Books of the Dead (12 page)

Nora quickly took out her phone and snapped a few photographs of the pages before she saw Miss Lily walking up to her.

“You need anything, Miss Dora?” she asked.

“No, I am almost done here, but where are the newspaper clippings?”

“Right over there,” Miss Lily pointed her towards the rack that held all the newspaper clippings. There were several thin, brown hard-cover books, but there were not dates mentioned on the covers, which Nora noticed after she took one of them down. As a result, she had to take down several of them. There were films of dust on the ones that were kept at the last row. Nora brushed off the dust layer from the books and opened it to go through the pages. There were old newspaper cuttings of feats and achievements by pupils of the school. Nora read the news of one student holding a shiny trophy which marked a win at a racing competition, and then one little girl with a certificate indicating her triumphant win at a spelling competition. Several others informed Nora about how one of them saved an injured cat from the tree, and another of a boy’s extraordinary collection of stamps, but these were not what Nora was looking for. Therefore, she didn’t find anything significant, so she took the next one and started looking through it, but like she was told earlier, there was no information that could be useful to her.

“Are you looking for anything in particular?’’ Nora found Miss Lily asking her the same question again.

“Have you been standing here all this time?” Nora was too engrossed while flipping through the pages and didn’t notice the librarian standing behind her.

“Yes, I thought you might need my help,” Miss Lily said.

“Well, do you know if this student and this one were ever in the news for anything?” Nora showed the pictures of the Keaton brother and sister.

“Not that I know of. You see there are so many students coming in out …”

Nora interrupted her, “But here I was under the impression that they were a couple of the brightest and intelligent pupils of this school, and lived in this town, in fact, Mr. Kippler told me so.”

“Mr. Kippler said so?” the librarian asked.

“So it is unlikely that none of you here are aware of that, or are you trying to hide something?” Nora questioned directly.

This time, Miss Lily looked mildly offended, “Hide? Why would I hide anything?”

‘‘No one in here seems to tell me anything about them, yet Mr. Kippler told me something different.” Nora defended what she said earlier.

“Miss Dora, I think that you are imagining too much about this. I was hired here only a year back and don’t know much about former students. The former librarian, Mr. Carmen, and the ones before him: Mrs. Philip, Mrs. Alter and Mr. Joseph, might have known something about the students you are talking about. However, Mr. Carmen left town recently for good, Mrs. Philip had a heart attack last year and died, and Mrs. Alter is not well and she retired almost ten years back, because her memory was failing. Mr. Joseph is the oldest, but if anyone would know something, then my guess is it would be him.”

Nora considered that anyone who would remotely know about the Keaton siblings were either dead or ailing or had failing memories. She cursed her luck and almost had no hope left about finding anything about them. “Perhaps my search is futile,” she said to herself and there was nothing she could do. Nora closed the last newspaper clipping, but just then, something caught her eye. There was one news article by the local newspaper which featured the Keaton sister, but oddly enough, it was just her initials mentioned and not her full name. The article mentioned that the incident happened when she was about twelve. The girl claimed to see ghosts and there were several proofs of it, and that she had learned the art herself. The article continued in the inside page, but that section was not part of the school collection.

“What is this about?” Nora asked Miss Lily.

“Oh, this I heard from my uncles. This Miss Keaton claimed to have seen ghosts, and she said she learned it herself ... young for her age,” Miss Lily said.

“But why is this news in a primary school library?” Nora was surprised.

“I heard this incident put us on the map. The girl got pretty famous and her brother, too. I think that is what Mr. Kippler must have meant when he said they were well-known, but if you ask me, I would say that this was the news that made them famous more than being good students of this school. But that is just me, others might think differently.”

“Seeing ghosts and that making news, I don’t understand what journalism is all about now a days,” Nora said aloud.

“The time that you are talking about is many years back and you probably cannot imagine the impact of such stories forty years back.”

“The rest of the story is missing and I need to look into it; can you tell me where can I find the full story?” Nora asked.

