The Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library has a new and improved ereader display where you can test some of the newest ereaders and tablets.

The ereader display is located in the Reference Room towards the back of the Library. Staff are nearby to help answer your questions or give you a demonstration on the devices.

You can use any of these devices, and more, to check out ebooks from the Library!

New and popular ebooks and digital audiobooks are available for your smart phone or ereader right now, free from your Library, using our OverDrive ebook service.

Go here for more information about getting ebooks from the Library.

Devices to try include:

• Amazon Kindle Fire™
• Amazon Kindle Keyboard
• Barnes & Noble Nook Color™
• Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet™
• Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch™
• iPad
• Sony eReader

Current studies show that most people actually use their cellphones to read ebooks! What device do you use to read ebooks?

Both books are organized in a similar manner and reflect DK’s talent at using graphics and organization to explain a variety of concepts like Konrad Lorenz’s imprinting to David McClelland’s three key motivations. The ideas are in chronological order in The Philosophy Book, but in the The Psychology Book the ideas are grouped by larger concepts. In both books each idea is given up to six pages of explanation with graphics that summarize the concept, sidebars that relate the context of the idea to other ideas and diagrams that follow basic statements of the concept.

Though these books are not in a narrative style they are still a fascinating overview of philosophy and psychology. Each provides a starting point for ideas that could be explored further and begin a journey into concepts that have influenced our world. It is discovery made simple.

“You have got to be kidding me.” Kate’s eyes were wide as she looked at the chair Kevin had pulled up to his desk. He shrugged, not sure what comfort he could offer her. He opted for a joke instead.

“Just wait until you see your paycheck. Interns make the big bucks. You know?” The glare she sent his way made him question the wisdom of joking around when she was already unhappy. But what was done was done. She sighed and blew up at her bangs, crossing her arms.

“Do you at least have a plan, or am I going to be spinning around in this stupid chair all day long for the next year.”

“Uh.” It was a good question. Even more, it was an appropriate question. But being good or appropriate didn’t give him an answer. “I just got this thing dropped on me this morning.”

“Great excuse,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“I was told that you had ideas. That’s why Miss Blackmon picked you. So what’s your plan?” He felt a little good that he’d turned it around on her, but she just smiled. That was never good. When a woman smiled, pain usually followed.

“Oh, I have tons of ideas. But I don’t think you’re going to like them.” He frowned at her. How bad could they possibly be?

“Our job is to make Topeka seem awesome. I’m not sure what ideas you could have that wouldn’t at least be worth pursuing.”

“Ghosts,” she said simply. The smile on her face told him that he hadn’t hidden his distaste well.

“What do you mean, ghosts?” he asked slowly. Maybe if he took longer to speak, he could fix whatever his face was doing to make her look so smug.

“I mean ghosts. Think about it. What’s popular these days? Look at movies. Look at books. Look at television. People want to be spooked. They want a thrill. What could be more awesome than living in a town right out of a movie? And I don’t think I’ve heard of a place yet that didn’t have at least one ghost story that they could scare their kids with. What’s Topeka’s ghost story?”

He had to count. To twenty. But he was finally able to speak, letting out a long sigh.

“We’re trying to make Topeka seem awesome. Not frightening. We’re not focusing on ghosts.”

She shook her head and plopped down into her chair.

“Not like I was saying to only look at ghosts. But I knew you wouldn’t like it. I don’t know why you couldn’t just trust my judgment of what you’d be okay with doing.”

“I don’t know you well enough to trust you with a pencil sharpener,” he stated, earning another eye roll from her. “And you don’t know me well enough to know what I’d be interested in hearing. You only said I wouldn’t like it because no one would. Except weirdos. And I don’t think Topeka Is Awesome is about attracting weirdos to our town.”

“No,” she said, leaning across his desk to stare at him. “Topeka Is Awesome is about making people who already live here give a damn.”

“Are you saying Topeka is full of weirdos?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “I’ve only been here about an hour. But I think that teenage girls live here. And young guys. And what could be either more romantic or more adventurous than a ghost story and a tale of a haunting?” She leaned back in her chair and he tried not to be obvious about letting out the breath he’d held in when she got closer.

“There are no romantic or adventurous ghost stories in Topeka. And I’m thinking we should focus on something a little more timeless. I’m not trying to cater to the whims of teenage girls. So let’s try to class things up a bit, hmm?”

