All In A Day's Work|| Harmony Kohl
Harmony always had found solace in the written word and the places that provided them. If one's looking for her, which is rarely the case, you'll find her devouring pieces of literature in her room, the bookstore, and mostly-- the public library. For her, just simply sitting in the provided chairs and tables, is not enough seclusion. In order to achieve preferred seclusion, she sits at the end of the library, guarded by bookshelves, isolated from other library goers.
At first, the librarians that even bothered to go to the end of the place, asked her to sit on the provided chairs instead. She never obliged. Eventually, seeing as she never really caused any trouble and is genuinely interested in reading books and not vandalizing them, they left her alone. They even got fond of her presence, although they never really converse with her, other than the casual small talks, which she often avoid as much as possible. Either way, they respected her as she did with them and their institution she calls her sanctum. So when she needed a part time job and a college credit, they were more than happy to oblige... which spooked her a bit, but was thankful for.
She worked as the librarian's assistant, which composed mostly of helping with paper work and the occasional job of acting like the town sheriff among its halls, the latter being her utmost favorite part. If anything gives her any sense of well being, it would be putting people in their place. This is the closest thing she could get to do so. Shutting ignorant assholes up, having a good chase with some immature teenagers drawing dicks on books, kicking out horny love birds making out in the darkest corners, striking fear in the hearts of men-- she's living the dream.
It was another day in her beloved establishment. With a smug smile on her face, she walked in between the row of shelves, deluding herself that's she's one of the Reservoir Dogs while Little Green Bag's playing in her head. She looked from left to right. There was no one in sight. This disappointed her a bit, cancelling out her amusement for the day. Of course there's still Eddie, but it's not the same. The smug smile on her face was smeared off, marking the end of her Sheriff Harm fantasy for now. But as she neared the end of the hallway, she saw a figure by the last shelf at the left, which lit up her face.
Two steps closer and she's about to reach the figure. "Well, well, well..." she started her investigation, her role as the sheriff back on, but as she reached the end of the hall, a sense of nostalgia hit her. The little boy, more or less the age of twelve, stood there in the corner with a book at hand. She paused for a while and made her little deductions; scrawny, not to tall nor short, pale-- not exactly a Bart Simpson type of rugrat. Even so, she was still a little skeptic. "What are you doing here?" she asked him as she walked closer to his direction. "You drawing penises there, boy?" she asked another as she watched the boy stricken with fear, shook his head vigorously as a response. "What about a girl? You gonna make..." she stopped for a while and looked at the spines of the books in the shelves. "...some chemistry happen here in our little science section?" she continued bombarding him with more questions.
"No, no. I.. I was just reading." he stammered as she knelt a bit in order to reach his eye level. "Reading what?" she asked him in the same bad cop overtone she always sported when she's Sherrif Harm. "This." he closed the book and showed him the front cover, it was blue covered with minuscule white stars, depicting the night sky. It read; The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science. As she read the title, she slowly dropped the sheriff act, Sherrif Harm turning to plain 'ol Harmony. She sighed, "Well...", her tone softened, but still quite deadpan. "...why don't you go and read by the chairs and tables there?" she continued to ask him, even though she might have a hint on what his answer would be.
"I don't... I don't want to be seen here." he confessed to her as he looked down his shoes. "Butch and his gang might find me." he muttered almost inaudibly. He looked up at her gaze, "Please don't make me go there." he pleaded. "I'll be quieter." he persuaded her some more. Getting the hint straight away, she got up and placed his hand on his shoulder. The boy caught by surprise, completely expecting something else, something more petrifying. "Don't worry kid." she assured him. "You'll be safe here..." she gave him a small smile, a rare sight for anyone. "...while I'm around." she dramatically looked into the distance, her Sheriff Harm act back on. A bit weirded out, yet thankful, he shrugged the last line off. "Thank you, m'am." he smiled gleefully. She looked down at him and gave him a fake salute before turning away from him.
"All in the day's work boy-o." she responded, walking away with Little Green Bag playing in her head again. "All in the day's work...." she repeated to herself once more as she turned straight to the hall, back to her desk job and stack of paper works waiting to be sorted out, with that smug smile back on her face, now for a noble reason.
