One such surprise appeared in the form of a peculiar plant that had little, tiny leaves growing on the edges of its main, bigger ones. The tiny ones would fall off and start growing in the soil as little sprouts. Some had even fallen into cups of water and started floating on the surface, taking root in the water itself. They seemed to be quite hardy little things and Tress had no idea what sort of plant they were.
Curious, the Romano's school teacher decided to go and do some research. When she stopped by the library nearest to her, it turned out to be too crowded for her liking, so she looked up another relatively close by and learned of one she'd never heard of or been to before. There were some online reviews and rumors saying it was supposedly haunted, but that suited Tress just fine. She'd dealt with ghosts after all and even helped one on an especially interesting occasion. If the library being haunted (or at least rumored to be) kept most people away, then all the better.
Bringing her little plant in a small pot and hiding it in a bag of hers, Tress entered the library only to find it even emptier than she had hoped for. Pleasantly surprised, she looked around and went up to the receptionist desk.
"Hahller?"
Arlen was, as per usual, cleaning around his library, humming absently to himself as he tried to patch a hole in his ceiling, because it had been steadily leaking for the past three weeks whenever it rained.
He was balanced atop a big ladder, a bucket of construction mud in one hand and a little spade in the other, expression very concentrated as the gigantic ladder swayed precariously in its attempts to reach the top of the library.
When he heard the bells at the door jingle, he startled, almost toppling over on his ladder but just barely able to keep himself upright.
"O-Oh, gods, hi, luv! Welcome to Ye Bochord. How can I help you today?" He asked, smiling down at the woman. "Sorry, I'll be right down, I swear---lemme just---"
Ladder swaying, he leaned forward, reaching dangerously to reach and swipe at some of the mud on the ceiling, so that he could fix that pesky little hole---
"Good lard, what are you doing oll de wee up dere?!" Tress exlaimed as she saw the librarian balanced precariously at the top of the swaying ladder. She immediately rushed to steady the thing as best she could. "Bih careful! Teeke yar teeme caming daown ar you meeht naht ahnd up biheng en ah steete to halp anibawdih!" Tress was shocked the young man had decided to risk such an endeavor when no one else was around to help steady his ladder or otherwise assist him.
Arlen was rather startled by the woman's panic---fixing Ye Bochord was his own problem, since he owned the deed to the poor girl. He ended up doing this sort of thing a lot---but he only chuckled, and nodded, grateful for the support on the ladder as he made the proper swipe at the ceiling and then started his descent back down to ground floor.
"Ah, yeah, eh----so sorry for scaring you, luv, having a bit of a leak problem---"
He gestured up at the ceiling, where he had just swiped the patching up. "But hopefully that should fix it! Thank you for helping me out!"
He dusted his pants off with already dirty hands and grinned---hapless one, he was. "How are you today, ma'am?"
"Nat ee prablam," Tress answered a little more calmly once the young man safely had his two feet on the ground. "EE just hawpe you'll denk tweece bihfar tree-eng to do somedeng dat deengerous ahn yar oawn agahn. You could hev bihn sehrihouslih hurt. Ar warse." Her words carried with the stern concern and authority of a school teacher. Which, of course, she was.
Once the fellow - was he the librarian? The only one working there? It certainly seemed so - grinned at her and asked her how she was, however, she remembered her purpose in having come to the library in the first place.
"Ah...Ee'm feen, dank you," she said, lightly feeling for her bag at her side to make sure it was still there and she hadn't dropped it or its contents. "Sarry to desturb yar wark. Ee was just wondereng ef you meet hev ahih books ahn plehnts. Wed pectures. Ee hev ee plehnt dat Ee've bihn tree-eng to eedahntehfee, but Ee'm naht sure whare to stahrt."
Arlen flushed, sufficiently chastised, and nodded sheepishly, cheeks puffing out in embarrassment. "Y-Yes, ma'am," he agreed, although to be truthful, this would likely be far from the last time he put himself in such a position---he had too awful much to be getting done for worrying about the danger of it; there was nobody else.
"Plants?" He echoed, grin rediscovering the librarian's features as he toddled along towards the nonfiction section on the second floor, "of course! We have several gardening books, seed catalogues in our magazine racks, and a whole section on botany! Maybe starting with the seed catalogues would be the best option; since they'll likely have more of the newer strains and varieties of plants, but if it doesn't have what you're looking for, I'm sure we have a plant encyclopedia that will cover it for you." He explained, all too happy to chatter on, "did someone give you the plant? Or did it just show up in your garden or yard?"