The problem was, two hours later, he hadn’t like any of her other ideas, either. Kate was starting to wonder if the guy actually liked the town at all. A presentation focusing on the parades, carnivals, and tourist spots in town got a no (too normal). A presentation on the historical sites around town got a no (too boring). A presentation focusing on things to do with kids got a no (too niche). She was ready to bang her head against a wall. Or his.

“What?”

She looked up at him, her mind ceasing its wanderings.

“What?” she asked. He shook his head.

“That’s what I asked you,” he said. “You were smiling. What are you thinking?” She blew on her bangs while she thought of a nice way to say that she was dreaming of bashing his head in.

“Are you sure you don’t want to do ghosts?” she asked. “You haven’t really liked anything else I suggested. It might be worth it to go back to the first suggestion and give it another look.”

He leaned his elbows on the desk and rubbed at his eyes. He was clearly not a people-person, and she was a normal kind of person. It was obvious that she was irritating him, though she wasn’t doing it on purpose. Or at least, she wasn’t doing all of it on purpose.

“What is your fascination?” he asked. She shrugged.

“I’m just trying to cater to all ages and demographics. People are into the paranormal. If you could make a claim for a vampire living here, that would be awesome too, but I doubt it. Ghosts are more common. And you can always find people that will claim to have seen one. Then you throw in a few historical sites to go with it and you get the paranormal freaks and the history buffs all in one neat little package. Then you just need something for families, something for singles, and something for old people.”

He looked less than convinced. Maybe she shouldn’t have called them old people. What was the PC term these days? The elderly? The youth-challenged?

“I really don’t like this idea,” he said, shaking his head.

“What other idea have you got?”

“None, really.”

“So. . . ” she led, hoping he’d cave. She could get excited about interviewing people about ghost stories.

“So you can work on the ghost angle. But only until I finish reading Evelyn’s notebook and come up with a better idea.”

She grinned, triumphant. He wouldn’t come up with a better idea. She was sure of it. After all, this was Topeka, Kansas, they were talking about. From what she saw on the internet, they barely had a zoo. Or at least, the one they had was at risk. Kevin Emile would have his work cut out for him trying to best her at this one.

“I’ll get started tomorrow,” she said, standing up.

“Tomorrow?” he asked.

“Sure,” she said, smiling at him over her shoulder as she headed for the door. “I have to give you time to at least find me a cubicle or something. And I came straight here after getting off the plane. So I need to unpack and get in a shower before I start interviewing people.” She shrugged and waved.

“See you tomorrow, boss.”

Download and print Chapter 3 by D.L. Rose (3 page .pdf)
Watch for Chapter 4 next week at http://tscpl.org/community-novel/

Author bio:

D.L.Rose has been writing stories since she first learned to scribble on a piece of paper. When she’s not creating tales of the fantastic and unusual, she’s a homeschooling mother to two beautiful creatures. She can often be found blogging about the balancing act of life at her blog, Finding Mommy, Finding God (www.maidenfine.com/wordpress).

	1  DEADLOCKED, by Charlaine Harris. The telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse investigates a murder that has more to do with her than she imagines.
	2  THE WIND THROUGH THE KEYHOLE, by Stephen King. A new entry in the Dark Tower epic western-fantasy series; this novel, King says, is “Dark Tower 4.5.”
	3  THE INNOCENT, by David Baldacci. A hitman who has become a target of the government rescues a teenage girl whose parents have been murdered and who may be at the center of a dangerous conspiracy.
	4  CALICO JOE, by John Grisham. A pitcher beans a promising rookie, ending both their careers; years later, the pitcher’s son brings them together.
	5  THE WITNESS, by Nora Roberts. A programmer hides from the Russian mob in the Ozarks.
	6  ROBERT B. PARKER’S LULLABY, by Ace Atkins. Spenser helps a girl investigate her mother’s murder; a continuation of the series by Parker, who died in 2010.
	7  GUILTY WIVES, by James Patterson and David Ellis. Four friends in Monte Carlo for a luxurious girls’ vacation find themselves in prison, accused of a crime.
	8  THE LOST YEARS, by Mary Higgins Clark. When a biblical scholar who made an amazing discovery is murdered, his daughter hunts for the killer (and a missing document).
	9  UNNATURAL ACTS, by Stuart Woods. The New York lawyer Stone Barrington becomes involved in the family problems of a billionaire hedge fund manager.
	10   THE SHOEMAKER’S WIFE, by Adriana Trigiani. Childhood sweethearts in turn-of-the-20th-century Italy meet again in America.

