| abstract | - Published in StoryStar 2015 Have you ever had something disappear… or someone, or several people? I can’t explain what happened even now, years after the incident. Several people disappeared in front of me and another person. One minute they were there and the next they had vanished into thin air. The Florence public library has been in many different places. My grandparents said it used to be in a small cottage like place in Florence’s Old Town. These were the times when most families had only one vehicle, making a trip to the library difficult. I don’t remember the cottage in Old Town, but I do remember when it was in the building across from The Sportsman, half the size of our present beautiful library. We had two young children then, and both were in school, so when the librarian asked me to help, I said yes. In the beginning, I substituted whenever she needed a day or two off, or during a vacation. The extra money was nice to have. Then, I was asked to help man the mobile library. This traveling library came from Eugene four times a month. I manned the mobile when it was at Heceta Beach junction, at the corner of Heceta Beach road and highway 101. This mobile library also went to Mapleton. People loved having an assortment of books close by: the book mobile was especially popular with the elderly and young families. The book mobile had an excellent encyclopedia of titles, just awaiting someone taking them home and jumping inside the pages. Patrons usually checked out the maximum number of books. I especially loved seeing preschoolers with their little foreheads wrinkled up trying to make up their minds and once that big decision was made there would be a relief of smiles and sighs. Has everyone seen a traveling mobile library? For those of you who haven’t, I’ll give a thumbnail description. It’s like a twenty something foot trailer… it’s moved from city to town by hooking up to a truck. The mobile library is entirely enclosed. A small door is at one end of the trailer. No windows. No other doors. One aisle is in the center of the trailer, with each of the three walls shelves filled with books from floor to ceiling. A small desk and chair sit by the only door, where the librarian can check books out/or in. Two people man the book mobile. My usual coworker couldn’t make it on this particular day… and Eugene provided a replacement, a young man close to my age. It was a day in early November. A big ‘south wester’ arrived during the night, making the kitchen lights flicker off and on that morning. It was still dark when I left and I kept the car headlights on high, along with the windshield wipers. The wind was roaring, my car rocked as if Odin himself was pushing against it. The rain was coming in sideways, and I was thoroughly drenched by the time I opened the door to the library. I turned the lights on, saw my breath, and immediately wished I’d worn a second sweater. My new partner arrived, and after introductions, we familiarized ourselves with the current titles and pushed back any books that were askew. There were always new titles available, as each site had regular patrons and most checked out several books. As for the one chair and desk, we decided to trade places every half hour. It was an extremely slow day due to the storm. I knew I would have thought twice about going out on such a day. It was now early afternoon, and we hadn’t had anyone come in for at least an hour, when with a tremendous blast of wind the door blew open and a man stepped inside, he continued holding the door or the wind surely would have ripped it off… and I saw several women standing behind him. If anyone ever resembled Beelzebub it was this guy. His hair was inky black. He had a matching black beard and mustache, much like a pirate of olden days. And his grin, or should I say smirk, was much like the proverbial Cheshire Cat. His clothing was black leather. Behind him, strode the women. Each one dressed as if attending a gala opera. The women accompanying the smirking man in black leather were each a unique and exotic beauty. The man stopped near the doorway and only glanced at me, but held the eyes of my coworker. And then, this strange harem like group went to the back of the mobile library. I asked my partner, “Do you know who that guy is?” He said no, but I couldn’t help but notice how he was shaking, and writing on a piece of paper. And then I said, “Did you notice that they weren’t wet?” He didn’t answer but continued writing. I tried to crane my neck to see what he was writing, but he noticed me doing this and covered the paper with his left hand. It was a moment or two later that I looked back to see what this atypical group was doing, and there was no one there! I said, “Where did they go?” My coworker looked up and let out a gasp! I repeated myself, where did they go? Where are they? My coworker was muttering and starting to gather things up to close the library. I said something like we still have a couple more hours to go, before we’re supposed to close. He didn’t answer me. I noticed he was now sweating profusely and he’d developed a defined whiteness around his mouth. Well, I thought, I might as well go along with an early closing, as this way I’d be home long before my children arrived from school, and therefore could get an early start on dinner. During this time, I kept thinking that what we’d just witnessed must have been a magician’s trick. Back then I wasn’t frightened like my coworker, just mystified and convinced that there had to be a logical explanation. After all I thought the entire bunch were so outrageous in their dress, it had to be a group of actors, or a magician and his female assistants. Perhaps, an illusion that my coworker was in on, and he was leaving early to join them in town. I shared what had happened with my husband, grandmother, and parents. They agreed, there had to be a simple explanation. They were also in agreement that these people slipped out somehow someway. I continued to substitute at the main library and also the mobile library. I never again saw the young man that worked with me that strange and stormy day. November is approaching and I remembered this long ago happening. Was it a magician’s illusion? Was it Lucifer and his minions? Was it a pimp? Was it demons or ghosts? Who do you think they were? Do you have an answer? What happened that stormy day in November?
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