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The fact is the Anders has never been to the Kirkwall Public Library. It is a squat little building with a facade of red bricks tucked away somewhere between High Town and Low Town, flanked by a homey little cafe that has been there as far as Anders can remember and a even smaller grocery store. The grocery store has an old, off-white ice cream tank just outside their doors, Anders can see fudge pops and ice cream sandwiches beyond the frosted glass. He jingles the quarters in his pockets trying to figure out whether or not he has enough money for a pop but decides against it. The library probably doesn’t allow ice creams inside anyhow.
Still, the summer heat in Kirkwall is stifling and wet, smelling vaguely of salt from the harbor and it hasn’t exactly been a short walk from his home to the library. Anders would love something cold to drink. It’s a shame he hasn’t had time to grab his bag from his room before his Da started shouting.
The return box is shaped like a mailbox, decorated with childish drawings of rainbows and little stick figures, emblazoned with the sentence “Reading is Fun!” in bright colors. Anders snorts at it and pushes past the glass doors.
There aren’t really anyone in the library, save for a couple of bored-looking librarians behind the counter and an old man with huge, round glasses squinting at a large print newspaper. To Anders’ delight, he finds a water fountain that spouts blessedly cool water and he drinks eagerly from. It’s even better than the best water fountain at school, behind the first floor office at school, he decides.
Anders finds a displayed list of all the summer readings from Kirkwall Elementary up on a red shelf, printed in a cheerful green Comic Sans. ‘Please ask for help!’ it announces. Anders locates a copy of the Secret Garden and the Hatchet next to the display but instead grabs a few comic books from nearby. The squishy armchairs in the library, like the water fountain, is somehow so much better than even the old, beaten sofa at Hawke’s house that he has spent many nights in. Someone, perhaps the old man with the glasses, coughs quietly in the distance, computers with gray screensavers whirr, almost indistinguishable from the constant hum of the air conditioner; the humid reality of Kirkwall summer and the shouts of his Da and Ma echoing in the run down house deep in Low Town seem an entirely separate world.
The library isn’t so bad, Anders concludes. As much as he would rather be at Hawke’s house, teasing Carver or running around the yard with Garrett, this isn’t bad at all. He hopes that the Hawke are enjoying their vacation, something he knows Malcolm and Leandra has been saving up for, for quite some time.
Between the bold lines and even bolder colors of the comic book, somewhere after the hero punches the bad guy but before the pretty girl falls in love with the masked man- Anders drifts into sleep.
When Anders jolts awake, it’s to a boy looking down on him, his hands still on Anders’ shoulder.
“Hey,” The boy says, quietly, “you okay?”
“Uh,” Anders takes a moment to reorient himself, his heart thudding from being woken up. “Yeah.”
“Okay, just making sure you were alright.” The boy says, taking his hand back. He smiles at Anders who shakely attempts to return one.
Anders clears his throat. “What time is it?” He asks.
“It’s half-past four.” The boy replies, taking a peek at the beaten sportswatch on his wrist. “The library is closing in thirty minutes.”
“Oh.” Anders says. He frowns. He hadn’t realized that the library would close so soon.
“Yeah, the library always closes early on Friday, but it’s open later tomorrow, if you want to come back?”
“I-...” Anders pauses, looking down at the comic books that he’s dropped. He thinks back on the battered copies of Secret Garden and the Hatchet. “Okay.” He says.
The boy smiles at him and then stoops to pick up the stack of books, adding Anders’ comic books to the top of the pile.
“I can help you check these out, if you want?” He asks but Anders shakes his head.
“I don’t have a library card.”
“Do you want to get one? You just need to bring back your parent’s signature.”
Anders swallows. His Da and Ma won’t be in the best mood tonight. It’s best to avoid them when they fight. He shakes his head again.
“It’s okay,” Anders says, “I’ll be back tomorrow.”
“Alright.” The boy shrugs. “I’m Karl by the way.”
“Oh, I’m Anders.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” Karl starts walking out towards the front counter and Anders follows him. It’s about time he left anyway.
“So, I’ve never seen you around the library before.” Karl says, pausing to pick up and add more books to his stack.
“Are you here often?” Anders asks, shrugging.
“I’m volunteering for the summer, actually.”