NonFiction

	1  THE PASSAGE OF POWER, by Robert A. Caro. From 1958 through the Kennedy assassination; the fourth volume of “The Years of Lyndon Johnson.”
	2  MY CROSS TO BEAR, by Gregg Allman with Alan Light. The musician’s memoir.
	3  LOTS OF CANDLES, PLENTY OF CAKE, by Anna Quindlen. The journalist and novelist, now nearly 60, looks back at her experiences and those of her generation.
	4  PRAGUE WINTER, by Madeleine Albright with Bill Woodward. The former secretary of state describes her family’s life in Czechoslovakia, where she was born; their exile in London during World War II; their return to their homeland after the war and their final move to the United States in 1948.
	5  THE POWER OF HABIT, by Charles Duhigg. A Times reporter’s account of the science behind how we form, and break, habits.
	6  DRIFT, by Rachel Maddow. America’s path to war has become too easy, with excessive power ceded to the executive branch, the MSNBC host argues.
	7  IMAGINE, by Jonah Lehrer. An account of the science of creativity argues that it is not a gift but a thought process that can be learned.
	8  THE PRESIDENTS CLUB, by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy. Two journalists examine the relationships between sitting presidents and their predecessors.
	9  KILLING LINCOLN, by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard. The host of “The O’Reilly Factor” recounts the heart-stopping events surrounding the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
	10  MANHUNT, by Peter L. Bergen. The 10-year search for Osama bin Laden.

Nate:  Exactly. A way to determine latitude had been devised much earlier, but if you didn’t know longitude, it was possible you could be 100 miles further east or west than you thought you were, making navigation extremely difficult and hazardous. Countless ships were lost at sea, shipwrecked, delayed, or had crews that died of scurvy due to depleted rations from the 15^th through the 18^th centuries – and much of this was a direct result of not knowing exactly where you were on the ocean.

Dave:  There were essentially two methods for determining longitude that came to the forefront during the 18^th century when this problem was being tackled. One was the astronomical method, which consisted of determining longitude by looking at objects such as stars, planets, and moons to figure out your position, and the other was the mechanical method, which entailed building a clock which could keep track of the time back at your home port. Because if you knew what time it was there, and you knew what time it was where you were on the ocean, you could figure out your position.

Nate:  Both of these methods had issues that had to be resolved, however. On the mechanical side, there had never been a clock built that could keep time at sea. Conditions at sea, such as moisture, changing temperatures, and rolling waves had always interfered with its functions, not allowing it to be exact enough. To be useful, a timepiece could not lose more than three seconds in twenty four hours – any more than that and a ship would not be able to determine its position accurately enough. And on the astronomical side, complete maps of the stars had not been done up to this point in history, so that solution seemed far off as well.

Dave:  And while the astronomers of the day scrambled to complete maps of the stars, a little known English clockmaker took up the challenge of determining longitude, and solved it with relative ease.

Nate:  And that clockmaker, John Harrison, was an interesting guy, as he was totally self made. He had never really had any formal training in building clocks, yet the pieces he made were remarkable. He built a clock tower in Brocklesby Park in England that has run continuously since 1722 – the only time it stopped was when it was refurbished in 1884. He applied this genius to building a longitude clock, or chronometer, and like you said, built one without too much trouble.

Dave:  Building one wasn’t too much trouble, but receiving recognition for it became a struggle he would endure for decades. He actually ended up building four chronometers, each one being an improvement over the last. I have to say, after reading this book, I was taken back to another book we reviewed some time ago about the journey of the Apollo astronauts to the moon. It seemed like we’d kind of come full circle. It’s amazing to think that the astronauts who went to the moon were able to land within a few hundred feet of where they were supposed to. And the solution to determining longitude was the beginning of mankind’s ability to figure out exact location. How many doors did that open up? It’s almost impossible to say.

Nate:  I agree. You really take for granted things that have always been there, and are always there for you. We just have to look at a watch, cell phone, clock on the wall, or any other device that says the time, no matter where we are, and we know it will be correct. We don’t have to do any calculations, or wonder how we’re going to figure it out. The same goes for knowing our position in the world. From maps, to GPS, determining location is something that is so easy and readily available that we don’t even think about it.

Dave:  But in the old days of sea exploration that knowledge wasn’t “just there”, and it was a real problem. After reading this book, it’s obvious why the routes the early explorers took seemed to zig zag all over the place.

Nate:  I find it amazing they ever found their way, to be totally honest. And it wasn’t just an issue with exploring. It was a commerce problem as well.

Dave:  Absolutely. You had ships going down at sea with hulls full of valuable cargo. So it wasn’t just loss of life, it was also the loss of profits.

Nate:  Another thing I found interesting in this book were the discoveries made while trying to find a solution to longitude. Like we said, a complete map of the stars had not been made up this point in history. Well, by the time the problem had been solved, star maps were more complete than they had ever been. And astronomers had also learned a lot more about the sun and moon, as far as their cycles, and the effects both have on the earth.

Dave:  It’s always interesting to see what discoveries are made when people are trying to find the answer to something else. The way map making changed after the introduction of chronometers is interesting as well. The quality and accuracy of maps improved immensely during this time, and the view of the world began to take more of a modern feel. I have to say, I found John Harrison to be an interesting character. There wasn’t a lot of “character development” in this book, and with Harrison largely because not much is known about his early years. But his dedication to building the perfect chronometer, and the struggle he had trying to earn recognition, and the monetary reward that was due to him is interesting. People always like stories about underdogs, and this is an underdog story.

Nate:  It’s also a story about a mechanical genius. Like we said, this was someone who was totally self-made and yet his devices were absolutely revolutionary, and worked better than any devices previously made. When he showed his chronometer to others within the clock making fraternity, they were fascinated and awed by his work.

Dave:  After reading the book, I also thought about how this continued to give England a leg up in naval supremacy. They had already been the premier naval power in the world for a couple of centuries, but this helped allow them to maintain that dominance of the seas for a lot longer.

Nate:  It was also fun to read about Rupert T. Gould, who restored Harrison’s clocks in the 20^th century. He was not happy that these historically significant pieces had been allowed to fall into a state of disrepair. Although they had been kept over the years, they had not been cared for.

Dave:  That’s right. So he went about restoring them, even though he had no experience or knowledge of working with clocks. In that respect he was in the same boat Harrison was when he started out.

Nate:  And interestingly enough, he spent the most time restoring Harrison’s third clock, which is the one Harrison took the most time to build. It seems they had many of the same issues with that one, even though their work was almost two centuries apart. So, who would you recommend this book to?

Dave:  I think anyone who has an interest in history, science, or astronomy would enjoy it.

Nate:  I agree. I would also include those who are interested in maps or map making, as well as anyone interested in clocks or clock making. The book is less than 200 pages, so it’s short, and not a huge time commitment. So if you have even a small interest in any of these areas I’d recommend giving it a shot. I think you’ll really enjoy it.

Dave:  And once you’ve read it, you might check out the made for TV movie based on the story, also called “Longitude”. It came out several years ago and stars Jeremy Irons and Michael Gambon. It’s an excellent two part mini-series/movie, and we have it here at the library as well.

Children’s author Jon Scieszka (Stinky Cheese Man, Time Warp Trio) saw that boys were reading less, but he also saw that teachers and librarians weren’t doing a good job finding books boys would want to read. So he started Guys Read, a national web-based organization to get more boys reading by showing them that there’s plenty of fun, awesome stuff to read.

The library is getting in on the act as well. I’m starting a Guys Read field office. What’s a field office? I’m glad you asked! It’s kinda like a local chapter of the Guys Read organization. Here’s the official description:

Hang out, snarf snacks and meet new characters – real and fictional – at our book club just for gents age 8- to 12-years-old. No parents, no girls allowed…
JUST GUYS.

Read awesome books dudes will dig – explosive action and farts! Then talk ’em over with the guys, play games, wolf down some food and meet new friends. Score a members-only bookbag and receive books on a first-come, first-served basis. Sign up with secret password: GUYS READ.

How cool does that sound?!

Here’s how it’ll work: Meet up on the second Saturday of the month, 2-3 p.m., in Youth Services. We’ll have snacks and get to know each other with an ice breaker. Next we’ll talk about the book we read together and any other books we might have read separately. Then we’ll do some kind of activity, like making something we can use or whatever — but it’ll be somehow related to our book.

Books will be signed out to boys, but don’t worry, the boys’ library cards do not have to be in good standing. All that we ask is they return books to the Youth Services desk as soon as they’re done reading it so other boys can have have fun too.

Oh, and we have a limited number of bookbags, so boys should be at the first meeting if they want to score one.

Speaking of the first meeting, it’s important! We’ll be picking a name for our little field office and signing a charter for the club. And if boys can’t make it, they can sign the charter next time.

For more information, surf over to these sites:

• XYZ Magazine’s article about our new field office: Boys Will Be Boys
• Guys Read’s official website

It will take more than leg work to solve the case and even though forensic pathology was just beginning Inspector Day hopes Dr. Kingsley can bring some understanding to the obscure clues left behind. Time is of the essence as the pressure builds to find the killer, but unknown to the inspector and the doctor is that the murderer is watching them and is prepared to kill again. The Yard is the first novel in a new series by Alex Grecian who is the author of the graphic novel series Proof.

Whether you are thrifty or not it’s a wise move to use the library’s Book Group in a Bag service, which provides 10 copies of the same book at no expense to you or your club members.

“It’s so nice having multiple copies available for our book club. The staff who helped me get the books and answered questions were very patient and helpful,” said Mary Napier, book club member.

Bags are stocked with titles ranging from the classics like Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury to best-selling current books like Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. Our nonfiction bags include The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.

View our 125 different titles at bgib.tscpl.org. While you’re there, create an account to log in and get started reserving bags of books for your group.

“I recommend Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks because it is based on a true story from history. Your group can delve into the historical facts behind the story while also enjoying the fictional story that gets you emotionally involved with the characters,” said Librarian Deb Bryan.

Many book clubs want to distribute copies well in advance of their meetings. Good news: the Book Group in a Bag kits check out for six weeks, which allows you to hand out books at one monthly meeting and collect them the next. Bags can be reserved in advance, making planning what to read next a snap. Lissa Staley, librarian and resident expert on leading book discussions, recommends reserving your titles early because this service is popular.

“We have a variety of titles to choose from. Most of the books that we select are character-driven, which aids in the discussion and gives members something to relate or react to,” Lissa said.

In the bag you will receive notebooks with the author’s background and book discussion questions to help if discussion gets off topic or you don’t have time or know-how to come up with your own. If you want more information on leading a book group, meet with our book group experts, Deb and Lissa. Your request can be made via our Speaker’s Bureau at http://tscpl.org/speakers-bureau.

“We can provide ideas and inspiration for your group, and you can adapt it to your group’s needs,” Lissa said.

If you would like to recommend a book title be added to our Book Group in a Bag service, call 580-4555 and talk to a librarian or log on to our Digital Branch at http://tscpl.org/catalog/purchase-suggestion.

The specter of the previous week’s excitement still lingered in the office when Kevin arrived Tuesday morning. As he passed Evelyn’s office he paused to peek inside. It was less about curiosity than the simple, cubicle farm-inspired hunter/gatherer instinct: when the herd is culled, their office supplies are free for the poaching to ensure the survival of the others. Kevin remembered that Evelyn had requisitioned a new chair six months earlier. His own chair predated him and, possibly, his high school graduation. If no one else had laid claim to hers yet…

But luck wasn’t on his side. The vultures had picked Evelyn’s office clean, right down to her City-issued garbage can. There wasn’t even a paperclip left to be scavenged. “Late to the party again,” he said and shut the door before retreating to his own office.

As he sat his bag on the chair beside his desk, the weak blinking of the message light on his phone caught his attention. Five minutes to eight and he already had messages waiting? If it was his dad, mining for further rumor mill gold, he swore he would crawl under his desk and hide for the rest of the day. How much gossip could one firing cause? What did Dad expect, proof Evelyn sold City secrets to the Russians?

“I’m going to start making stuff up just to watch his head explode,” Kevin muttered as he picked up his receiver and punched in his six-digit passcode. His eyebrow curved up sharply over the dark rim of his glasses when Margaret Hallmark, the City Manager, chirped at him from the recorded message.

“Hi, Kevin, it’s Margaret. Could you please come to my office as soon as you get in?” she said in a warily chipper tone. “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

“What’s the look for?” Nora, the louder of yesterday’s pacing snoops, stood in his open doorway. Kevin recognized the look on her face – wide, expectant eyes, a suppressed smile, and a curious puppy tilt of the head. His dad wore it any time he said the ill-fated words “Well, at work today…”

The gossip-shark smelled blood in the water.

