Gertrude

by Kirsten Osbourne

  “It’s no trouble at all, Gertie. You know that. Are you sure there’s nothing else on your mind?” Penny sensed that there was something Gertrude wasn’t telling her.

  Gertrude sighed. “It’s nothing. I don’t want to burden you with it.”

  Penny smiled. “Gertrude, I promise you that you are not burdening me. Come on. You can tell me anything.”

  Gertrude considered it. She and Penny had always been very close to one another, and they were used to sharing everything. She knew Penny wouldn’t judge her for the feelings she was experiencing. “Well, Jed Thorn said that he intends to marry me. And he walked me home. And he kissed me. Right on the cheek!”

  Penny’s jaw dropped. She lowered the baby and began rocking him side to side as he stirred. “Oh my goodness! And how did you feel about it?”

  “Penny, I just don’t know!” Gertrude exclaimed. “How did you know that Tom was the one for you?”

  Penny chuckled. “Well, that’s a difficult question. The answer might take longer than you or I have to talk tonight. But I’ll tell you this—I wasn’t sure right away. I had my doubts, but Tom seemed sure we were meant to be.”

  “Yes, Jed seems certain that I’m the woman for him.” Gertrude stared at her hands. She felt helpless.

  “What do Edna Petunia and Cletus have to say?” Penny wondered.

  “I’m not sure. I know they went to visit him the other day, but all they said was that he seemed like a fine young man.” Gertrude shook her head. Her adoptive parents could be so unpredictable.

  “It’s not like Edna Petunia to keep her opinion to herself.” Penny’s brow furrowed. “I wonder what they talked about.”

  “I don’t know. Penny, what should I do?” Gertrude felt like she was on the verge of tears. She rarely cried, and never in the company of another person. Jedediah Thorn was making her miserable.

  Penny clucked soothingly. “There, there, Gertie. It’ll all turn out okay in the end, I’m sure of it. I can’t tell you what to do. You have to make the decision that’s right for you. But if I were you, I’d think long and hard about this man and if he’s the kind of person you can truly envision building a life with.”

  Gertrude nodded slowly. “Thank you, Penny. I appreciate your advice.”

  “Of course. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got dinner to finish getting ready.” Penny stood up and carried the baby into the entryway. Gertrude followed her.

  “I’ll see you in church on Sunday. Thanks again, Penny. Tell Tom I said goodbye.” Gertrude let herself out and closed the door behind her. She waved to the boys working outside as she set off for the long walk back to the Sanders’ house. She felt better after talking to Penny, but she still had no idea what she was going to do about Jedediah Thorn.

  The weekend passed quickly for Gertrude, full of family activities, church services, and playing with her nieces and nephews. She was glad to have a short break from all the troubles at the library.

  Gertrude found herself complaining about Jed Thorn more than once to her family, but Edna Petunia and Cletus were both acting mysterious.

  “Time will tell, Gertie. Only time will tell,” Edna Petunia kept repeating.

  All Cletus did was shake his head and chuckle. Gertrude had no idea what type of conversation they’d had, but she didn’t like the way they were acting. It was as if they were all in on a secret that no one had bothered to tell her.

  On Monday morning, Gertrude rose with the sun and prepared for work. She arrived at the library two hours before opening and spent the extra time scrubbing and dusting every inch of the place. She loved the way everything looked when it was really clean, before the children with sticky hands got their fingerprints all over the place.

  Just before eight, she opened the front door as usual, and saw Jed’s wagon parked in its usual spot. He was leaning against it, admiring the morning sky.

  “Good morning, Gertrude! You look beautiful!” Jed tipped his hat and combed a hand through his hair.

  Gertrude blushed and slammed the door shut. She hadn’t decided what to do about Jed’s advances, and she certainly wasn’t ready to face him so early on a Monday morning. Plus, it was the first day of her new rule about the book wagon. She had to focus.

  The first patron of the library that morning was Mrs. Thomas, a widowed woman who cared for her ailing mother. Mrs. Thomas and her mother lived with her sister, and Mrs. Thomas often borrowed books for her sister’s children as well as her mother. Gertrude loved picking out the latest books she thought Mrs. Thomas’s mother would enjoy.

