Chapter 3

Ruth Silverman was the head librarian at the Brantley Public Library. She was everything that self-respecting Texans in the nineteen-sixties loathed. She was a know-it-all, snobby, New York, liberal, Jew feminist. She was head librarian because she’d been foisted on the long suffering citizens of Brantley as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society initiative. The federal government offered to expand and update the Brantley library and even pay for a head librarian, provided the person was who the Department of Education recommended. The cash-strapped county government jumped at the chance and, viola ... Ruth Silverman shows up on their doorstep, three-year contract firmly in place.

Ruth was no better disposed towards the citizens of McCulloch County than they were of her. When she eschewed the Peace Corp for its domestic equivalent, the VISTA program (Volunteers in Service to America), she thought she would be helping disadvantaged Appalachian children learn to read. Instead, she ended up checking out books to a bunch of hardheaded, strong willed ranchers and farmers.

In the fifteen months Ruth had been in charge of the library, she had done little to improve people’s opinion of her. She constantly battled the county council and school board about their restricted books list. She was aloof while performing her duties, and unfriendly when she was not working. For her part, Ruth did not much care what kind of impression she made. Her complete focus was on making her library the best in the state. To that end, she worked tirelessly, sometimes as many as seventy hours a week to cover for not having enough staff.

That particular Saturday afternoon was one of those times she had to work extra hours. Mrs. Purdy, the middle-aged woman who normally worked Saturdays from nine to three, was at her daughters wedding. So Ruth was sitting at the circulation desk when a gaggle of young teens came bustling through the door. As the youths were swarming the teen book section, a man she figured to be in his mid to late twenties, the same age as she, walked in. Ruth frowned when she saw the man walk directly towards the youngsters. She frowned because she had just finished reading a cautionary article in The American Library Journal. The article was all about a new type of sexual deviants who used the library as a fishing ground for young boys.

Ruth’s suspicions were further heightened when the man seemed to focus on a particular boy. The boy was small in stature and walked with a pronounced limp. Ruth stood up and quickly followed when the man and boy disappeared into the stacks. Ruth did not find the pair right off, because they turned the opposite way she figured they would. Instead of finding them in teen and children’s (young adult fiction, alphabetical by author) books, she found them in arts and artists (Dewey decimal classification 700). Ruth knew her instincts were correct when the man appeared to be pointing to a picture in a coffee table art book titled The Sensuous Nudes of Peter Paul Rubens.

Tommy really liked the library, even without the nudie picture book. He couldn’t believe it took him so long to agree to go there with Bucky. He would find out where the western story books were located, and maybe check one out as soon as Bucky finished showing him the pictures of naked ladies. The pictures were great; they were making his tallywhacker hard. Bucky was showing him a picture where the woman’s naked breasts were really big, when someone suddenly cleared their throat. Both boys looked up quickly, and blanched at the stern looking woman standing in front of them. Bucky dropped the book as if it were radio active. The woman pointed at Bucky.

“Pick that up, put it back on the shelf and go home,” she ordered.

Bucky gulped, nodded and with trembling hands, put the book away. As soon as the tome slid into its slot, Bucky hustled out the door.

When the young boy was safely out of the library, Ruth turned her baleful glare on Tommy.

“Okay you, what are you doing here?” Ruth asked in her rudest New York voice.

The mean acting woman had Tommy quaking in his boots. The fear caused Tommy to lose the ability to speak. He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. He licked his lips and tried again.

Ruth took the man’s discomfort and silence as an admission of guilt.

“Cat got your tongue? Doesn’t matter, because I think I had better let the sheriff handle this,” she hissed.

Her statement put Tommy in even more of a panic. She was calling the sheriff on him because he was looking at naked pictures. He just knew he was going to prison. He gave a strangled moan and started sobbing. Ruth was nonplussed by the wailing sobs from the grown man, and flinched back a step. The other two kids that came into the library with Bucky were edging towards the entry door, trying to leave unnoticed.

That was the tableau that greeted Betty Lou Grimes when she stormed through the door, Bucky holding tightly to her hand. Betty Lou had been across the street at the Piggly Wiggly. She had been loading her groceries into her car when her distraught son ran up and told her about the librarian. When Betty Lou came in, the other kids hightailed it out the door.

Ruth recognized the woman as one of the tellers at the Brantley bank. She felt a flush of pride that she had probably saved the woman’s child from molestation. However, Betty Lou’s reaction was anything but grateful.

“What did you do to him?” Betty Lou yelled as she stomped towards Tommy and the librarian.

The angry look the woman was directing at her caused Ruth a few seconds confusion.

“I stopped him from luring your son into who knows what deviant behavior,” Ruth primly replied.

Betty Lou stopped dead in her tracts, and if possible, she became even angrier. She gritted her teeth and willed herself to calm down for the boys’ sake. She managed to put on a soothing smile and addressed Tommy.

