Lightning That Lingers Read Online Free PDF

long rectangles of sunlight from the back windows crept imperceptibly across the brown carpet between the stacks.
    Soon the after-school crowd would fill the round pine tables around her with their landslide of homework questions, and she would be too busyto stand by the window thinking of laughing blue eyes and a beckoning hand that each time brought a hard lifting sensation inside her stomach.
    She looked back over her shoulder as Mrs. Paynter sailed around the corner, her black silver-stranded hair straggling, her sensible shoes library-soft on the floor, her arms filled with clipboards and rolled posterboard. Spying Jennifer, she said, “Ah, here you are! I knew you were going to take your break but I assumed you take it in the back room.… Have you seen what Annette’s done back there now? I walked in to have my lunch, sat down on the desk, and found myself practically cheek to cheek with an unclothed man. The cheek I contributed was on my face. His was not!”
    Divining that Mrs. Paynter was referring to the Cougar Club calendar, Jennifer diplomatically suggested, “Maybe it’s art.”
    “Art! If that young man had been a woman, he would have been a hussy. Naked is naked, even if they have him posed so you can’t see his ding-dong.”
    Jennifer’s eyes flew wide and she tried to disguise her eruption of laughter as a rather unsavory episode of choking.
    Mrs. Paynter was not deceived. “I’d like to know what you call it then.”
    Hastily, with a spreading grin, Jennifer said, “Oh, nothing at all. I do everything I can to avoid the subject entirely. I’m not much of a …” She found it necessary to clear her throat, and the grin died.
Well, come on, Jennifer, what is it that you’re not much of? A woman, perhaps?
An odd bitter thought. Was that what watching life through a window did to you? Did it make youincreasingly odd, more bitter? Either she must learn to accept herself as she was or she must learn to be more open to life. More open—wasn’t that what she was doing by moving to Emerald Lake, living in a new community, nourishing new friendships?
Yes. I’m starting. So don’t panic
. Impatient that she had caught herself worrying again, she dropped the unfinished sentence and gave the raft of posters in Mrs. Paynter’s arms an interested look.
    “What have you got there?”
    “Publicity for the fund drive!” Rearranging the motley collection of paper, Mrs. Paynter unearthed a poster, rolled off a thick red rubber band and opened the poster with a flourish. “Every year we try to work around some inspirational little phrase. This year we’ve chosen TAKE THE DUMB OUT OF FREEDOM, and as you can see, we’ve used an Abe Lincoln motif.”
    Jennifer studied the Lincoln motif, trying to look inspired. On the poster, Lincoln stood beside a log cabin, his head a copy of the penny profile. Gear-shaped snowflakes flew around his hapless figure. Under his arm he was holding a book labeled “Shakespeare” that looked as big as a suitcase, and big bare toes like Snuffy Smith’s adorned feet blue with cold.
    “It’s very …” Corny. Jennifer dragged out the hesitation, nodding thoughtfully, but she wasn’t proof against the latent anxiety in Mrs. Paynter’s earnest face. “Very nice. I take it you’ve sort of based things on the story about Lincoln walking barefoot through a blizzard for miles to return a book he’d borrowed. Since this month is his birthday?” More nodding. “Ah-
huh
. Very clever.”
    “I’m so glad you think so!” Mrs. Paynter said, beaming. “Annette and Lydia didn’t seem to care for it at all.”
    Unhappily, Jennifer found herself in the position of having to spend the next few minutes hypocritically pshawing Annette’s very astute criticisms. Hasty to abandon that unprincipled role, she said, “I’d be more than pleased to help out, if you need any extra bodies.”
    “Why, isn’t that kind. We rely for most of our support on our Friends of the Library