The ginger-haired woman followed after the brunet young man as he headed up to the second floor of the library. "Sihd cawtalawgs?" she repeated, surprised. That might have been useful...only she wasn't so sure the plant she wanted to identify even had seeds. The section on botany and gardening books sounded promising, though. "Ya're prabahblih reet...but...Ee doan't ihvahn denk des plawnts haws sihds to chack," she explained. "Unlass dee hev plawnts dawt doan't hev sihds aws wahl. You sih...des plawnt sihms to graw teenih spraouts ahn de ahdjahs of ehts lihvs. Daws spraouts fahl ahff ond stahrt graweng whahrahver dee fahl, whadder en siol ahr wahter. Ee hevahn't sihn ahnih sihds to spihk of." After thinking it over a minute, she brought out the plant from her bag. "Ee anahstly ken't rihmahmber whare Ee gaht des one from. Ee denk someone meet hev gehvin et to mih."
Arlen blinked over his shoulder at the plant, mouth opening for a moment, and then closing. "O—Oh! Oh, I actually—no seed catalogue needed, luv! I can help you out with that. I have a book on succulents upstairs, just this way..."
He hopped over to the shelves and reached up as high as his little arms could manage, just barely reaching the proper shelf where he yanked the book out with two fingers, immediately flipping through it to a specific page and showing her the picture.
"Kalanchoe daigremontiana. Or 'Mother of Thousands', as they call it," he explained, pointing at the photo, "those little buds will flower if you care for them right. See?"
"Succulents...?" Tress repeated in surprise. She hadn't realized that was what the plant was. "How do you know it's a succulent?"
Apparently he knew more than that it was a succulent. He seemed to know exactly what plant it was because he flipped to the exact page in the succulent book to show her a picture.
"...Wow," she remarked, astonished. "Do you know the contents of *all* the books in this library?"
"Well, succulents are usually known for their swollen parts where they store nutrients or oil, wavy appendages, or rosette shapes," Arlen replied, scratching his head sheepishly, "succulents were always my favourite plants. Cacti and whatever—always cool."
He handed her the book gently, the binding a little weak from use.
"Not *all* of them," he assured, giggling to himself at the very idea, "but definitely quite a few. Not much to do on the clock but read, y'know."
"Yes, but I didn't really notice those features on this plant, did you?" Tress asked, wondering what she might have missed.
She gratefully took the book she was handed. "Thank you. Do I need to purchase a library card to check it out?"
At Arlen's comment that there wasn't much to do on the clock but read, she pursed her lips a little. "You mean that or dangerously try to patch up the ceiling on a wobbly, unsteady ladder?"
"Oh, ah---Well it's budding on the edges of the leaves, you see," Arlen explained, gesturing to the little plant, "and Mother of Thousands are a heat-hardy plant, so they're classified under the succulent group."
He didn't know how well he was describing all this---a flush stole across his features unbidden. It wasn't often he got to prattle on so much.
But then Tress made him giggle when she mentioned his ladder escapades, and he nodded sheepishly. "Well, that's ah---yeah---I'm in charge of keeping things running around here, you see! And nawh, no purchasing necessary. Just some paperwork, luv. Come along this way..."
"Huh. That's interesting to know," the plant-lover remarked. She wouldn't have pegged the plant's hardiness to heat as an indicator it was a succulent, but she suppose it made sense.
Following the young librarian to complete the paperwork he mentioned, Tress asked, "Do you work here all alone? What's your name?" Looking down at the plant she still carried along with the book, she asked, "Would you like some for your library or home? Or do you have enough around here to take care of?"
Not always, but a lot of succulents (like cacti and such) were plants that required very little water. Always easier to assume succulent first, ask questions later, in Arlen's experience.
"Name's Arlen, ma'am! And yes, I'm currently our only employer, but ah—Nice to meet you! What's yours?" He asked, beaming over his shoulder at her, before gasping delightedly. "I-I could? You're sure? I could pay you for them, if you like—"
"Tress J. Gervene. I'm sorry you've had to run this place all by yourself," the ginger sighed. "I hope you're able to get other employees soon if you don't already have some. As the sole employer, you should be able to choose who to hire and when, right?"
Smiling at the unexpected enthusiasm and delight with which Arlen responded to her offer, Tress nodded. "Don't be silly, Arlen. There are plenty here and I can't care for them all. You would be doing *me* a favor to take them off my hands, especially because it seems like they'll die otherwise, and that would be such a shame and a waste." Her smile grew into a grin. "Not to mention you helped me identify it and did it on sight alone. I'd say that definitely deserves something. You saved me a lot of valuable time and trouble."
Arlen shrugged, patting a bookcase as he passed it by on the way down the stairs. "Bah; running this old girl has been the best thing I've stumbled into. Gives me something to keep busy. Don't ah... Have a lot else going on right now, y'know? Just... Trying to keep busy."
Restoring this place was a good distraction. He should probably finish those drawings sometime, but maybe Jack wouldn't like the portraits? He didn't know. Maybe he would just keep them in his sketchbooks for now.
"Thank you," he replied, utterly genuine, a pleased little smile finding his features, "and anytime---really. Always happy to help someone out. And I love plants just as much as the next guy! Especially succulents---the one plant I can keep alive."
He chuckled to himself at the joke, and made his way over to his counter, gathering the necessary documents to register another patron. "I'll just have you fill this out for me, and we'll mail you a card, if that's alright?"
"That doesn't mean you couldn't use some help. Especially when it comes to things like patching the ceiling," the teacher tried to point out.
She chuckled at his comment about succlents being the one plant he could keep alive. "It is nice that they don't require as much care as others," Tress agreed.
Following the librarian over to the counter, she nodded when he asked her to fill out some documents and swiftly did so right then and there. "That would be wonderful," she said, smiling again. "Thank you. In the meantime, though, is there anything else I might need to do to be able to check out this book?" She nodded toward the plant. "And would you happen to have any pots or anything or should I bring you some when I return what I borrowed?"
Arlen hummed in agreement. "Eh. What I'd be looking for now are more, uh... volunteers. Not a grand market for a failing library." He chuckled, scratching his head absently. "But you're right. I could use some help every now and again."
He accepted the paperwork and slid it beneath his desk, before opening the book in question and pulling out a small card in the back—old school checkout.
"We'll do it the old fashioned way. I'll keep this, with your name on it and the day you borrowed it..." he filled out the information in question, "and you'll keep the book and bring it back in two weeks! I'd give you a temporary card, but we've had quite a few more people than usual—waiting for those in the mail, too."
To her last question, he jerked upright, and nodded, sprinting off towards the back. "Yeah, yeah! Just one sec, ma'am!"
He made his way towards the supply closet in the back (which he was also using as a storage unit) and returned with an armload of plant pots.
"You should advertise more, then. I'm sure you would get plenty of volunteers. I'd volunteer myself if I didn't spend so much of my time off of work grading papers."
Tress chuckled softly at the book card. "Thank you, Arlen. I'll return the book in two weeks time, then."
When Arlen left and returned with pots, he would find Tress standing with her lips pursed and one hand on one hip. "What did we exchange names for if we aren't going to use them?"
Nevertheless, she took the pots from Arlen and arranged them in a row. Then she put a little soil from her main plant - she could always refill it when she got home - into each of the pots and put a few sprouts in top.
"Should I ask why you have so many pots here?"
Arlen flushed, nodding sheepishly. "Yeah, maybe you're right... We didn't get very many volunteers, I suppose, for a long time... So I gave up for a while. Grading papers, though? Do you teach?"
He had always thought teaching was interesting. He'd have maybe given being an English or History teacher a try, if he hadn't been called to his job as a librarian.
He huffed a bit of a giggle, embarrassed by her statement. "Well, ah—Sorry, ma—Tress, I was just trying to be polite—"
He gestured at some of his plants in the windows at her question. "Well, see, I *used* to do flowers, but ah—I'm bad with caring for them. As you can see by the ah... Lack of flowers."
He looked about ready to cry at her gift.
"... Thank you. Really. Are you sure you don't want me to pay you?"
"Yes. I teach English at Romano's Constitutional Haven. Which is why I know a lot of high school kids would love to volunteer in order to pad their applications to college...particularly volunteering at a place like this."
At Arlen's claim that he was just trying to be polite, Tress asked, "You call making me feel old 'polite'?" But the way she smiled faintly afterward suggested she took no real offense.
Nodding at the plants at the windows, she said, "Very good. These should do nicely, then. And I'm sure I'm leaving them in good hands."
Looking startled when he realized Arlen seemed about to cry, Tress shook her head. "Goodness, no! You've paid me enough. In information and assistance." She put the book in her bag and picked up her own pot with her plant to carry out with her.
"Take care, Arlen. I'll see you soon, I'm sure. So long as you don't go falling off any shakey ladders before then."
Arlen beamed at that, eyes wide, and nodded vigorously. "That's amazing! And you think so?" He chuckled, quite pleased indeed at the very concept. "Maybe I should try and start it up again, after all..."
He giggled at her retort. "Fair, fair, I'll keep that in mind, Tress."
"... Thank you. Truly," he added, and huffed happily, "I'll do my best to steer clear of any ladders. Scout's honor."
"Wouldn't have said it if I thought otherwise," she answered.
"Good. I'd hate for the next plants I'd give you to be the ones for your funeral. And thank you, too."
The British woman dipped her head in farewell before turning to make her departure out the main doors, pleased with the outcome of her trip to the unfamiliar library.
Arlen flushed happily to himself, his sense of self reaffirmed by her assurance, and patted his sides awkwardly.
"Well, I'll have to think of some plant to give you in turn when you come back. I'm sure I have fun ones out back that I could bring you," he replied, beaming up at her, "see you around! Tell me what you think of the book when you come back!"
Another patron for Ye Bochord. Gosh, Arlen was really filling the place up lately, wasn't he? There was something... Amazing about that. He almost couldn't believe it.
He hoped things were only going to continue to look up from here.
"Bye for now, Tress!"
ArlentheAngel
((The End))