“Oh,” Anders places a book that Karl’s missed on his pile. Karl nods in thanks. “It’s my first time here. My best friend is out of town and…”
“Yeah, I understand.” Karl says sympathetically. “All my friends want to do is play games, but I really want to get my hours for high school, you know?”
Anders doesn’t, high school being three whole years away, something that feels like a lifetime. He nods anyway.
“Besides, it’s not so bad, there’s hardly anyone here during summer, plus air conditioning.”
“Uh, the water here is good?” Anders adds lamely but Karl chuckles, a pleasant sound that makes Anders flush.
“Definitely.” Karl agrees.
They go from station to station, picking up odd books left on tables and chairs by people who can’t be bothered to put them back. The old man, Anders notices, has left his large print newspaper behind. He tucks it into the wicker basket bin with the other newspaper while Karl straightens up the chairs. There must have been a quite a people that has come by the library since Anders’ unplanned nap- they find books tucked between the seats of an oversized tartan sofa, behind the computers, and even one in the men’s bathroom.
“Ew,” Anders crinkles his nose, picking up the book with just his thumb and index finger.
“It’s not that bad,” Karl laughs.
Karl shows him where to dump all the misplaced books- a beige cart tucked away behind the front counter. The librarian thanks them both and wheels it away into the back room.
“Come on,” Karl points to the front door, “They’re about to close and I want to get a soda.”
“Oh, okay.” Anders says, letting Karl lead him to the grocery store next door. There, Karl pulls out a orange creamsicle from the tank in the front and grabs a can of soda. He hands the ice cream to Anders.
“That’s for helping me today.” Karl says, pulling out a few bills from his jean pocket. Anders blushes but takes the ice cream anyway.
The air is cooler in the afternoon, if only just slightly. They sit on the wooden bench with peeling yellow paint in front of the library, Karl sipping his soda and Anders savoring his ice cream. Warm summer breeze rustles through the trees and Karl talks about the summer events happening at the library, a book club for middle schoolers, movie night on Tuesdays when the library stays open until nine at night. Tomorrow, Anders promises to himself, he’ll wake up early enough to sneak out of the house and he’ll remember to bring his backpack and his wallet. He’ll pay Karl back.
Karl leaves with an ‘I’ll see you tomorrow’ and Anders slowly makes his way home. He misses Garrett but feels though he’s made a new friend today. Taller, and definitely a bit older, two, three years maybe? He should ask Karl tomorrow.
Anders crawls through the window of his bedroom that he’s left unlocked when he was leaving. The house is silent except for a low murmur from the TV in the living room. Da is home but Ma’s probably gone out, as she always does after a fight with Da. His stomach grumbles, having had nothing else after lunch except for the ice cream that Karl bought him. But going to the kitchen to dig through whatever is left in the fridge also means going through the living room.
Anders decides to crawl into bed instead. It’s early, the sunlight still hanging onto the horizon, still a few more hours left on the long summer day. But he figures if he can fall asleep early enough, he can wake up before Ma and Da wakes up.
He’s at the library everyday after that, save for Sunday when it’s closed.
Anders manages to convince Ma to sign for his library card, somewhere between July and August, using his summer readings as an excuse. She barely glances at the paper before scribbling something illegible on the line but it’s good enough.
Anders makes it through both the Hatchet and the Secret Garden while Karl totters around with books and DVDs. He tells Anders what he remembers from fifth grade, though most of it is gossip about his teacher, Mr. Irving. Karl makes Anders laugh, sometime too loud, making Kathy the librarian send a sharp hush their way. Anders helps Karl at the end of the day before the library closes and they go to the grocery store together for another day of job well done.
Anders reads through most of the comic books at the library and Karl shows him how to put in an order for new books through the computer (using Anders’ new library card). Karl finds out that the little cafe to the other side of the library makes really good tuna sandwiches without little bits of celery that they can split between them for lunch. Anders becomes friendly enough with Kathy that she lets him use the computer over his allotted thirty minutes if there is no one else waiting for a turn.
Sometime in the middle of August, Garrett returns, his face darker and a patch of red sunburned skin on the bridge of his nose.
“So what did you do all summer?” Garrett asks, between mouthfuls of Malcolm’s spaghetti.