  Mrs. Thomas took three books out of her satchel and gave them to Gertrude.

  Gertrude accepted them and made a note in her ledger. “How did your mother like the one about the ship?”

  Mrs. Thomas grinned. “She absolutely loved it. She told me to pass along her thanks to you for helping to select it.”

  “That’s wonderful to hear. I’m glad.” Gertrude loved when she was able to help the members of the community.

  “What’s that, dear?” Mrs. Thomas was staring at Gertrude’s new sign about the book wagon.

  Gertrude took a deep breath. “As you may know, a Mr. Jedediah Thorn has come to town and parked his book wagon outside the library. This is quite disruptive to the work we do here, and he needs to leave. Until then, I can’t loan books to people who will visit the book wagon.”

  Mrs. Thomas wore a concerned look on her face. “But Mr. Thorn has been so wonderful. Just last week, I got a book for my mother that she’d once read as a child! I actually was planning to buy another book from him today after I found another book for my nephews to borrow from the library.”

  Gertrude frowned. Mrs. Thomas was one of her most loyal patrons. “If you are going to buy books from Mr. Thorn, I can’t allow you to borrow anything else from the library. I’m sorry, Mrs. Thomas, but it’s our policy now.” Gertrude had no problem enforcing rules. Sometimes her sisters complained about it, but she simply had a firm grasp on her moral compass and wasn’t afraid to use it.

  Mrs. Thomas looked torn. She glanced out the window at Jed, then back toward Gertrude. “Isn’t there any way the two of you can resolve your conflict?”

  Gertrude nearly snorted. “Mr. Thorn is impossible to reason with. Trust me, I’ve tried. Let me help you find a book for your nephews.”

  “Thank you, Gertrude. I think I’ll just be on my way today.” Mrs. Thomas walked toward the door, turning back to Gertrude guiltily before she slipped out the door.

  Gertrude hurried to the window and watched as Mrs. Thomas approached the book wagon. Jed greeted her with a friendly smile, and they began chatting. Gertrude could see Jed making big gestures with his hands, and Mrs. Thomas laughing. She shook her head. If Mrs. Thomas could abandon the library, would everyone else do the same?

  Gertrude didn’t have to wait long to find the answer. The morning had been one of the slowest on record, and the afternoon was even worse. As soon as the schoolchildren saw the sign, they’d run out of the library squealing and gone straight to the book wagon. Gertrude could hear them singing along with Jed’s banjo. She ate lunch in the closet again to escape the sound.

  At the end of the day, Gertrude marched in a straight line toward the Sanders’ house, but Jed chased after her.

  “Gertie—wait up! Please!” Jed called as he ran toward her.

  Gertrude didn’t stop walking, but Jed began walking by her side.

  “Please, give me a chance. What can I do?” Jed’s arm was so close to Gertrude’s that she could feel a tingling sensation where they were practically touching. She longed to feel his hands on her body again, but she knew she needed to focus.

  “I told you what you could do. You can leave Nowhere and the library alone.” Gertrude spoke firmly. She did not want Jed to think there was any room for negotiation, because there wasn’t.

  “It’s the best place in town for my wagon, though. If I didn’t set up here, I’d have to go to the outskirts of town, and then no one wou
ld visit,” Jed tried to explain.

  “And if that happened, would you leave me alone?” Gertrude asked, sounding harsher than she had intended.

  Jed stopped walking. “I didn’t know you felt that way, ma’am.” His tone became more formal. “Have a good night, now.”

  Gertrude paused and watched Jed walk back to his book wagon. He climbed into his wagon and drew the doors shut. Gertrude fought the impulse to go after him. It wasn’t appropriate. She turned around and set off again on her walk home.

  As she wound through the streets of Nowhere, she worried about the low attendance at the library that day. She hoped it was not a trend that would continue. She didn’t understand how Mr. Thorn was already so popular among the town’s library patrons. It was really infuriating when she thought about it. Gertrude had been running the library for years with little acknowledgment or thanks. She didn’t need praise or accolades, but a little appreciation wouldn’t hurt. Jed had breezed into town on a wagon playing a banjo, and he was suddenly the most popular man in town? Gertrude wasn’t sure what she was going to do, but she had to do something. She was pretty sure the town wasn’t big enough for the both of them.

