The monitor screens threw little pools of soft light here and there in the reading room.
~*~ New Ford Public Library ~*~
scrolled silently across their pale grey surfaces. And there in the lower left corner of each screen was a little blinking light. A bright little jewel, a star... beckoning.
Gilli looked sideways at one of the screens as she passed. She stifled a gasp, and bit back a giggle as a quick little face peered out at her from atop the flashing light. A wee sprite’s face, it seemed. And just as quickly it disappeared when she turned her gaze full on it.
‘Well, I’ll be! There’s pixies in the wires. Just as my old granddad told me.’ Her eyes slid furtively to the right and she was sure another little face gave her an impish look and stuck out its tongue at her. Again, it was gone as soon as she tried to pin it with her eyes.
‘Have it your way, then, good folk!’ she said, turning away from the screens. Gilli put her fiddle case on one of the reading tables and drew her instrument from it. She held it under her chin and plucked at each of the strings, turning the tuning pegs until her ears were satisfied with the sounds.
Above her arched the rounded dome of ceiling; while above the room itself a wide balcony made its way about the area with carrels stashed here and there among the second floor library stacks. Most of what lay just beyond the balustrade fronting the balcony lay in shadow and Gilli wondered, as she looked upward, if her eyes did really see soft shadows moving among the darker ones.
Best not to think about them too much, she whispered to herself. Acknowledge them; leave little gifts as you can, is what her granddad cautioned. Just don’t call to much attention to yourself...lest the wee people take too much note of you and do some mischief.
She drew her bow softly across the strings and tapped her foot in time. ‘Well, now, here’s something for you. The
Faerie Reel, it’s a lively one. Go on then, dance if you will...