“I’ve been hanging out at the library.” Anders says, wiping his plate with a bit of garlic bread. “Thanks for having me for dinner, Mr. Hawke.” He adds.
“Anders,” Malcolm smiles, the bridge of his nose the same shade of red as Garrett’s. “You can call me Malcolm, you know that.”
“The library,” Garrett rolls his eyes, “I bet it was so boring without me.”
“It wasn’t so bad.” Anders tells Garrett about the water fountain and the comic books. Garrett declares that he must see them for himself.
“Wait, so you read both books already?” Garrett asks, appalled that his best friend would do such a thing. Anders shrugs, arranging the air mattress next to Garrett’s bed. He’s missed their sleepovers.
“They were there?” He says.
“Alright, we’re definitely going to the library tomorrow.” Garrett says. He flicks the lamp off. “Good night, Anders.”
“Night, Garrett.”
Karl graduates middle school the next summer and grows even taller. There are smatterings of a facial hair on his face, only one or two before he learns how to shave and his voice starts cracking when he laughs. He blushes when a pretty girl in a tank top from his class walks in to check out some books and starts wearing some deodorant that smells like soap and spices. He gets a haircut that looks nice on him and Anders tells him so. Though he has more than enough community service hours to last him until the end of high school, he still volunteers at the library the next summer, something Anders is glad for. It's not like he can exactly talk to Karl at school and though they run into each other some days, they usually go weeks without seeing each other. Anders been working up his courage to ask Ma for a phone but he doubts his chances.
Anders finds seventh grade as boring as sixth grade and struggles only a little bit with algebra. Garrett takes a shine to their middle school sports teams and tries to sign up for all the teams. He’s only slightly disappointed when they tell him he can only join so many. Anders still finishes all the summer readings before Garrett and let’s him copy the notes with only minimal begging.
Anders grows a few inches taller than Garrett, something that took both of them for a surprise since Garrett had always been a few fingers taller than Anders. Leandra takes them out for ice cream and pizza to celebrate this. That and Garrett’s first pimple, she says, making Carver and Bethany burst into giggles while Garrett attempted to look angry with his cheeks full of peanut butter ice cream.
Anders teases Garrett about that for the next three days until he gets a breakout of his own.
Eight grade is all awkward limbs and his knees trying to play catch up with the rest of his body. Garrett grows taller but never taller than Anders. Malcolm shows both of them how to shave which results in an application of more than a few of Bethany’s pink Hello Kitty bandages on their chins.
“How did you even cut your nose?” Anders asks, bewildered.
Hawke shoots him the same confused look and shrugs. Bethany takes great delight on placing a particularly cute bandage there.
Between the shaving lessons, the embarrassing breakouts that always seemed to happened right before picture days, tagging along with the Hawkes to watch Garrett’s soccer games and track meets, going to the library to meet up with Karl officially becomes a Thing, complete with a capital T. Karl is busy preparing for some college test or the other, even though he still has a year left until he starts actually applying. There’s a reason why Garrett calls Karl “a cool guy but a bit of a nerd.”
Karl’s voice doesn’t crack anymore. Anders thinks it’s deepened into a nice tone though he doesn’t dare tell anyone that. Karl’s also stopped using the spicy soap deodorant, stopped blushing at the pretty girls and though he’s still taller than Anders, Anders doesn't doubt that he'll catch up to Karl in a year or two. They still go to the cafe next door to split a tuna sandwich between them.
“So, you’ll be in high school next year,” Karl says, sipping his soda on the wooden bench with the peeling paint.
“Oh yeah.” Anders says, fiddling with his new phone. “Hey, can I have your number?”
Karl takes the phone and punches some numbers in. Anders can’t help a feeling of pleased warmth spread from his chest. There’s only Garrett’s and the Hawke’s house phone in his contacts, along with Ma’s number. He beams at the little label that says [Karl Thekla] now, after the Hawkes.
“So I’ll be seeing you around?” Karl asks.
“You sure a senior will have time for a freshman like me?” Anders says, keeping his tone lighter than he means actually means it.
Karl laughs, his deep voice pleasant. He bumps his shoulder with Anders’ own.
“I’ll always have time for you, Anders.”
Anders blushes all the way to Hawke’s place.