“Everything is all right, Tommy. You’re not in any trouble. Why don’t you and Bucky go outside and play with Rex.”

Tommy’s face took on a look of relief so heartfelt, it was almost comical. He still could not control his speech, so he jerked his head up and down and bolted for the door.

As soon as the door swung closed behind Tommy and Bucky, the smile dropped off Betty Lou’s face, and she rounded on Ruth. She was still madder than hell, but she had control of herself now.

“Explain yourself, Miss Silverman,” she snapped.

Ruth cited the magazine article and regurgitated her suspicions about the grown man’s conduct. She even threw in her perception that the man had as much as admitted it by the way he reacted when confronted.

Betty Lou looked at Ruth as if the librarian was insane.

“That man is a highly decorated former Army Officer. He suffered a serious brain injury in Vietnam, and is mentally the same age as my son. Yet, even with that against him, he still has a job and is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. He is also my ward, and my son’s very best friend. You have done a cruel and hurtful thing here, today.”

Betty Lou spun on her heels and stalked out of the library before Ruth could say another word. Ruth could actually feel the color drain from her face as she watched Betty Lou’s retreating back. Good Lord, what had she done?

Tommy was over the incident at the library by late Saturday afternoon. He was in the backyard, giving Rex a bath and thinking about supper. It being Saturday meant that Betty Lou was cooking Bucky and Tommy’s favorite meal, chicken fried steak, lumpy mashed potatoes, with biscuits and gravy. Tommy had just finished rinsing the flea shampoo off the incredible Rex, when Regina came out the back door.

“Someone is here to see you, Creep,” she said.

Tommy looked perplexed.

“Who is it?” he asked.

“The woman from the library, she and mom are in the parlor talking. Why are you wasting your time on that mutt? He’ll never be anything except ugly and stupid, just like you.”

Regina recoiled at the look Tommy shot her and she cringed when he spoke.

“I don’t know why I ever thought you were attractive, because you are nothing but a vindictive bitch,” he snapped angrily.

Regina turned and fled into the house while Tommy finished toweling Rex. Regina was stunned at Tommy’s steely voice and hateful choice of words. Actually, Tommy was stunned too. The words just popped out of his head and into his mouth. As he sat and thought about it, he wasn’t even sure what ‘vindictive’ meant. He knew it was mean to call her the b-word, but she was even meaner for calling Rex ugly and stupid. Tommy sighed and walked into the back door with Rex. He did not know what the library lady wanted, but with Betty Lou in the house, he knew he was safe.

Ruth Silverman was seated on an overstuffed Chesterfield in Betty Lou’s parlor, the one room in the house reserved for company. Betty Lou was sitting on the matching sofa. Ruth had come to the house on Spring Street to apologize to Tommy. She had found Betty Lou Grimes’s phone number and address in the master card file at the library. Ruth had called Betty Lou an hour ago to apologize, and to ascertain Tommy’s last name. Betty Lou accepted the heartfelt apology and agreed completely with what the librarian wanted to do.

Tommy walked into the parlor as the two women were chatting. The room was off limits to Rex, so the yellow dog stopped and sat down in the doorway. Tommy hesitated for a second, and then walked over to where the librarian was sitting. Tommy held out his hand, palm turned slightly to the side like his Momma taught him.

“Good evening, Ma’am, my name is Tommy Bledsoe,” he said.

Tommy’s parents had been sticklers on the subject of manners. As a result, politeness was ingrained with Tommy. Ruth Silverman’s eyebrows rose in surprise at the gesture, but she lightly pressed her hand into his. Betty Lou beamed in pride from her perch on the sofa.

“Ruth Silverman, and I am pleased to meet you,” Ruth formally replied.

Tommy dropped her hand and waved towards Rex.

“This is my dog Rex, he’s not allowed in here even when he is clean. Say hello to Miss Silverman, Rex.”

Rex gave a woof and thumped his tail on the floor.

Ruth smiled at the dog, her smile an event as rare as snow in July, then turned her attention back to Tommy.

“Mister Bledsoe, I am so sorry about how I acted today. It was rude and it was wrong. Please know that it will never happen again, and that you are welcome at the library anytime. Because you left before you could get your library card, I made one for you,” she said as she handed him the card with his name typed on it.

It was Tommy’s turn to smile as he took the card and read it.

“You mean I can check out books all by myself?” he asked in disbelief.

When Ruth replied yes, Tommy thanked her profusely and proudly put the card in his wallet with his military’s Retired ID card, and his social security card. The card meant more to Tommy than the privileges it granted him at the library. To Tommy, the card was another accomplishment that proved he wasn’t as stupid as people thought.

As a result of that fateful Saturday, Betty Lou and Ruth became friends; Tommy started to use the library regularly, and Regina started treating Tommy worse than ever. However, the most important result of all was that Tommy came into contact with Ruth Silverman at least two or three times a week.