Live Encounters Poetry & Writing 16th Anniversary Volume Seven
November- December 2025
The man in the library, story by Kate Mahony.
The usual security guard wasn’t on duty as Elaine walked through the empty foyer of the library. He had been employed since the virus broke out to check that people wore masks and showed him their vaccine passes. She imagined he’d be gone soon anyway. No job to do.
An acrylic barrier had been put up a while back in front of the main counter. The barrier separated the library assistants from the customers’ spit, coughs and whatever else. A young woman with long dark hair, a red carnation tucked into one side of it, stood at the counter. Elaine hadn’t seen this assistant before. The woman continued looking at her computer screen ignoring Elaine as she walked by. There was an age people got to when they were no longer noticed, Elaine had often thought. She was used to it but still it rankled a little.
She headed to the section with the best sellers. They were described that way even if they weren’t. People could rent them for ten days for $4. Sometimes she just came in and picked one up and sat down in an armchair and began to read it. Then she didn’t have to pay. Money was tight enough as it was.
She was a quick reader, always had been and if she got bored or it was too much of a thriller and she didn’t want to have nightmares later, she’d skip to the last chapter. A couple of the women she had played bowls with before such sports were shut down had seemed shocked when Elaine mentioned this one time.
Why not? Elaine asked. It was hardly sacrilege. ‘Not as if it were a book by James Joyce or someone of that ilk.’ There was nobody much to have such conversations with now. Or arguments. Most of the senior citizens had given public places like the library a miss. You could pick up the virus or the flu that was bad this winter. She picked up one of the books, sat down on the nearest chair and began to read.
After a time, she became aware of a man’s voice behind her at the desk. It wasn’t particularly loud but had an insistent tone. The man must have approached the assistant without Elaine noticing. She turned to look. A big pile of books now stood at one end of the counter, near the assistant. The man was tall with wild brown curly hair and had his back to her. He sounded animated. Elaine leaned forward hoping to catch what he was saying. Not that she might be intending to join the conversation, of course not. But then if the topic was interesting enough that might be a different story.
All she could make out though was the assistant – who was tallish, but not as tall as this man – saying, ‘You’ll have to talk to the manager when she comes back.’ Each time the man said something in his quiet yet insistent voice, the assistant responded with the same or similar words about talking to the manager. Each time, she said this politely, Elaine noticed. This went on a while.
There came a different sound. The man had picked up one of the books and banged it on the desk. ‘No. No need. I know you can do it yourself.’ His voice had got louder. Was he threatening her?
Elaine looked around the room. No one in sight. She got up from the chair and stood to straighten a couple of books which had toppled over on the Best Sellers shelf. She walked softly on the carpeted floor towards where one of the assistants could often be found at a bench behind a glass window sorting returned books. But that part of the library was eerily quiet. Where was everybody? Off sick?
She spotted a man and woman who regularly sat at the bunch of computers towards the back of the library. They were usually silently engrossed in what they were doing – writing emails to people back in their home countries, or job applications, she had surmised. If she interrupted them, she would then have to explain the problem when it wasn’t even clear to her what was happening. No, there wasn’t the time for that.
She returned to the main counter. ‘Listen,’ the man was saying. He paused. ‘Leilani.’ It was as if he were reading her name slowly and deliberately off the name badge she wore on her chest. ‘I am sure you can do this for me. It’s not a big deal.’
His tone reminded Elaine of her aunt’s husband. He was a bully. Elaine had never liked him and hadn’t mourned him when he died of a stroke. She moved quietly forward and stood behind the man, on tip toes.
She peeked her head out to one side of the man, so the assistant could see her. ‘Are you okay?’ she mouthed before remembering she was wearing a mask. She changed her position now to giving the assistant a thumbs up sign in what she hoped was a questioning way. Yes? No? Their gaze met. The assistant’s brown eyes were serious, as if she were pleading with Elaine to do something.
