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emphatic that Maggie must walk on the wooden bridge and not the blue carpet, otherwise the alligators in the moat might eat her.
    Maggie pretended to almost fall onto the blue carpet, leaving Josh shaking his finger at her and telling her she had to be more careful. Maggie ruffled his head as she chuckled. She did love this little man so.
    Once in the story-time room, Josh toddled over to his best pal, Freddy, who was there with his mom.
    “Hi, Maggie.” Freddy’s mom, a pretty woman named Linda who was expecting her second baby any day, greeted her.
    “Hi, Linda, how are you?” Maggie knelt beside the young woman.
    “More than ready, that’s how I am,” she said with a tired smile as she rubbed her extended belly. “Is Sandy at class today?”
    “Yes, she’s got microbiology.” They both shuddered.
    “Will you tell her I said hi?” Linda asked.
    “Absolutely,” Maggie said. “Would you mind keeping an eye on Josh for me? I just want to run and say hello to Claire.”
    “Oh sure,” Linda said. “You know he and Freddy are as thick as thieves. Hmm, maybe that’s not such a good choice of words.”
    They both laughed, and Maggie said, “I’ll be right back.”
    “Take your time.”
    Maggie closed the story room door behind her, knowing Josh was in excellent hands. She just wanted to pop in and make sure Claire was all right.
    She found Claire in her office sorting through two boxes of books. She looked more put together today; at least her jacket buttons were lined up.
    “Knock knock,” Maggie said in the open doorway.
    Claire looked up, and a smile lit her features.
    “Where’s your barnacle?” Claire asked.
    “He’s in story time,” Maggie said. She took it as a good sign that Claire was back to being her teasing self. Everyone called Josh Maggie’s barnacle because he liked to be wherever she was.
    “Well, don’t leave without letting me see him,” Claire said. “I barely got to give him a squeeze yesterday since he was headed out when I came in.”
    “I promise. What have you got here?”
    “Donations,” Claire said with a sigh. “You know I lovebooks more than anyone, but when they smell like the bottom of someone’s compost heap and start growing mushrooms, really, it’s time to throw them out.”
    “Mrs. Shoemaker?” Maggie guessed. She was an elderly lady who lived down the street from Maggie, who was known for being loath to part with anything, and in fact had some hoarding tendencies that were alarming.
    “Yeah, I have to put these in the basement so that Preston, our handyman, can sneak them to the dump on his next run. Then I can tell her that they’re in storage.”
    “Well, it is storage of a sort,” Maggie said.
    Claire grinned at her, obviously pleased that Maggie understood her dilemma.
    “You seem better today,” Maggie said.
    “Hmm, yesterday was…well, it was a bit of a rough day,” Claire said. She looked like she wanted to say more, but then she shook her head. Her blonde bob brushed against her cheeks, and she pushed her glasses up on her nose.
    “Here, let me help you carry these down to the basement,” Maggie said. She hefted up a box before Claire could protest.
    “Thanks,” Claire said. She picked up the other one and led the way out of her office and into the narrow hallway.
    Maggie wrinkled her nose at the moldy smell of the box in her arms. Good grief, it smelled like damp, dirty socks that had been dragged through a cow pasture. Bleck!
    Claire rested her box on her hip as she unlocked the door that led to the basement. She hefted it up again as she stepped on the creaky stairs that led below.
    The library’s basement was dark and almost as dank as the boxes they carried. It wasn’t accessible to the public andwas used mainly for housing broken furniture or other items that needed to be hauled to Claire’s special storage.
    A lone light bulb was the only defense against the gloom. It had a hanging chain for an on switch, which could only