“Try the local library, it stores all local news from the past fifty years and you will get all the information you need there.”

This meant Nora had to look all over again and in a new place this time, but she was in no position to give up, so turning around, she said, “Thank you, Miss Lily, for letting me know this and I am very grateful. This town has a story to tell indeed,” and saying that, she made her way out.

Mr. Kippler was waiting outside the library when Nora walked out. “Did you find what you were looking for?” he asked.

“Not quite, but I did find something else. I came across a news article about the Keaton sister, and I think you forgot to mention about that to me.” Nora waited for Mr. Kippler to answer.

“Oh, that news,” Mr. Kippler said. “The news about the Keaton sister seeing ghosts. That story made some news, but I didn’t buy it, and I never believed it could be real. I didn’t think it was important enough to mention, but they were good students and I think that is important, not some goof story.”

“And you are dismissing it like it is nothing?” Nora asked.

“Yes, because I don’t think it is true,” Mr. Kippler said.

“But why do you think that it is unlikely?’’ Nora asked.

It was somehow a little unbelievable for Nora that no one seemed to believe the Keaton sister, although her story was part of the news. How easily Mr. Kippler dismissed it amused Nora, but there was nothing she could do or say about it; therefore, she kept quiet. Nora understood that it was pointless arguing over this with Mr. Kippler, so she excused herself and moved ahead when the principal stopped her.

“Miss?” she called out.

Nora looked back and to her delight, Nora was handed the phone number of one the former librarians. “This is Mr. Joseph’s, the old librarian, house number. He might be able to tell you something, but I am afraid that he is very old and frail, so it would be best if you give him a call before visiting him. Nora took the number from her and looked at it and put the paper back in her pocket.

“Thank you for your assistance and I am very grateful.” Nora walked out of the building. She saw Mr. Kippler exchange a few words with the principal, and then he followed her out as well.

“You want to go somewhere else, lady?” Mr. Kippler asked Nora, because she was standing in the middle of the road going nowhere.

“Mr. Kippler, thank you, but I think I have had enough for one day. I need to go back, and I hope that I was not much trouble.”

“No, nothing like that, but are you sure that you can be on your own? This town is new to you, and it is never stupid to be careful.” Mr. Kippler showed his concern towards Nora.

“I think that I can handle it fine.” Nora wanted to say where she was staying, but then avoided it and instead thanked Mr. Kippler again and went on her own way.

While heading back to her hotel, there were a million times that her mind wished to call the number that was given to her by Mrs. Shindel. Every time she saw a public phone booth, she wanted to call, but considering how old the person was, Nora considered against it and finally called it a day.

Back in her hotel, Nora was put off by a few visitors in the lounge. The moment she entered, they turned to look at her. Nora couldn’t make up her mind if it was true or just a fragment of her imagination. She shook her head and headed towards her own room. The sound of laughter and conversation penetrated the closed doors, and it irritated her to a great extent.

Like the previous night, Nora was hungry again, but had no intention of going outside for food. She took to her last resort and opened her back pack for a snack bar or two, and grumbling words in her mind, she took to her bed. All through the night, the only thing that circled her thought was to call the number that was written on the piece of paper that lay in her pocket. She took it out once again and decided to write it down just in case. So in her neat handwriting, Nora inscribed the number in her notebook. She didn’t want to take any chances. She was here and had no intentions of going back without a result and hoped that her judgments were not ill-founded.

The alarm on Nora’s watch woke her up, the clock showed 12:00 p.m. and for a small second she was surprised.
Did I sleep for this long?
She tapped her watch twice and brought it near her ear to listen if it was working. Then her eye went towards the wall clock hanging in her room and she read the time was a little past 10:00 a.m. Nora didn’t know which one to believe and the only thing that was left for her to do was to go out and see what the real time was indeed.

Like the wall clock in her room, the giant grandfather clock in the lounge struck something past 10:00 a.m. and Nora huffed at the inconvenience that her non-functioning watch would cause. “Are there any internet cafes in town?’’ Nora asked the lady behind the counter.