“There’s no look,” he said as he hung up the receiver and stood. Nora’s expression didn’t change and she didn’t move, either, when he took the three steps between his desk and door. “Can I get by?”

“Why? Been called upstairs?” Nora stepped aside, her smile becoming less easily suppressed. “I heard the carnage might not be over with yet. D’you think maybe you’re next?”

“Actually, I was going to go blow my nose, but thanks for the interest in my well-being and the state of the state of my sinuses.” As he passed, he muttered under his breath about finding her a nice puppy to kick if she needed a pick me up, and didn’t stick around to see if she heard him or not.

As he made his way to the elevator for the short ride to Margaret’s office, a kernel of panic started to form in the pit of his stomach. What had Nora heard to make her think his summons had something to do with getting fired? Had he done anything recently that would give management reason to want to get rid of him? He jammed his finger against the call button and reconsidered the past few weeks. His enthusiasm level had hovered somewhere around nonexistent, sure, but he finished his work, on time even, and never raised a fuss. They couldn’t fire him for lack of pep, could they?

Besides, he told himself as he stepped into the elevator and hit the button for Margaret’s floor, getting fired wouldn’t be that big of a disaster, right? Might just be the kick in the pants he needed to get out of Dodge. Listening to the jar and grind of the elevator gears, he pictured a new, happy, relocated life somewhere with an ocean view – didn’t matter which ocean – and a job that didn’t make him dread getting out of bed in the morning. Soon as Margaret finished sacking him, he’d pack up what few things he couldn’t part with and skip out of the office with a smile and a renewed sense of purpose.

He could taste the sea air already.

The elevator door dinged; Kevin stepped out of the elevator with a bounce in his step and a grin threatening on his lips. Margaret met him halfway to her office – nearly ran into him, in fact. Margaret Hallmark, on a good day, hit five foot, one inch if she wore heels instead of flats and wore the thickest, roundest glasses Kevin had ever seen. Given her eyesight and her vantage point, she usually ran into at least one person a day. Today she wore snappy red pumps that almost brought her to five foot two and a red skirt and black blouse that gave her round figure a ladybug-like quality.

“Kevin! Fantastic, I was just heading your way,” she said, staring up at him from her close proximity to his chest. “Come on back to my office.”

After five minutes of rearranging piles and notebooks to uncover a chair, Margaret gestured for Kevin to sit and dropped herself into an abused mauve and grey monstrosity that looked older than even Kevin’s prehistoric desk chair. “So,” she said, clasping her hands atop a haphazard spray of papers on her desk. “First off, let me just tell you what a fantastic job you’ve done for us up until now. How valued you are. You’ve been willing to take on tasks and responsibilities above and beyond what was listed in your PD and we’ve appreciated that so much. I have appreciated it, personally.”

Kevin felt the smile he’d tried to keep at bay widen despite his best efforts at restraint. Appreciated. Past tense. It was classic kiss-off terminology. As Margaret continued appraising his pros and ignoring his cons, he sat back and did the math: he had three weeks of unused vacation leave to convert. If he took out what he’d paid into the city retirement fund and managed to draw the maximum unemployment, he’d have enough for moving expenses and probably a down payment on a nice starter apartment. His car had enough life left in it to survive a coastal haul, but maybe just. He should look into someplace with a good public transportation system, anyway. Get rid of the car, embrace the fiscal and environmental prudence of mass transit. San Francisco, maybe. How did Seattle measure up in the public transportation department?

Kevin’s attention returned to the conversation when he noticed silence had settled over the room. Margaret watched him expectantly and he came to the startling conclusion that she’d asked him a question. What was it? What had he missed??

“I…don’t know?” It sounded like the best and most flexible answer to ping through his brain.

“Oh, of course you are!” She reached across the desk to pat his hand in a gesture that either said “there there, you’ll come out of this okay,” or “aren’t you just adorable in your modesty?” Kevin couldn’t tell which. “You’re a fast learner, I know you’ll handle the project like a rock star.”

Kevin froze, right down to the slowly deflating tips of his smile. “Project?” he said with an increasing sense of doom.

“Yes, project! The one I’ve been talking about for the last five minutes.” Margaret stood and crossed the small office. From one of the piles she’d moved previously, she extracted a two-inch three-ring binder stuffed past its own capacity. With a reverence he didn’t share, she offered the binder to him. “She’s your baby now. A little wobbly on her feet yet and not quite ready to hold her head up, but you’ll get her there.”

The cover, labeled in a precise hand, read “City Works Project 3A799-2.” Kevin opened it, dreading what he’d find. He recognized the handwriting; he also knew only one project had received approval lately – Evelyn’s. As he stared down at the title page, which proclaimed “Topeka is Awesome!” in 28 point, bright green font. His stomach dropped somewhere in the vicinity of his toes.

“Margaret, I’m not qualified for this,” he said. He kept his tone even and reasonable and calm. “I’m not a grant manager, I don’t know anything about marketing, and…”

“That’s fine! Because I’ve got every faith in you. Besides, you won’t be doing it alone.” Margaret dug through another pile and pulled out a manila folder with “Intern” scrawled across it in Evelyn’s sloping pen. “You’ve got an intern coming in to help. She should be here this afternoon, in fact. Her name is in here somewhere…”

“It’s a federal grant! They’ll want things reported. I don’t even-“

“All of that is in the notebook.” Margaret dropped the folder on top of the binder. “Deadlines, Evelyn’s original grant proposal, your intern’s application with her ideas and thoughts about the project, how they want the outcomes reported. And, of course, information on presenting a report on the project at the Public Works Conference in Los Angeles next April.”

“But I…” Kevin froze. “Did you say Los Angeles?”

“That’s the best part! At the end of the project, you’ll collect all those outcomes and goals and all the work you did and turn it into a presentation on how ‘Topeka is Awesome!’ how you transformed the image of our city and how all that federal money made it possible. Really get us on the map.” Margaret stood at his shoulder with that expectant look again. He was supposed to do something, and by the way she kept glancing at the Precious Moments clock hanging on her wall, he figured it had something to do with leaving. “I would love to discuss it more in depth, but I’ve got a staff meeting in five minutes and you have an intern arriving later you need to brief.”

“Brief? Kevin’s legs felt like lead as he rose.

“You know, give her the specs I gave you, share ideas, get her acclimated.”

“Acclimated. Right.”

“It’ll be great, just you wait. You’ve got my full support and faith, Kevin. I know you’ll do great things for us.”

Halfway down the hall Kevin’s head finally quit spinning. The counterweight holding him to terra firma was two words: Los Angeles. If he managed to make this project a success, if he pulled this off, he had the chance to escape. All he had to do was…well, pull off the impossible, he thought as he stepped into the elevator and banged his forehead into the wall above the floor buttons. He snapped his head up suddenly.

“Fine. If I have to make Topeka look awesome to get the hell out of it, that’s just what I’ll do,” he said to the closing doors and his twisted reflection in the metal. Then he sighed.

“I just don’t have the first clue how.”

Kate Sanchez stood on the curb in front of City Hall, staring up at the building through dark sunglasses and a generous helping of skepticism. It took her a minute to find the word she wanted. Ran a few through the filter in her head to try them out, then discarded them. Finally, she settled for the simplest and most obvious word to describe her general sense of being as she stood on the precipice of her new, exciting journey.

Underwhelmed.

“At least that stupid mouse’s face isn’t stamped all over everything,” she muttered as she pushed the sunglasses onto the top of her head and tucked short, spikey brown hair back behind her ear. After twenty-two years living within spitting distance of Walt Disney World – or Crazy Town, as she called it – it was nice not to see the familiar, round-eared silouhette plastered on every inch of the city. Orlando had long ago sold its soul to Disney; the locals tried their best to ignore the blatant Mouse-ification. Kate had flown twelve hundred miles from home to get away from it the first chance she got. A post-graduation year in Dorothy and Toto land? Hey, it worked for her.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go to the hotel first, ma’am?” A cabbie stood behind her with both of her suitcases in tow and her laptop bag slung over his shoulder. He looked no less put out than he had when he picked her up at the Ramada Inn, where the shuttle from the airport had dropped her off. One look at the two large suitcases, the laptop bag, and the large shoulder bag she carried and he’d frowned at her and mumbled something about a bad back and tourists over packing. There goes his tip, she thought.

Kate spun on a sandaled foot and fixed the cabbie with a glare. “I told you. They’re expecting me here. Expected me an hour ago, but the flight got delayed in Atlanta.” One chunk of midnight blue hair blew across her forehead and she attempted to force it back into place with a well-aimed puff of air from the corner of her mouth. “Don’t worry, I can take them from here.”

