I Might've Died Between Now and Then

10:03 AM
Nothing has happened today.

10:05 AM
Still nothing.

10:06 AM
I wonder if Altan will come in today. He hasn’t come in since he came by to apologize for never fixing my heater.

10:07 AM
Which was two days ago—a long time when you’re old. I might’ve died between now and then.

10:09 AM
What if I die before he comes again? What if he finds me flat out on the floor, dead of a heart attack, cold as ice?

10:10 AM
Then he’ll be sorry. What does he do all day, anyway? He sells coffee. That hardly anyone buys.

10:11 AM
How does he live? He only sells coffee for a quarter a cup. I bought coffee from him one time and it nearly blew the roof out of my mouth. Nasty, strong-flavored stuff. I hear you ‘acquire a taste’ for it. What’s the point of acquiring a taste for something you disliked when you tried it the first time?

10:12 AM
Perhaps he’s desperately trying to sell coffee to make ends meet, and so he can’t come see me. Perhaps he’s got family back in Turk-land that he’s scrambling to feed with a measly income which is nevertheless a fortune to Turk-land people. What’s the exchange rate for Turkish money and the dollar?

10:30 AM
I called the bank. The exchange rate is 1 Turkish Leera is equal to .627 U.S. dollars.

10:32 AM
Lira. Turkish Lira.

10:33 AM
So he’s making less money here than he would in Turkey.

10:34 AM
Why is he even here? He was here before I moved to this miserable town. What is his purpose? Perhaps he came thinking that coffee selling would be a bigger business here in the U.S. than in Turkey? Perhaps he was hoping to send back money to his starving family?

10:42 AM
What if he’s married? And has twelve children? And eats dogs for food?

10:45 AM
I never should have trusted him!

10:46 AM
That’s what I get for falling for a foreign man: a coffee-selling, married-with-twelve-children surprise. Serves me right.

11:00 AM
Someone’s just come in the library. Looks like a student who’s just come in here on accident.

11:01 AM
Well, he’ll just have to figure out the library on his own. I’m too heartbroken over that foreign, heart-stealing scoundrel to bother with explaining the Dewey Decimal System.

11:02 AM
Not that this boy seems to care. Here he comes. Probably to ask me what are all these strange rectangular objects made of paper are. Kids these days wouldn’t know a book if they read one. Which they wouldn’t.
“Hey, where’s the history section?” My name is not Hey. I think I shall not answer him.

11:03 AM
“HEY, WHERE…IS…THE…HISTORY—“
“Shhh! This is a library!” Hmph, where are those little library rules pamphlets we’re supposed to give people—aha, there they are. I’ll give him one of these. Not that he’ll read it.
“I want to know where the history section is.” My, he sounds petulant.
“Over there. In the aisle that reads ‘history’ in the big block letters.” I’ll point to help him.

11:04 AM
Ah, peace at last.

11:05 AM
What would a scrawny little high school kid want with history books? He’d better not be writing in my books.

11:08 AM
I wish the bookshelves didn’t go all the way to the ceiling so that I could see what he was doing.

11:15 AM
I can’t stand it anymore!

11:17 AM
Ah. He’s reading. He doesn’t appear to have a pen or pencil in his hand, and he’s even turning the pages right so they don’t tear… Well. Just because he behaves when I look at him doesn’t mean he’s not whipping out a highlighter just as soon as I turn my back…

12:00 PM
Still no sign book misuse. But that is no excuse to be lax on my lookout! I must be vigilant.

12:02 PM
I’m getting a bit stiff crouching behind this bookshelf.

12:05 PM
The library phone is ringing! No one ever calls the—

12:05 PM
Ack! I’m stuck! I’m stuck with my knees bent and my back hunched!

12:06 PM
By the time I hobble to the phone it’ll have stopped ringing—that boy is looking at me funny.

12:06 PM
HA! I made it!
“Mrs. Evans at the John G. Oden Public Library speaking. What is it you want?”
“Ms. Evans?”
“Mrs. Evans. I’m a widow. What do you want?”
“It’s me, Mrs. Evans. Altan Yilmaz.”

12:07 PM
HE CALLED ME ON THE TELEPHONE!
“Mr. Yilmaz. Couldn’t you have dropped by? This is a business line.” It’s not like the library is very far, after all…
“Mrs. Evans, I didn’t have anyone else to call…”
Well that is NOT flattering. Huh. I think I shall hang up on him and he can grovel all he likes and I shall NEVER LET MYSELF BE MELTED AGAIN.
“Mrs. Evans, I’ve been arrested.”

12:30 PM
I need some tea.