“Excuse me?  I understand you have a W. Somerset Maugham collection at this library?”

Bette turned from the cart to address the patron. “Yes, we do.  We have quite a few items related to him in our collection.  Are you interested in his letters?  Manuscripts?  We even have some contracts between Maugham and others?”  Bette was surprised to see such a tall woman standing before her.  Bette was tall and she had met few women who were taller.  This woman was at least six feet, maybe taller, about 130 pounds and she couldn’t help but notice that most of that weight was in her *****.  She had hair the color of a newborn fawn that was spiked and styled fashionably with bangs falling into her eyes, but not hiding them.  The haircut reminded her of Prince when he was the hottest thing on the radio.  Gail’s eyes were hard to miss and were remarkable.  They sparkled two different colors—her left eye was a crystal blue and her right, a gray the color of a Connecticut winter.  Her skin was fair, almost porcelain in color, with several freckles sprinkled liberally on her nose and cheeks.   She looked to be in her late twenties, maybe early thirties.

“Yes,” was all that the woman said. 

Bette marked the spot where she left off, lightly touched a co-worker on the arm and explained that she was helping a patron and came from around the desk.

“Okay, let me show you where you can find the Maugham.”

As they walked to the collection, the woman explained her need for the materials.  “My name’s Gail Sturges.  I’m a Ph.D. student in English Lit at Columbia and I’ve already done plenty of research for my dissertation, but I could use a bit more.  I’m up here for the next six months to get what I can.”

“Well, we don’t have six months worth of research.  It’s not a large collection.  Sorry.”

“No, I’m mostly doing writing.  I needed to get out of New York to get work done.  New Haven seems quiet enough for me to write uninterrupted.”

“It’s not The City, but it’s a college town, so there’s always something to do.”  Bette paused at a glass door. “Here we are,” she said while opening the door for the woman to go through.