“You don’t need breakfast this morning, girl?” the lady asked her instead.

“I am not hungry,” Nora lied although her stomach said otherwise. Nora loved food and never skipped any of her meals, but here she was going against her routines and that displeased her in certain ways. Indulging in breakfast meant getting delayed, and she didn’t even know if she would get an appointment with the former librarian. So having breakfast seemed unnecessary to her at that moment.

“Are you all right?” the lady asked her again.

“Yes, I am fine; can you please tell me if there are any internet cafés nearby?” Nora asked for the second time.

“Yes, there is. Do you want me to write down the address for you?’’ Nora found the lady unusually helpful.

“If it is convenient for you, but I need to know the directions, as well. So I’ll be glad if you can tell me the way I should go.”

“Just walk straight out of here and go four blocks. You will see a souvenir shop, turn left and walk two more blocks and there you will find an Internet café, but you can use ours if it is an emergency.” The lady pointed Nora towards the white desktop that sat on top of the table.

”I am really thankful for all your assistance, but I will need long hours at the computer, and I don’t think working here is convenient,” Nora replied politely. She took the piece of paper on which the name of the café and the address was written on. She also hoped that she would find a phone there so she could call Merly to give a little information on what she had found.

Nora’s stomach protested in demand of breakfast, but she ignored it. She walked following the directions that she was given, but it was not far before her hunger gave in. She started looking at both sides of the street to see if there was any diner that she could find. She soon spotted a small diner. It was past 11:00 a.m. It was foolish to call a meal breakfast at that hour, and Nora laughed at the thought of that and went with it anyway. The place was not at all crowded and Nora thought it was probably because it was already past the breakfast hours. A small lady whom Nora recognized as the waitress was waiting at the counter, and there were two other elderly couples sitting at another table going about their own business, which caught Nora’s eye. She however let her eyes linger on them and called the waitress instead.

Nora noticed the waitress’ name was Kimberly and she looked a little shaken. But considering that it was not any of her business, Nora asked for the menu that day and after a little deliberation, she ordered a plate of pancakes and a cup of coffee to satisfy her hunger at that moment. Nora waited for her food to arrive, but she couldn’t help but eavesdrop on the conversation the old couple were having at the other table, and she strained her ears to listen to them. Like a bolt from the blue, she was stunned when she heard one of the couples say her name to another couple sitting at the opposite table.

Word spread like forest fire in this otherwise quiet town, she thought. Nora tried to listen more about what they were discussing, and that they mentioned her name piqued her curiosity even more. She heard the old man say that there was this girl in town asking questions, when the woman beside him said that the girl’s name was Dora. They even expressed their curiosity about what sparked Nora’s interest about the town.

The waitress arrived shortly with the food Nora ordered, and before Nora could hear more of the conversation that the old couple at the other table was having, she had to pay attention to what the waitress was saying. The waitress was asking her if Nora wanted anything else. Nora was not that hungry anymore.

She sipped on the coffee and it tasted bitter. Nora sat there wondering if the coffee was indeed bitter or the situation that she was currently in. There were a couple of times Nora heard her name uttered before the couple on one of the table paid their bill and left.

Sitting in an unknown town surrounded by complete strangers talking about her made her uncomfortable, and the sweet pancakes seemed to form a lump in her throat. Nora wanted to investigate discreetly, but somehow the word was out about her. What surprised her was that no one at the diner recognized her as the girl they were talking about. Nora decided to be more careful. The pancakes in front of her sat cold.

The waitress saw the unfinished and neglected food laying on Nora’s plate, walked up to her and said, “Miss, is anything wrong with the food?”

Nora realized that some time has passed and she hadn’t touched the food yet. She felt a little embarrassed and annoyed with herself. The last thing she wanted to do was grab attention to herself, and with this act she was doing the opposite. She noticed that as the waitress was speaking to her, the elderly couple at the other table was already looking at her with anonymity. The waitress repeated her question, but Nora was too busy looking towards the couple so she missed the question this time as well.