Every day, Adrian wandered into town, barely ever home and for awhile Gran encouraged it, but with the first day of school inching it’s way closer, barely noticeable, Gran thought that Adrian was going out too much and told her she doesn’t want her to make a habit of it. Gran told her she can now only go into town once a day. If she wants a second trip, she’ll have to ask for permission. So naturally she abandoned her morning routine so she could see the Traveling Librarian, guarantee.

“Can I have this book?” she asked Jacob one day as he was sorting through new books.

Turning back to look at her, one eyebrow down, the other up, he says, “Which book do you want to keep?”

Adrian shows him the Aesop’s Fables book, she’s been holding onto for a week now. Refusing to give it up just yet, she held the book in two hands, holding it close to her like a blanket, so he could see it but not take it back. Jacob just smiled at her, and the smile was one which warmed Adrian. She couldn’t help but smile back.

“Can I see it?” he asked her patiently.

“You can see it from there.”

Jacob chuckled again, “Can I hold it to get a better look.”

Suddenly Adrian’s eyes dropped to the ground, she twisted a foot, thinking if she should. Finally she decided to give it to him. It wasn’t her’s after all. Once back into his possession, Jacob flips through the pages. Still a brownish white and dusty, Adrian can see the little dust particles, shooting from the paper in the light, they floated like leaves in the wind, twirling, sinking, and gliding on the tiniest of breezes. Closing the book again, he looks at the cover, “Aesop’s fables,” he says as if he had never seen the book before in his life. “Why do you want to keep this one?”

“I like it.”

“It’s old, and used. God knows who the last person held this before you was.”

“That’s alright. It’s good. I can tell.”

Jacob’s smile widened, and didn’t take another second to think about it, “Okay, here,” he said, tossing it back. Adrian caught it just in time, nearly stumbling over to catch it, “But don’t go telling anyone about this, okay? It’s not fair that I give you a book and not to anyone else.”

Adrian nodded excitedly, greedily looking over the newer titles. “Can I borrow another book?”

Now laughing out loud, Jacob says, “As long as you promise not to ask me to keep it.”

Adrian promises, putting her new book into her backpack and looking for any new ones to take home. She doesn’t see the smile on Jacob’s face, beginning to disappear, or the way he awkwardly sits and stands up, continuously in a pattern as Adrian goes through each book put on display. It was like this: Jacob would smile, it would fall, then he would run a hand through his hair and awkwardly stand up, just so he could sit back down again.

“How’s Eden?” he asks suddenly, his voice in a low hushed tone, so low not even he was sure Adrian heard him. Adrian doesn’t even look up.

“She’s fine, why?”

“Oh, just wondering,” he says, trying to be casual again, but if it weren’t for Adrian being so distracted, even she would have caught the unsettled awkward tone. “That’s good. Y'know, that she’s fine. That’s great.” Adrian kept going through the books, suddenly feeling a tension between them and it wasn’t something she really liked.

Here’s some random information about things you didn’t know. Gran’s first name is Eden and she is a dietitian with a very old but healthy inheritance, Adrian will have when she becomes of age. Honestly, Adrian could never understand why her Grandmother chose to move to a place like Jupiter in the first place. She may be older, but she is full of adventure, and recklessness, that no one could tame. The complete opposite of her Great Grandfather. Adrian could never remember his name but she will never forget the stories surrounding him. He was a banker, and a very good one too, but he was extremely traditional, not that there is anything wrong with tradition, but he was cruel about it. He raised her Grandmother up to be a ‘proper young lady’ or that’s how Gran explained it.

“Young ladies should know their place as men should as well!” Gran said to Adrian one day, mocking her own father, “Women in trousers is just an abomination! I will break my own hands before I let my own daughter wear trousers!”

Now pants are all she wears.

All these things are true, but in addition Gran wasn’t really a social type, and quite honestly, Jacob looked a bit too young to know her. Adrian always assumed he was at least twenty maybe twenty five years younger that her Gran. Yet now, he talks about her with familiarity, as if she were a long lost friend from high school.

“Did you know my Gran?” she asks him. When he doesn’t answer right away, she stops looking through the books, to see his expression. It intrigues her when she see’s a very small smile, genuine but small, almost sad.

“Yeah I knew her, when we were kids,” he says and suddenly the books just weren’t that interesting anymore.

She moved from the table and sat down on an extra chair, “You knew my Gran when she was a kid?”

Jacob laughed, “Is it really that shocking?”

Adrian didn’t hesitate to nod her head. “What was she like?”

He smiled again, big and some of the tension inside of her let go. “She was sweet, very quiet. She ever tell you stories”

“Yeah,” Adrian smiled. “Except she always told me it was because she learned restraint. If she could only get away from her father, it would be different.”

“What? No! She was naturally very shy, even when we got away from her father she…” Suddenly he trailed off and looked at Adrian as if he said something he shouldn’t have. Jacob turned to look at her again, eyes looking deep into hers, “Yeah. She was very quiet and very obedient to her father.”

“Well that I can never hear the end of,” Adrian smiled, the excitement slowly fading. “She’s always telling me stories, but she’s never…”

Jacob continued for her, when she started to trail off, “...Never told you about me?”

Again Adrian nodded.

“Yeah I suppose that could be shocking news,” he says, “How does she treat you?”

“With an iron fist,” Adrian answered all too quickly but this made Jacob go over the edge. He laughed so hard the redness in his face went to his ears. It made Adrian feel very warm to see him happy like that. She thought maybe she would ask her Grandmother about it later, her knowing The Traveling Librarian she means. It would be nice to know more about her Grandmother other than her, almost, abusive childhood.

Once Jacob calmed down, his smile fell again, and as if he were reading Adrian’s mind, he slowly added, “Hey, do me a favor.” He doesn’t look at her when he says this, “Don’t… Don’t tell your grandmother who I am okay?”

“Why?” Adrian asks suddenly feeling very uncomfortable.

He looks at her finally and sees the fear in her eyes, which he can understand. He quickly says, “Please don’t worry, it’s just that I’d like to tell her myself.”

“Tell her you’ve been talking to me?” Adrian clarified with a bit more confusion.

“Yes and no. I mean that will come up, but mostly I want to tell her that I’m back in town.”

“Why don’t you do it now?” Adrian asks, “She’s home right now. You could have dinner with us.”

Jacob shakes his head beginning to look panicked, “No that’s alright, but thank you. Maybe later.”

This doesn’t make her feel any better. She doesn’t think she should keep secrets from her Gran.

“So?” he asks looking deep into her eyes, as if, if Adrian were lying, he could see it plainly. “Do you think you can do that for me?”

To clear up the tension, Adrian smiles, “Only if you let me keep one more book and then you’ve got yourself a deal.”

“What!?” Jacob shouted playfully, “But you just promised-”

“I know what I promised, but now you’re asking me a big favor, and I want something out of it.”

Jacob laughed, “Well arent you becoming a little book thief?” Suddenly he gives her a look as if he had just found the answer he was looking for. He snapped his fingers, “That’s perfect.” Going through his suitcase he tossed out books onto the counter as if they were just pieces of garbage, until he finally found what he was looking for. Adrian looked over his shoulder curiously, until he finally turned around with a rather thick book in his possession. “Here. This is a great book.”