But what could she do? She was a woman in her elder years, the kind who got overlooked in busy streets and barged past by impatient customers in queues in shops and banks. She could hardly hit the man or yell at him to leave the girl alone.
Still, Elaine stayed, meeting the assistant’s gaze. It was as if she, Elaine, were her last chance.
‘You can do this,’ the man repeated. Firmly.
The assistant didn’t reply this time. Silence hung in the big empty room. The man must’ve finally realised she hadn’t answered him, or he had noticed he no longer had her full attention. He swept his tall pile of books across the bench towards her and turned suddenly, almost knocking against Elaine. He strode towards the door, muttering loudly and angrily.
The assistant and Elaine were silent for a moment.
But then the assistant, or Leilani as Elaine now thought of her, spoke up. ‘Thank you. Thank you so much,’ she said. ‘Look at me, I can’t stop shaking. I don’t know what I would’ve done if you hadn’t been here.’
Elaine felt she hadn’t done anything. Not really. She herself wasn’t shaking or fearful. Her main reaction now was curiosity. ‘What was he wanting you to do?’
Leilani sighed but said nothing.
Elaine was eager to know the answer. She waited.
‘It’s complicated.’
‘Of course.’ Elaine waited again.
Leilani breathed in slowly. Then out. And then as if she had changed her mind, she said rapidly, ‘He hasn’t brought any of the books he’s borrowed back to us. He has a big overdue fine. But he wants to borrow even more. The manager is new, and she has said we are not to let him have any more books. Not until he pays the fine. And brings back all the books.’
‘That was it?’ That was what the threatening tone was about. Unbelievable. ‘He must love reading.’ Elaine thought some more. ‘Do you know him? Have you seen him before?’
‘Yes, he was here last week. The same thing. He asked one of the other staff to issue them.’ Leilani’s tone was weary, exasperated. She lowered her voice. ‘I know he’s been forcing some of them to do so because they don’t like to say no. Today he even asked me to waive the fine.’
The cheek of the man. Elaine felt her curiosity arise again. She wished she had taken a good look at the books that had been stacked on the counter. ‘So do you know what kind of books he does get out?’
Leilani nodded. ‘I have looked,’ she said quietly, gesturing to the computer screen in front of her. She wrinkled her nose as if she didn’t want to spell out what she had seen on there. ‘They’re not good.’
Elaine thought about it. ‘In what way?’ Her mind ran through the options. What kind of ‘not good’ books could a library have on its shelves? Now she was really curious.
Leilani said nothing further. Perhaps she thought she had gone too far. The man was a customer after all.
Another assistant, a slight nervy young man who looked as if he wouldn’t have been much help if he tried, came out towards them from somewhere down the back of the room.
‘Everything all right?’
Leilani turned to him. ‘It was that man again.’
The young man nodded. Elaine found herself wondering where he had been all this time.
‘This customer helped me,’ Leilani continued. ‘I was so scared. Look, I can’t stop shaking.’ She waved her trembling hands at the younger man. ‘I didn’t know what he might do.’
‘Listen,’ Elaine said. ‘You must report this man to your manager. Another time he could be more dangerous. Escalate things.’ And perhaps no one would be around to help. ‘You must tell your boss.’
‘I will.’ Leilani nodded earnestly.
Elaine sensed she wouldn’t. ‘Make sure you do that.’
She started to head to the exit. Another security guard had joined the usual one, and both were seated together behind a table.
They were peering at their cell phones. Neither looked up. No change, Elaine said to herself.
It didn’t matter. She suddenly felt energised and emboldened. She had been part of an interesting situation. Things could have got out of hand. Someone had relied on her. She had stepped in. She had been noticed.
© Kate Mahony
Kate Mahony’s short stories have been widely published and longlisted/shortlisted in international competitions. Her debut novel, Secrets of the Land, was published in September 2023 by Cloud Ink Press. She has an MA in Creative Writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington. She lives in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand.