The Last Librarian

The dust motes danced in the amber light filtering through the tall windows of the Meridian Public Library. Clara adjusted her reading glasses and ran her fingers along the spine of The Complete Works of Shakespeare, feeling the familiar crack in the binding where countless hands had opened it to Hamlet's soliloquy.

"Ms. Chen?" A small voice interrupted her contemplation. Eight-year-old Marcus stood at the circulation desk, clutching a picture book about dinosaurs. "Are you really closing forever?"

Clara's heart tightened. The city council had made it official last week—budget cuts meant the library would shutter its doors in three days. Everything would be digitized, they said. More efficient. More cost-effective.

"I'm afraid so, sweetheart." She scanned his book one final time, knowing the database would expire before he could return it. "But you can keep that one. Consider it a gift."

Marcus's eyes widened. "Really? But won't you get in trouble?"

Clara smiled, looking around at the thousands of books that had been her companions for thirty-seven years. Tomorrow, volunteers would arrive to box everything up. By next month, this cathedral of knowledge would become a coffee shop.

"Some rules," she said, pressing the book into his small hands, "are worth breaking."

As Marcus skipped away, Clara walked to the poetry section. She pulled out a worn copy of Mary Oliver and opened to her favorite verse: "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"

She had always thought she'd found her answer in these quiet halls. Now, watching the late afternoon sun paint golden rectangles across the empty reading tables, she realized her story was just beginning.

The last librarian smiled, tucked the book into her bag, and began planning her next chapter.