"Thank you for helping me find that obituary," the woman said. "He was killed in a car accident twenty years ago, and I never knew the details before."
"It's a Christmas miracle," I said.
"What do I owe for the copies?" she asked.
"Nothing," I said. "During COVID, copies are free. Our way of giving back to the community."
As she left, I walked over to my graphic novel section for the purpose of staring blankly at Black Panther. Zach was at the desk. He said,"Did you check your e-mail?"
"Not in the last hour. What's up?"
"So much for Christmas decorations," said Zach. "We've got a meeting scheduled Wednesday. We're going back into lockdown mode as of December."
It was cold outside, but my family and I were in the house. We were gathered in the living room, gathered around and decorating the Christmas ladder. You know, typical holiday stuff.
"So why a ladder?" Biz asked.
"It's the first time in almost thirty years I can't go back to the Christmas tree farm where I grew up," I said. "I could buy a tree locally, but that seems wrong, somehow. So Michelle looked up some ideas online, probably Pinterest...."
"It wasn't Pinterest," said Michelle.
"She came up with the idea of using a ladder. Paul and I took the old ladder that came with the house and painted it green. It'll do, for this year."
"Yeah, 2020 sucks," said Tif.
"Dinner's almost done," I said. "We have turkey corn chowder, mostly with stuff left over from Thanksgiving."
"After dinner can we go on alien patrol?" asked Paul.
"Maybe just a little bit," I said. "It's pretty cold out. Maybe just down to the paper company."
""You know, I was in a book about the paper company," mused Biz.
"Hmm?" Suddenly, she had my attention. "Which book?"
"I don't remember, my old parents told me about it. It was some sort of anniversary book for the paper company."
"I probably have a copy around here someplace," I said.
"I'd love to see it," said Biz. "I was little at the time. I was in some sort of group photo or something. If you can find that, I'd love to take a look."
"I'll look around," I said. "Meanwhile, we have chowder to eat."
The book I thought Biz was referring to was the centennial anniversary book. It was a huge thing stored not far from my desk. I took it with me and paged through it while I worked my lobby shift---With the library locking down again, we needed a door dragon. I didn't see any photos that could have matched in the book; it was all black and white older stuff.
Zach took over the lobby after an hour. I went back to my desk and reshelved the book. There was another paper company book shelved right behind my desk. I like the feeling that I'm right in the middle of all the history. But this one didn't have any photos at all.
I did what I usually do when I can't find something, and went to Tracey.
"Hey, Tracey," I said,"I'm looking for a book on the paper company. I don't know which book; I'm looking for a specific picture."
"Did you try the anniversary---"
"Yeah, I tried that one."
"There was another one behind----"
"Yeah, tried that too."
Tracey considered it. "I can't recall, offhand, if there are more, but check around the Piper stuff. If there's anything much on Lock Haven's industry, it'll be there."
"That's a good idea. Thanks."
The Piper books were shelved in a corner of the old part of the library. I looked past them---I had most of them memorized anyway---And then I found it, another, newer book on the paper company. I took it off the shelf.
Published in 2002. That was plausible. Biz would have been about fourteen in 2002, just before I'd taken her in. I pulled it off the shelf and looked through it. There were some modern photos, color ones taken not, comparatively, that long ago. I carried it back to my desk; it was probably the right book.
I sat and paged through it, looking at the photos one at a time. There were several that might have been Biz as a little girl. I realized that I'd never seen a picture of her before I'd met her. I marked the pages.
It was cold and cloudy on Main Street as I walked down on my lunch break. I was wearing my sweatshirt with Santa and aliens that said I want to believe Santa is out there. I looked up at the window as I passed the thrift store, and I saw them: Blue pajamas with Yetis on them, hanging in the window.
I hadn't been in a thrift store in months. I put my mask on and walked in,
"Hi, Lou," said the cashier. "I haven't seen you in a while."
"Been pretty busy," I said. "How much are the Yeti pajamas in the window? I can't see a price."
"Ten ninety-nine," she said.
"Deal," I said.
Two minutes later, I left with a bag under my arm. My new Yeti pajamas. Merry Christmas to me.
"Got new Yeti pajamas," I said to Tif as we sat in the living room. Paul was on the floor, playing with Gwen the pug. I was paging through the newspaper, looking over the obits.
"Are those the ones I saw hanging in the window downtown?" she asked.
"Those are the ones. I had to have them."
"Of course."
'Of course. Have you ever seen a childhood photo of Biz?"
Tif thought it over. "Now that you mention it, no. The oldest photos I can remember are her as a teenager. I've given you some photos from when I was a little girl...."
