June stared. “What?”
“They’re closing it in eight weeks’ time. We’re getting a mobile library instead, once a fortnight.”
“We lost,” Chantal said.
“After June got taken away, the place was in an uproar. They debated Chalcot for another half an hour, but in the end the vote went twenty-five to twenty-four in favor of closing it.”
“My god,” said Vera.
“That’s not all. At the end they said the council will be entering into discussions with private buyers about the Chalcot Library premises, with the aim to sell it off in order to make up some of the budget deficit. It looks like Cuppa Coffee will get the building.”
June felt something inside her crumble. “It’s over.”
They all stared at one another in stunned silence. Jackson was sitting with his head in his hands, and tears were running down Chantal’s cheeks.
“I’m just glad Stanley wasn’t around to see this,” Mrs.B saidquietly.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
When June arrived at the library, there was a council van parked outside, two men in overalls leaning against it, their breath misty in the November cold. She walked into the building and found Marjorie shouting into the phone.
“But this is ridiculous! I told you yesterday that we can’t manage without them... I don’t care if they need them in New Cowley; we still have a library to run here.” Marjorie slammed the phone down with force.
“What is it today?” June said.
“The carousels. Can you believe the cheek of it? I told those two clowns, if they touch anything from my library, then I’m liable to use violence against them, so help me god.”
“They’re only doing their job, Marjorie.”
“But we’re open until five o’clock tomorrow. How am I supposed to run a library with half my equipment missing?”
June walked through to the back and hung her coat up. It hadbeen like this all week. On Monday they’d taken the sofa from the Children’s Room, and June had hidden in the toilets so no one would see her cry, and on Tuesday they carried out several of the racks. On Wednesday they’d come back for the returns trolley, and June and Marjorie had watched from the window as the men tried to load it onto the back of the van. But the trolley had other ideas and kept veering off toward the pub, causing the men to curse in frustration. It had been the first time June had laughed in weeks.
She made two cups of tea and took one out to Marjorie. “Do you remember I’m going at lunchtime today?”
“Sure.” Marjorie was still glaring out the window at the van.
June went to switch the computers on. She felt bad leaving Marjorie on her own when there was so much work still to be done, but she had no option. This afternoon, for the first time in her life, June had a job interview. It was for a library assistant role in Kent, and June had been preparing for it all week—a welcome distraction from the pain she felt every time she thought about the library closing tomorrow.
“It’s ten o’clock,” Marjorie called across to her. “Open up, will you?”
June walked to the front door and unlocked it. Jackson had now replaced Stanley as the first to arrive each morning, and as she opened the door she found him standing on the front step, wrapped up in a duffel coat and scarf against the cold.
“Morning,” he said as he strolled toward the desk.
“Morning, Jackson. Chilly today, isn’t it?”
The boy heaved the satchel off his shoulder, and it hit the ground with an audible thud. Opening it up, he counted out twelve books and placed them on the desk. “I want to return these, please.”
“Of course. Did you enjoyCatcher in the Rye? What did you make of Holden Caulfield?”
“It was good, thanks.” Jackson reached into his coat pocket and pulled something out, placing it on top of the books. “You should have this as well.”
June looked down and saw it was Jackson’s library card, the edges creased and battered, so well used that most of the print had worn off.
“You don’t have to give this back—you’ll need it for the mobile library.”
“Thanks, but I’m not sure I will.”