Shadrack shot back a response. "Ya, see ya around." He was disappointed that the conversation was over, but at least she had not shot him down, or brushed him off. He still had a chance with her. His mother had vanished, probably to change into her new uniform. She was a standard size, if a bit plump, so was not hard to fit. Before she could emerge wearing power blue, he was out the door and on his Harley. With a roar, he headed off, down the street, to the library.

The library was an old, red brick building at the corner of Main and Hawthorne. It was built in the fifties, and expanded in the eighties, to include a second floor. A coffee shop had been put in downstairs, along with a computer lab. Out front were flag poles flying Old Glory and the blue flag of Pennsylvania. 

Shadrack pulled up outside and got off his motorbike. There were only a few cars parked around the library, despite it being a Saturday. He would have expected more, but then again it was early. He headed up the stone stairs, book ended at the top and bottom by stone lions. The door was a heavy, safety glass one, leading directly to the front desk.

At the front desk was a tall, rather thin woman wearing an unflattering shade of pink. Her hair auburn hair was done up in a do which would have worked for her, the year when the library was built, but was now an anachronism. She looked in her eighties and had a name tag with the name Mrs. Summers.

Shadrack approached her and asked to get a library card. She looked down her long nose at him, and asked. "Do you live in this county?" Her voice was full of doubt. He explained that they had just moved in, and was told that he would have to wait until he could show them a rent voucher, a pay check receipt, or some other proof of residence. Shadrack sighed. This meant he could not just take out the books and study at home. He was going to be tied to the library for the morning. At lunch he would go back to the dinner and get a burger.

Soon he was lost in the stacks of the non-fiction section, looking for a biology text book or two. It was his least favorite subject, but it was also his weakness. He was sure that if he had been a bit more prepared in that regard, he would not have failed the GED test the first time. 

A bespectacled girl of sixteen or seventeen bumped into him, as he bent over to grab a book. She had rather limp brown hair and a thin, almost emaciated body. He apologized and let her pass, without talking to her further. Soon she was gone, and Shadrack had his text book.

He went down to the coffee shop, with the book, and ordered a coffee. With the book propped open to a map of the human body, he started in on his fourth cup of the day.