C) Chapter 2

2.
Later that evening Richard was performing the only part of his job that
he enjoyed, shelving books in Stacks beneath the main collection. He
felt more secure beneath the earth and away from the hubbub of the
reading room, and the shelving work appealed to his sense of
order.

There were two trolley's worth of books to be returned that evening,
slightly more than usual but hardly challenging. There were four Stacks
in the library, the first two, rather illogically named Stack 4 and
Stack 3, were on ground level, and were open access to all students and
library users. These were not the best Stacks for Richard as they were
often just as busy as the main collection due to the fact they also
housed the photocopiers. Stack 2 was located below Stack 3, and was
accessible either via stairs (for the plebs) or lift (for those chosen
few who worked in the library and were not for associating with mere
mortals.) Lift privilege was closely guarded by all library workers,
penalties for illegal lift usage were severe. Stack 2 was underground,
and was essentially a large box of a room filled with shelves upon
shelves of reading material. This was where the older journals and
less-used books that had been relegated from them main collection were
housed. It was Richard's second favourite Stack. It was much less-used
than the other two but was still brightly lit, oft frequented by the
public and far inferior to Stack 1. Stack 1 was Richard's favourite
Stack. It was the deepest, darkest, dankest of the stacks. The
materials it contained were very old and little used. Many of the
lights did not work and Richard enjoyed the heavy, authoritative sound
of his footsteps as he walked alone down the poorly lit passages to
re-shelve some arcane tome or another. Both Stack 2 and Stack 1 were
not completely open to the reading public. Academics had free access,
but students had to sign in if they wanted to gain entry. Most did not
know how to do this, and Richard was never very helpful in enlightening
them. Stack 1 was his alone most of the time and he liked it that way.
The only thing that annoyed Richard about Stack 1 was 'The Cage.' This
was a small room adjunct to the lowest Stack, and it was home to the
library's small collection of rare and in some cases priceless books
and papers. Not even Richard was allowed in here, and it was this that
annoyed him. Access was restricted to the most senior library and
academic staff only.

Richard completed his work in Stack 2 fairly rapidly, and as the lift
doors opened for him on Stack 1 he breathed in the musty air of the
chamber with a clear sense of satisfaction. His day was nearing its
end, and he was in his favourite part of the library again at
last.

There were about twenty or so books to find homes for, and Richard was
in no rush. '823.91' he said to himself, running his fingers gently
along the spine of the first volume to be shelved as if he were
returning an injured wild animal he had nurtured back to health to its
natural habitat. He strolled leisurely down the dark aisles to his
destination, and then, reaching it, carefully placed the book back in
its exact position according to the Dewey-decimal system and the
alphabet (both of which he had been very comfortable with most of his
life.) He never took such care in the main reading room, where shelving
books in the slightly off or just plan erroneous positions had become a
hobby of his. '624.91 - We meet again!' He whispered, smiling to
himself rather strangely as he examined the next book in search of a
shelf. Following the aisle back down to the correct position for this
book he passed the back wall of the Stack, and inadvertently (because
he did not like looking at such an insult to his sense of importance)
'The Cage'. He had always thought it was a such a ridiculously
melodramatic name for what was essentially a small cupboard that housed
expensive books behind locked mesh doors. The sign on the door read
'WARNING! Senior Library Staff Only.' He knew from experience
attempting to force the door only triggered an alarm, so he contented
himself with peering through the small reinforced glass window near the
top of the door. The inside of 'the Cage' was dark, but he could make
out the form of a man in the gloom. From the light that was available
he could see the man was balding and was peering intently at a small
sheaf of papers he was holding close to his face. It was the Head
Librarian, Dr.Quinn. Richard had only spoken to Quinn once, when he had
had his interview for the library job, and even then the man had done
very little talking. He was a dark, mysterious type, one who Richard
suspected of attempting to usurp his ascendancy to the role of the 'new
Philip Larkin.' In any case he seemed always to be engaged in higher
matters, and had little time for the lesser beings of the
library.

As Richard was drawing his face back from the window he suddenly
remembered something. The book the green-eyed woman had returned, he
had left it in the staff room! He decided to return the remaining books
for Stack 1 and then go and collect it. He felt certain it belonged
somewhere in the lower levels of the library as it looked quite old,
and as he continued his shelving work with the eighteen or so remaining
tomes on his trolley he felt oddly hurried. He normally took his time
with this part of the day.

Returning to the staff room after finishing in the stacks Richard found
'The New Eschatologist' sitting exactly where he had left it on the
table. Picking it up he examined the spine and though he recognised the
Dewey-decimal (236, relating to religion, and in particular
eschatology), could not understand the prefix of the number. The
majority of books in the library were classified by Dewey Decimal
number followed by a letter that corresponded with the first letter of
the surname of the author. Those in special collections were also
preceded by an identifying letter or abbreviation, for example those
located in the depths of Stack 1 had a letter 'B' preceding their Dewey
decimal. The New Eschatologist was classified as (?)236(?). He could
not recall Greek characters being used to identify any of the
collections in the library. It therefore appeared he had found the
librarian's nemesis, the unshelvable volume. A shudder ran down his
spine, he had heard stories of such books, but had thought them just
that, stories told to scare young librarians. But now here he was
holding the proof such stories were true, the book was an impossible
task that he, Richard Querulous, had been charged with. His sense of
order would not allow him to rest until the book was shelved, but such
a task would be impossible to accomplish. He began to compare himself
to Sisyphus. Stopping just short of hyper-ventilating, he had an idea,
he would go back down to Stack 1, knock on the door of the Cage and ask
Dr.Quinn. He had wanted a reason to have to talk to his elusive
superior for some time anyway and this seemed an ideal
opportunity.

Getting back in the small lift he descended back into his subterranean
second-home and walked briskly back to the door of the Cage. He knocked
gently on the portal, but received no reply. He peered through the
small window and could see only darkness. Dr.Quinn must have made good
his escape. Sighing with a heady mixture of disappointment and defeat,
Richard resigned himself to having to leave his Herculean shelving
quest until tomorrow. In the meantime he decided to take the book home,
it had greatly intrigued him when he had begun reading it earlier and
perhaps going through more of it would give him some clue as to its
origins. Having it with him also reminded him of the green-eyed woman
who had returned it, and that was no bad thing.