Page 27 of Booked for Kidnapping

“Yes, another revolution in a country founded on revolution. But the government works hard to make certain any revolution dies before it can be born. That is what you fight against. Keep your head down, stay out of politics, and take a close look at the world around you. The lives of most Americans have been carefully cultivated to preserve the structure of power. As long as those who control the game don’t feel you are interested in playing the game, you will survive. I will say this much. The closer to the top, the more corrupt and involved, and there is nobody in the congress who is innocent of crimes against the people. Nobody. When the government calls, we answer—or we die. And soon enough, only those who agree with the tyranny of those in charge will survive. But every serpent has a head. Should you cut it off, you will have a chance to make the whole monster fall. That’s something to think about.”

No kidding. “Why were the Hamptons ignored?”

“That’s a good question. I have a speculation on the why, but no proof of it. I think the government would rather leave the sleeping beast alone. As all members of the family, save for the adopted daughter, see the truth, how better to prevent the truth from being found than to make certain those who could learn it can never get close to the source of the lies? If the Hamptons speak, people will listen—and if they’re eliminated, people will do more than listen. They’ll investigate. So, the government will choose to let that beast remain asleep rather than stir the ire of the many families who respect them—and you. As long as you work your own illusions, and make it appear you’re not looking into the activities of the government, they’ll ignore you. And the government’s arrogance could be its weakness. How could one small family and an exsanguinator possibly topple the tyranny of an entire government?”

“That’s a really good question, Senator.”

“When you figure it out, don’t let me know the answer. Show me—assuming I survive long enough to enjoy your victory.”

SIX

We had rules for everything.

Senator Westonhaus took me to a restaurant focused on South Korean cuisine, and true to his claims, they made food so spicy I suspected my breath might catch on fire. He took a safer route with his dinner, a wise move, all things considered.

We kept our conversation to his donation, how he would like the funds to be spent with the library, and how the library operated on a daily basis. We’d started the conversation in his vehicle, so if someone had started listening to us, they would believe we’d spoken about business the entire trip.

I worried the SUV had been bugged, but Senator Westonhaus seemed confident it wasn’t. I hadn’t been brave enough to question him on it. Without spending too long thinking about it, I could make a few guesses, and most of them involved the vehicle not belonging to him and wasn’t being monitored. I disliked evaluating my every word as though someone might be listening in, but I played the game.

Playing the game bothered me a great deal less when I worked on behalf of the library, using my tablet to show him the renovation plans and discuss the timeline for completion. We lost an entire hour to a conversation about computers, the issues he felt were inherent in the public library system, and how he might change the sorry state of library tech.

In most cases, the government wanted to cut corners on the library budget as often as possible. Computers got upgraded last—and only if they were no longer functional for the bare minimums for patrons to search for jobs or use a basic text processor.

Considering the amount of money he planned to throw at the library and public services in New York, the public library would thrive for a while.

He even understood we needed to safeguard the equipment, and promised he’d make arrangements for security—something we often struggled with due to costs. When we got lucky, the city provided security and they actually showed up. When we weren’t lucky, mayhem happened outside of our doors. I’d seen it all, from drug dealers picking fights to the homeless inventing new ways to make use of the building’s exterior for their needs.

We had rules for everything, including when somebody opted to use the sidewalk as a toilet.

I didn’t mention that element of librarian life to the senator. I expected he struggled enough with the problem of homelessness.

People like the senator tended to view the homeless as lacking intellect and integrity, when in reality, life had given them lemons they couldn’t mystically transform into lemonade. Then, because people like him couldn’t adjust their perspectives, because it would mean they were wrong about something, they believed the homeless couldn’t be reformed or brought back into society. Thus, the cycle continued.

I’d skirted around the thin line between having a home and living on the streets. Surviving paycheck to paycheck involved a hefty dose of anxiety and fear, and I’d been one of the lucky ones. The first thing to go truly wrong wouldn’t have crushed me. The second thing to go wrong would’ve been the one to finish the job.

My anxiety over the realities of life continued to hamper me, but I had a future—an unexpected one.

That future would change, yet again, once I figured out what to do about the things Senator Westonhaus had told me.

“If you could change any one thing about how your library is operated, what would it be?”

“We’d be able to operate every day all day. We’d have more staff, and we’d do planned closures in the middle of the night if we needed to change the floor plans, and we’d be accessible to the public all of the time. Our hours are set to be as accessible as possible on the budget the city can afford to give us. We can only have so many librarians, we have to meet certain quotas, and we sometimes can’t choose the best people for the job. We have to choose based on quotas.” I worried my position at the library would be at risk given time, as I’d been a quota hire. “Librarians often don’t get or can’t ask for raises; it’s just not in the budget. When it is in the budget, it’s often dished out by seniority, so it can take years for a librarian to get their first raise. It can be hard sometimes. The library tries to make sure we get cost of living increases whenever possible, but it all depends on the budget.”

“And the libraries then rely on charitable donations for anything else.”

“And most librarians are going to pass on raises to make sure the people get what they need, especially if we already have enough to get by.”

“I see.” Senator Westonhaus picked his phone up off the table, a first since we’d started eating. “Please excuse me for a moment.”

“Of course.”

He dialed a number and put the phone to his ear. “Jolene, I have a job for you. Please poll everyone about donations to their public libraries. I left a charitable donation package on my desk, so you can retrieve the details of my first donation to the New York Public Library System. I’ll also need to do donations for my home libraries, which I’ll take care of the next time I’m in the office. I’d like to propose a bill to increase general funding for libraries and similar public services. Please build a comprehensive list of all services most libraries offer, include a list of benefits of those services, and how we can ultimately save money through providing those services. Get in touch with branch librarians—no, not city level or higher, the actual librarians working in libraries at current—and make a list of their needs. Rank them by what the librarians perceive as most important. Once you do that, get a list of libraries in need of funding, how those libraries serve the communities, and how they could better serve their communities if they had the appropriate funding in place.”

Interesting. I hadn’t thought Senator Westonhaus would get started on something without waiting. Then again, from what I did understand of his situation, I doubted he got many opportunities to do something of his own volition.

After making a few more requests, he hung up. “There. That will get the wheels rolling on that. Of course, I expect it to get mired in red tape for a while, but that’ll keep me busy. I expect to be able to draw a decent amount of support on the bill, especially right now.”

I could read between the lines; if the government wanted me out of their hair and to stay out of their hair, supporting libraries would be a good way to go about it, especially as I’d expressed interest in keeping my current job rather than transitioning into the medical field. I would get some medical training because I could, and I’d volunteer in the emergency room for the same reason, but I’d found work I could be proud of.