"Yeah, I know what you looked like. I have them in a frame on my desk."
"You know what I looked like," commented Paul.
"Yes, you were fourteen hours old when we met. But I don't think I've ever seen a very old photo of Biz."
"It's like she just popped into existence as a teenager one day," mused Tif.
"That would explain a lot, actually," I agreed. "I may have tracked down the book she was in."
"Oh, that's nice."
"The library has it. Now I need to see if I can find her a copy for Christmas."
When I got in to work, the annual round of holiday exchanges was beginning. There were cards and gifts in my mailbox---A small decoration from the Boss, a mask with the Ross Library logo from Barb. I said,"I love this! You have them made up?"
"I did," said Barb. "I thought it would be pretty cool."
"You thought right," I said, and headed back to my desk to look through the paper mill book.
The book was a limited-edition thing. I couldn't just order it on Amazon. I had to find someone who'd had a copy, and was willing to part with it. Part of the book was a collection of photos of employees---I began paging through.
I saw one guy whose name sounded familiar. Matthew Horn. Where had I seen that recently? Zach came around to pick up the garbage.
"Doing some research on the paper mill, Lou?" he asked.
"You could say that," I said. "Did you know it was founded by the family of a cult leader? Peter Armstrong founded a town called Celestia in Sullivan County because he thought Jesus was coming back and needed a place to stay. His son and grandson moved here and created the paper mill."
"I think you told me that once."
"They don't mention that part in most of the promotional materials," I said. Matthew Horn. Where the hell had I encountered that name?
It occurred to me after a moment.
"Zach, did yesterday's paper come in? Would it still be in quarantine?"
"It should be. You need it?"
"Well, I need a look."
I pulled on rubber gloves and walked back to the gallery. In the Before Times, we'd held art shows there. Now, it was the roped-off quarantine area for anything coming into the library. I looked at the bins---The newspapers were sitting right on top.
I picked up the Express from yesterday, and flipped to the obits. There he was, the paper mill employee I'd noticed in the book. Matthew Horn had just died, and I'd spotted his obit in the paper.
And there it was, down at the bottom of the obit.
Donations may be made to the Ross Library.
I found Barb back in the back office, at her desk.
"Hey, Barb."
"What's wrong with the schedule?" she asked.
"What? No. What? Not that. I have a question about donations. Have we gotten anything from the Matthew Horn estate?"
"Let me check." Barb flipped through one of her files, and said,"Yes. We got a box of books."
"What happened to it?"
"We sent it into the garage for next year's book sale."
"That's what I needed. Thanks."
"Did you get that request for the obit I left on your desk?"
"Yeah, got that. An inquiry into an old photo of East Main Street, too."
I walked out to the garage. Books were boxed up, piled along the walls. The library van was parked in there, too, which made it a tight fit for me to move around. I looked at the boxes, checking for any labels that might help.
None of them were labeled. I dug through a few, and didn't see anything that looked right. Mostly romance paperbacks. I found a Dave Barry book I didn't have already. There was a wooden ladder attached to one wall, and it led up to a small loft. I'd noticed it years ago, and never really thought much about it after that. I climbed to the top.
Ladders. My goddamn holiday was revolving around ladders for some reason.
There were a few more boxes in the loft. I lifted the lid from one, and saw one of the other paper company books. That looked promising. With one hand, still dangling from the ladder, I reached over and began shoving things out of the way.
I spotted them almost immediately---Two copies of the book I needed.
I smiled.
Merry Christmas, Biz.
We pulled up outside her place, and Biz got in the car. Michelle pulled out, and we drove through Lock Haven.
"Where are we looking at Christmas lights?" Michelle asked.
"I thought we'd go to Woolrich and McElhattan," I said. "I'm told they've got some good ones out there. We can drive on out and see."
"Nice," said Biz. "Look, guys, this year I won't be able to spend much on presents, but I can bring groceries to Christmas. What do you need?"
"Biz, don't worry about it," I said. "Bring a side dish or something if you like, but you don't have to get us anything. We're just glad to have you come for Christmas."
"Well, I wanted to bring something."
"Bring soda," said Michelle.
"Speaking of Christmas gifts," I said. I dug into my packet. "I got you one, Biz."
I pulled out the book and passed it to her in the back seat. "I'm about eighty percent sure this is the book you're in. There are a couple of photos in there that fit the description. You can keep that."
"Thanks!" Biz took it and paged through. "I'm gonna have to give that a look later, and see if I can find it."
"Merry Christmas, hon," I said.