  Chapter 5

  For the rest of the week, Gertrude watched Jed and dozens of Nowhere residents play instruments, sing songs, and dance around the book wagon while the library sat mostly empty. Gertrude scrubbed the entire building several times over, but it was no use. No one wanted to come to the library anymore.

  On Wednesday, it was Gertrude’s turn to help with the dishes. As Minnie washed the plates and cutlery, Gertrude dried them off with an old rag and complained about Jed Thorn.

  “Everything about him drives me mad. He’s so…so…so carefree. That’s it. He acts like he hasn’t a care in the world. His head seems to be in the clouds. No wonder he lives in a wagon as a grown man!” Gertrude fumed as she vigorously dried a saucer.

  “Easy there.” Minnie thought Gertrude was pressing so hard she might break some of the dishes.

  “Even his hair, and the way he dresses! It’s all awful.” Gertrude couldn’t stop. “Not to mention no one knows where he even gets those books? The Postal Service surely wouldn’t deliver to a traveling wagon!”

  Minnie was at a loss for words. She wanted to help her sister, but she truly didn’t know what to say that would comfort Gertrude. “I’m sorry you’re going through this, Gertie.”

  Gertrude was barely paying attention to Minnie. “Oh, and the songs he sings? How can one person sing so much? I think he must sing almost all day, from the early morning into the evening. And that banjo of his…”

  Just then, Edna Petunia wandered into the kitchen, sipping from her hip flask. She swore it was only cough syrup, but Gertrude and her sisters suspected it was a different liquid. “What’s all this nonsense about singing? That banjo man still giving you trouble, Gert?”

  “He’s still there.” Gertrude set the drying towel aside for a moment. “I don’t know how to make him leave.”

  Edna Petunia scratched her chin thoughtfully. “You can’t make someone do anything they don’t want to do.” She took another sip from the flask. “But just remember, don’t get your oxen in a ditch if you can help it.”

  Gertrude tried not to roll her eyes. She never knew exactly what was going to come out of Edna Petunia’s mouth. She didn’t see how it was pertinent to her situation, but she appreciated that the old woman tried hard to keep all of her daughters happy.

  “What does that mean?” Minnie wondered out loud, but Edna Petunia had already left the kitchen and gone off to find Cletus.

  Gertrude finished drying the last dish. “I’m really not sure about that.”

  On Thursday, the music from the book wagon was louder than ever. In addition to Jed’s banjo, one boy beat against a drum, and a little girl was blowing into a horn. A dozen or so others were singing, laughing, and dancing around the wagon.

  Gertrude’s sole patron, a man named Harris Clark, had put his hands over his ears as he tried to read his legal texts. Like Cletus had done a few years back, he was studying for his law degree.

  Gertrude was angry that Harris’s studying was being disrupted, but she was privately glad to have another person who agreed that the book wagon was not a positive presence outside the Nowhere library. It was nice to have someone who saw eye-to-eye with her on that. She felt like the rest of the town had gone crazy. Everyone was taken with Jed and the traveling book wagon. No one cared about rules and responsibilities anymore.

  It still made Gertrude angry to think about it too much, so she focused on checking to make sure all the books were in their assigned places. Since it had been a slow week, she didn’t have nearly as much work to do as she normally did. She had already dusted and polished the library from top to bottom five times over, reviewed the entire card catalog, and read four books since Monday. She was running out of ideas.

  When Jed and his band grew even louder late in the afternoon, Gertrude had had enough. She’d tried to co-exist in peace with Jed, but he’d finally gone too far.

  She strode outside and the music stopped playing abruptly.

  Jed tipped his hat. “Good afternoon, Gertrude. To what do we owe the pleasure?”

  Gertrude simmered with anger. “You’re being very, very loud. You’re disturbing the people in the library. People who are trying to study!”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize anyone was in the library.” Jed spoke with a bright, cheerful expression on his face.

