Miles stopped and turned to stare at me. “You were checking me out,” he said again.
I rolled my eyes and huffed. “Fine. I checked you out, and Ilikedwhat I saw!”
I HADestimated the cost and time it would take to put the library into a digital catalogue and convert the old glue-a-card system into scanned bar codes. If Beatrice’s numbers were right, there were only about six thousand books in the library, so while it’d take considerable time, it was less than what I’d expected. If that could be completed first, before dedicating more budget to new inventory, we’d be ahead of the game. But Lancaster needed more books for sure, so that couldn’t be put off too long. The neighboring libraries, according to their websites, had between twelve and thirty thousand books on hand, both in traditional format as well as audio. I hadnoaudio. I also had no magazine subscriptions like some libraries did, if you didn’t count theNational Geographicfrom fifteen years ago up in the storage room.
Going back several years in Beatrice’s books showed an average annual budget of less than twelve thousand dollars to maintain the library, not including her meager salary. I supposed, based on utility records and purchases made, the buildingcouldcontinue to be maintained on that paltry sum, but to bring our community into the future, I wanted to raise the budget to twenty thousand.
At least.
That didn’t include my own income either. And since I was a man who fancied something other than ramen noodles for dinner seven days a week, I wanted more than the criminal salary they’d been offering Beatrice.
Logan Fields had arrived before lunch to see how I was doing, and the numbers I’d proposed were giving him flop sweat. Literally. He wiped his brow and upper lip with a handkerchief. “Twenty thousand is impossible, Christopher.”
“I could manage with eighteen,” I countered. “But you must understand, this community deserves to have what these bigger towns and cities take for granted.”
“Of course I agree with you,” Logan replied. “But other Selectmen will make this difficult for me.”
“You mean Sam?”
He leaned forward in the chair in front of my desk, the legs creaking under his weight. “I suppose he came and introduced himself.”
“Yes. All but told me to fuck off. Pardon my language.”
“I’m sure he did,” Logan muttered, looking down at his hands with a scowl.
“Mr. Fields, is there any way to get a small sum in advance?”
“Chris—”
“We can put the entire library online,” I said, cutting him off. “I know about web design, enough to make a little home page. I mean, we don’t even have a sign out front to advertise hours, let alone being searchable on the internet. We can look into having someone list all of the books on the website so folks can see what’s available. We can make a request form to get the community’s input on future purchases, toensurefoot traffic.”
Logan patted his upper lip with the handkerchief again. “What sort of money are we talking about?”
I glanced over Logan’s shoulder and watched as Miles exited the disaster room, pulling his bandana down from his mouth. No doubt breathing in the dust was troublesome. “Well, the bar code system would only cost a few hundred.” I quickly kept talking, because he looked a bit too hopeful. “The digital inventory software… I found one for a little under two grand.”
“Twogrand?”
“And I can make a cheap website for a few hundred more, but once we get back on our feet, I’d seriously suggest hiring a professional to oversee it.”
Logan shook his head, groaning as if he had indigestion.
Miles made eye contact with me as he passed by the checkout desk to go upstairs.
“I know it’s a lot, but this will give the state the records and numbers they want, Mr. Fields.Please,” I finished, consciously having to stop gripping my hands together in desperation.
“I can pay for Mr. Sakasai to fix the shelves,” Logan said after a pause. “And I can pay for you. I’m certain I can get you a few hundred for the bar code system, but that’s it.”
“Mr. Fields—”
“No,” he said. “I just can’t. I have no budget left. I’m sorry, Christopher, but you’ve got to find a way to get the state what they need without buying this computer software.” He stood and gathered his coat. “I’ll get that check cut for you by the weekend. Send me the total cost, will you?”
“Yes, sir,” I said quietly, defeat sinking my gut like a stone in water.
Logan said goodbye and saw himself out. I sat at the desk for a while longer. All I needed was three grand and I could do it—could prove we deserved our annual budget, and in fact deservedmore. I was already so in love with this library that I’d have spent my own savings to pick up the software, but I hadnothingleft after moving here.
The wind outside picked up, howls passed through the trees, and snow whipped up in pretty spirals around the windows.
It felt like Sam Bloom had already won. What was the point in fighting?
