Oh, man. Oh, this is just great! So, that assistant librarian, who was soooo helpful, thought she’d do us a favor and lock us down here for the weekend?”

Roger immediately began to take stock of the situation, “Well, we brought the back pack, so we have food and water. We have a light, things could be a lot worse.”

“That’s easy for you to say, I’m gonna need to use the rest room some time!” Joey, who was not prone to panic
was about to reach his limit.

Roger thought quick, “Okay, let’s not panic. Why don’t we have a sandwich and a little water then we’ll try to find another way out of here.”

After a quick lunch Roger assessed the situation. Joey looked shaken but he would be all right, “Now our best bet is to find the stairs. If I can get up there I can bring the elevator back down.” Roger said, “We can do this much faster if we split up.”

They decided to check one aisle at a time returning to the elevator shaft between aisles. Roger took the less explored east side of the basement, while Joey headed out to the aisle past where they had found the key, “If you find anything, holler, I’ll come running.” Now that they had a plan Joey seemed to feel much better.

Roger watched him until he was out of sight then moved off to begin his own search. He searched the first aisle with no luck. By his third return trip to the elevator he was losing hope. He finally found what he was looking for in the middle of the fifth aisle. It was a steep narrow staircase, open on both sides. He wondered where it would come out, “Joey, I got it!” he shouted.

“Right behind you, man.” Joey said, Roger jumped.

Joey laughed, “Gotcha! Finished my side and saw your light. All right let’s do this.”

“You’ll be alright down here on your own for a minute?” Roger asked.

Joey grinned, “Sure, what’s a few minutes in a creepy library basement? But, if you leave me down here, I will hunt you down!”

“Deal, I’ll be back down in the elevator as quick as I can.” Roger hoped it wouldn’t take long. He mounted the narrow, ladder-like staircase and quickly made his way to the top. At the top of the stairs he faced a wall with a small hinged door, he pushed. With a crack and a soft ripping noise the door gave way. Roger crawled through and stood up.

By the glow from his light he could see that he had come out under the stairs leading to the upper floor. The ripping sound had apparently been the paint that had sealed the hidden door shut for untold decades. Roger walked to the curtain leading to the section where the elevator waited. Just as he was stepping through, the sound of footsteps echoed through the library behind him. It must be that worthless assistant librarian. Here was his chance at revenge. He ducked down beside the staircase and turned out his light.

The footsteps grew closer preceded by a dim flickering light. Roger tensed, prepared to leap screaming from his hiding place. That would serve her right for leaving them. He peered over the edge of the staircase, a shadowy figure approached. Something wasn’t right. This person was too tall to be the librarian. He looked closer, it was Matthias!

Before Roger could move to greet the old man a voice echoed through the library, “Eli? Eli! I know you’re here old man. I know you’re here, and I know what you’re up to.”

The old man froze and silently blew out the light that came from an oil lantern he carried in his hand. He stepped back behind the stairs, almost on top of Roger.

“Won’t come out and play? Have it your way then! I’m warning you! I know what you and that boy are up to and I won’t stand for it, do you hear me? Eli? Goodbye!” and with that the voice was quiet followed by quick footsteps and a door slamming. Roger’s heart was pounding so hard he was certain Matthias must hear it! The boy? Did the voice mean him?

Matthias seemed to be waiting for a moment then quickly turned and darted up the stairs into the hall of records. He paused in the door at the top of the stairs, looked nervously over his shoulder, and disappeared.

Roger sank to the floor in relief. That had been close. He didn’t know why but he had a feeling his friend Matthias would not have been pleased to see him in that moment. Speaking of friends! Joey was trapped in the basement of the library, awaiting rescue!

Roger stepped through the curtain before he dared turn on his light. He walked quickly to the end of the aisle where sunlight from a high dusty window relieved the darkness. He made his way to the elevator and threw open the doors. It was a simple enough job to restore power, the key had been left, and he was soon on his way to rescue his friend.

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Libraries! I love 'em. This was one of my favorite scenes to write, because it was fueled by my childhood memories of public libraries in every town we lived in. I would always imagine the adventures that awaited in every hidden nook. The library at Kansas State University was the only one to actually meet my expectations, when I had a few brief months access to it while my Dad was campus pastor for a small congregation there. Their children's room was amazing, with tall, leaded glass windows and rows of oak library tables with huge painted murals on the wall.

So, they have a key, but not the key they were expecting, and the old man's name is revealed at last, Eli? But who is  the mysterious voice? Will Roger be able to get to Joey before tragedy befalls? And once he does, how will the escape the now locked library? Tune in next time, and let me know how you like it so far! Thanks for reading.