Library is an excerpt from my novel Four Thorns, book eight in my Skye Wright Rise and Fall series.

Skye takes Jules on a walk around her West Berkeley neighborhood, as she helps Jules to get his life together as he tries to embark on a new chapter of sobriety.

Library

     Skye could never tell how Jules felt about their walks.
     Jules used to be one of the most physically fit people she ever knew.
     He still looked fit. His sinewy arms and his flat stomach belied his gym rat past.
     She watched how he moved as they walked out of her building and into the cool, sunny air. She noted how his vibe fluctuated. Even though he seemed to be dragged out from time to time, she could feel his climb, his drive to right himself once again. The way he talked, his thoughts, and the threads running just underneath his muted exterior, told her everything she needed to know. No amount of finger wagging and chiding by all the punks giving her hell about hanging out with Jules could deride her from the facts.
     She knew the spark was there.
     She knew he wanted to flourish again.
     She knew his new spark could be fanned into flame.
     Skye wondered about her colliding thoughts, as worry and hope ran into each other.
     “I hardly ever walked around these neighborhoods,” said Jules as he stumbled along. “I only hung out by the clubs.”
     “Gilman baby!” said Skye as she tried her best to maneuver the pugs so their leashes would not get tangled. “You wanna take one a’ these pups?”
     “Yeah.”
     Skye started around the block after handing off Juanita to Jules. They were walking the standard route for her pug walks. Juan darted forward as Skye tried to rein him in, making sure they didn’t get too far ahead of Jules and Juanita.
     Skye slowed down since Jules was letting Juanita sniff every bush and tree that she happened by.
     She rounded a corner to stop at a little library.
     “I wanna hit a few libraries. It makes the walk a little longer, but I was thinkin’ we could grab some books and then stop by Rusty Lisa’s.”
     “What’s Rusty Lisa’s?” asked Jules as he waited for Juanita to finish sniffing yet another tree.
     “Vegan bakery. Seriously good stuff.”
     “Bakery? Oh man, I don’t wanna gain weight.”
     “Yes you do! You’re so skinny. Gotta get you up in that weight class.”
     The pugs waited patiently as Skye and Jules spent a few minutes looking through the small sidewalk library’s offers.
     “Slim pickens,” said Skye.
     “No Hunter S Thompson,” said Jules as he sorted through some paperbacks.
     “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Hunter S book in one a’ these.”
     Turning away from the sidewalk library, Juanita broke into a quick trot as Jules sprinted along, moving with an extra spring in his step.
     They walked a few more blocks, pausing only so the pugs could huff and yip at a reluctant fluffy gray cat who viewed them with suspicion by balling itself up on top of a fence and giving them an evil glare.
     “There’s somethin’ y’gotta see, right around this corner,” said Skye as they pulled the pugs away from the cat.
     Going around the corner, Jules spotted it right away.
     “Damn!” he said when he saw it.
     The house had a white picket fence that was interrupted by a thick, low, and wide wooden bench that had a large and elaborate little library on top of it.
     The complex consisted of several book houses which were built on several levels. The center of the book’s depository consisted of one large shingled book house with three shelves in it, tall enough to take on larger books. It was flanked by double stacked little libraries on either side. There were elaborate trim on the various structures as well as painted designs of books and animals all over the various little libraries. The very top of the edifice had carved wooden animals sitting on top of an inexpertly shingled roof.
     “Holy crap,” said Jules as he looked over all of the details. “Someone worked their ass off on this.”
     “I keep hoping to run into someone who lives here so I can ask them about this,” said Skye as she searched a side hutch.
     Jules looked through the main library as Juanita kept hopping around his feet. Skye was looking over a Sarah Vowell book when Jules knelt down and picked up Juanita, holding her with one arm as he sorted through the books.
     “I can’t believe I found a Sarah Vowell book in here,” said Skye.
     “Who’s that?”
     “She writes about American history,” said Skye as she held up a copy of The Wordy Shipmates.
     “Hmm,” said Jules with a dubious sneer.