With a deep sigh, the cabbie dropped both suitcases and handed over the laptop bag. She handed him two tens and a five in exchange and he stared at her. “What, no tip?”

“Here’s a tip.” She hefted the strap of the laptop bag over her head and across her body, then reached for the discarded suitcases. “Yoga. Does wonders for old, out of whack backs.”

Once inside and past security, Kate pulled out her iPhone and the email the project lead had sent her with directions to the office. It didn’t look complicated when she first read it, but once inside, in the labyrinth of hallways and doors, she wished she’d asked for a little more detail. Map maybe. Interactive GPS coordinates.

“For such a small building, it’s sure a pain to get through,” she said. Around the next bend, she spotted the room number she wanted and gave a deep sigh of relief. Not to take the cabbie’s side, but the suitcases were getting a little heavy.

A departing suit with poor choice in tie colors held the door for her. She smiled her thanks, even as he stared at her tri-colored bangs. She quirked an eyebrow at him, but he ignored it in favor of a sprint to a waiting elevator. She shrugged. Maybe he objected to blue, green, and red being used together or something.

A smiling receptionist greeted her just inside the door. She, at least, attempted to be discrete as she checked out Kate’s hair. “Hi, can I help you?”

“I’m Kate Sanchez, here to see Evelyn Blackmon. I know I’m a little late, but blame Southwest Airlines. They’re the ones that couldn’t…” She trailed off as the woman’s quizzical look registered. She looked, just a bit, like she’d just spied a second head sprouting out of Kate’s shoulder. What, did she have something in her teeth? “Is something wrong?”

“Just…wait right here, please.” The receptionist rose slowly, calmly rounded her desk, and then speed-walked down the corridor toward some unseen destination. In her wake, Kate saw heads pop up over cubicle walls or around corners. Whispers she couldn’t make out passed between neighbors in the blue upholstered cube farm. When one woman stared a little too long and with a little too much interest, Kate grinned and waved. The woman, once noticed, ducked back inside her cube.

“Either nobody in Kansas dyes their hair or they’re all loco,” she said as she leaned the heavier of the two suitcases against the receptionist’s desk.

Five minutes later, the receptionist emerged with a lanky blond in office-issue khakis and Buddy Holly frames slouching along behind her. The guy reminded Kate of a seventh grader being led to the principal’s office and looked about as enthusiastic. And definitely did not look like Evelyn Blackmon.

“Miss Sanchez? I’m Kevin Emile. Would you care to-“

“Is there a problem? Did Miss Blackmon forget I was arriving today or something?”

Kevin rubbed a hand over the back of his neck and shot the gophering heads behind him a look. “See, Miss Blackmon isn’t…the thing is…”

“She got canned.” The receptionist offered the explanation with a grin. “Yesterday.”

Kate blinked. Kevin looked away, nervous or embarrassed or some mix of both that lacked a proper adjective to describe. Kate had a sinking feeling he had drawn the short straw during that five minute wait and “won” the opportunity to tell her the bad news.

She felt sick. “Does that mean I don’t have a job? I mean, if someone had called and told me this yesterday I could’ve saved myself the cost of a plane ticket. Shuttle. Cab. Three hours of my life in the Atlanta airport I’ll never get back…”

“No! No, no, no, that’s not…You still have a job. Your job is fine.” He stopped the nervous rubbing and ran his hand through his hair instead. Then his voice dropped and he leaned forward. “Can we move this conversation elsewhere? I don’t like feeding the sharks.”

“Sharks?”

“Gossips.” His head inclined incrementally toward the receptionist. Kate nodded.

“Right, gotcha. Well, why don’t you show me my office? Then I can at least put this stuff down for a bit before my arms stretch to my ankles.”

Kevin’s hand shot back through his hair again. Kate had a feeling he’d be bald before he hit thirty if he kept it up. “Office?”

“You’re a little new at this, huh?”

At least this time, Kevin laughed. “You have no idea.”

Download and print Chapter 2 by Diana Marsh (6 page .pdf)
Watch for Chapter 3 next week at http://tscpl.org/community-novel/

May 11: Dark Shadows Rated  PG-13

It’s based on a old daytime soap opera, but with Johnny Depp playing the lead and Tim Burton directing, Dark Shadows shouldn’t feel melodramatic.