  Some of the children laughed, and Gertrude felt her face grow red. “Yes, we have people in the library studying for their law exam. Not that I’d expect you to understand anything about responsibilities and duties. You seem to do whatever you want, whenever you want.”

  Jed looked taken aback, and Gertrude wondered if she’d gone too far. “We’ll quiet down, Miss Sanders.” Jed spoke softly, and a low murmur ran through the crowd.

  Gertrude smiled, unsure what to do next. She looked around and gave a stern glance at all the children who used to visit her in the library. Then she walked back into the library and leaned against the wall to catch her breath. She was shaking. She knew she should be happy—she’d won, Jed was going to quiet down. But she felt miserable.

  Gertrude locked up and left the library earlier than usual that day. She had only closed early twice before…once when she’d been ill, and once when Penny was in labor and she’d needed to help out at the McClain ranch. But Harris had left, and she couldn’t stand to listen to Jed’s banjo any longer. He had quieted down since their talk, but it was still distracting and upsetting.

  Some of the children were still playing on and around the book wagon as Gertrude set off for her home. Jed waved goodbye to her, but she didn’t wave back. She felt a mix of emotions toward him; anger and frustration, of course, but also a little sadness…and something else, too. Her heart beat a little faster as she remembered his lips pressing against her skin. She found her mind racing to a place she didn’t feel comfortable with, thinking thoughts that were definitely not ladylike. Gertrude quickened her pace and tried to think about something else. Anything else.

  When she arrived home, Theresa opened the door and told Gertrude that Cletus wanted to see her in the formal parlor. Gertrude went into the parlor right away.

  Cletus was reading a thick book, and he set it down on the desk when she came in. “Have a seat, Gertrude.”

  Gertrude sat down. She was worried that Cletus was going to give her bad news. What if Edna Petunia was sick, or one of her sisters? Gertrude felt a pit of nerves start to grow in her stomach.

  “I was at town hall today on official business.” Cletus was the town judge, and he worked closely with the other elected officials of Nowhere. “The mayor talked a lot about the town finances today. Accounts and invoices and the like. Do you understand?”

  Gertrude nodded. She didn’t understand where he was going with their discussion.

  “It seems that the mayor’s wife let him kn
ow about the book wagon. He was very intrigued, and he also learned that the library’s attendance has been lower since the book wagon has been around. Is that all true?”

  “Well, yes…but it’s not fair!” Gertrude blurted out.

  Cletus held up a hand. “Fair’s not relevant here. The mayor’s putting it up to a vote next week. They’ll close the library if there’s not enough interest.”

  Gertrude felt a lump well in her throat. “What? That can’t be.”

  Cletus nodded slowly. He felt for the girl. She was an odd bird, but she loved that library and cared for it as her sisters cared for their children. Sure, she may have gotten caught up in rules and procedures more than the average person, but she had a good and pure heart. It didn’t seem right that the thing she loved the most might be taken away from her. “I’ll vote to keep the library, of course. A town can never have too many books, in my opinion. But I’m just one vote out of ten. And…”

  “And what?” Gertrude couldn’t believe what was happening. Everything she’d worked so hard to build was falling apart.

  “I don’t think the others will vote to keep the library. The town is tightening our purse strings. It will help us reduce our costs.” Cletus’ face was pained as he explained this to Gertrude. As a father, he hated to cause pain to any of his daughters.

  Gertrude tried to remain calm. “Thank you for telling me. I think I’m going to go up to my room and read for a bit.”

  “I understand. Sweetheart, let me know if you need anything, even just to talk. You know Edna Petunia and I are here for you, don’t you?” Cletus asked.

  Gertrude nodded. “Yes, I do. And I appreciate it. Thank you, Cletus. Please excuse me.” Gertrude left the parlor and went upstairs into her bedroom. She selected a book from the shelf and sat down on the bed to begin reading.

  When it was time for dinner, Gertrude didn’t feel ready to face her sisters or parents. She stayed in her room even as she heard everyone go to the kitchen. Katie ran upstairs and knocked on the door.