     “No, really. She’s a gas. She doesn’t write history like others.”
     She handed Jules the book and he set it down in the center hutch, being as he was still holding on to Juanita.
     Skye was about to point out a Rogue Gray book she found when the pugs started hopping up and down excitedly.
     Two small girls were rounding the corner, running and giggling.
     They slowed down when they saw Skye and Jules. They put their arms to their sides and walked up slowly with blank expressions and curious eyes. One had stringy blonde hair and prominent freckles going across her nose and was wearing a red and white striped shirt. The other one had wild dark brown hair that fell over her eyes and was wearing a green Nature Company shirt.
     “Can we say hi to your dogs?” asked blondie as she meekly walked up.
     “Of course,” said Jules as he set down Juanita who did a few hops to say hi to the girls.
     The girls giggled as they tried to pet Juanita while she danced around.
     “How old are you guys?” asked Jules.
     “Seven,” said the brown hair.
     “Just turned eight,” said blondie.
     “I’ve got a seven year old daughter,” said Jules. “She hasn’t met these dogs yet.”
     “What’s her name?” asked blondie.
     “Juno.”
     “That’s a pretty name.”
     Skye let Juan join in as the giggling girls kept trying to pet the pugs while they danced around.
     Blondie stood up and looked at Jules. “I’m Ashely and that’s Judy.”
     Jules knelt to talk to Ashley. “You have a beautiful name, but you shouldn’t give your name to strangers. Especially really strange strangers like her,” smiled Julian as he pointed at Skye.
     Ashley giggled. “Why not?”
     “Because if someone knows too much about you, they might try to hurt you.”
     Skye felt a cold wave go over her skin.
     Ashley put her hands behind her and leaned towards Jules. “You aren’t gonna hurt me.”
     “How do you know?” asked Jules as he did his best to strike a serious expression.
     “Because you’re a nice man with a little girl named Juno!” said Ashley who then poked Jules on the tip of his nose with her pointing finger.
     Jules facetiously grabbed his nose as if he were injured. “Ah! See what I mean? You’re a stranger and you just bopped my nose!”
     Ashley laughed as Jules stood up with a big smile on his face.
     Ashley and Judy looked through the lower shelves of the elaborate sidewalk library. They kept bringing out children’s books and showing them to Jules who would make comments or ask them questions about their book finds.
     Skye was impressed. Jules was obviously not talking down to them, asking them thoughtful questions while being genuinely curious about what they were showing him.
     “Oh man!” exclaimed Jules as he reached into one of the lower libraries with the children’s books. “You have to take this with you.”
     Judy looked at the book in Jules’ hand. “The Little Prince?”
     “This was one of my favorites when I was a kid.”
     Ashley craned her neck to get a good look at the book. “Did your mom read it to you?”
     “No, my aunt did.”
     Judy wrinkled her nose at the book.
     “You’ll love it,” said Jules as he continued to hold out the book. “Trust me.”
     “Okay,” said Judy as if she were humoring him.
     Ashley and Judy continued to root through the kids section until they had a healthy armload of books.
     “You taking all those with you?” asked Skye as Ashley and Judy balanced tall piles of books in their arms.
     “We bring most of them back,” said Judy as they walked away.
     “Don’t forget to read The Little Prince!” called out Jules as they left.
     “Bye doggies!” chirped Ashley.
     Jules had a few books in hand. He looked to Skye as she kept digging around a top library hutch.
     “Holy fuck!” gasped Skye.
     “I hope those little girls are out of earshot, miss F-bomber,” said Jules as he looked down the street.
     Skye pulled a thick paperback out of the library and held it up to Jules. “Look at this.”
     “The Great Shark Hunt?”
     Skye handed the book to Jules. “I finally found a Hunter S in a little library.”
     Jules beamed as he looked at the book.
     “Good haul,” said Skye as she collected her books.
     “Yeah,” said Jules with a long sigh.
     “What’s up?” asked Skye when she saw his expression.
     “I really miss Juno.”

Four Thorns is available on Kindle with paperbacks at BookShop.org!

Four Thorns – Book Eight of the Skye Wright Series

You can find the entire Skye Wright Rise and Fall Series here!

https://needlepictures.com/tbd/book-series/skye-wright-series/