moments. Tricky stuff, this book club business. It was a delicate balancing act once people were in the fold, but it had to be worth the trouble. A kaput library was simply unacceptable.
The next day, Maura Beth decided she would keep Councilman Sparks in the loop, too. Of course, he hardly qualified as either a Scarlett or a Melanie. However, she could easily picture him wandering into the library smelling great, looking spiffy, and smiling from ear to ear to perform his irritating kibitzing act with aplomb to throw her off her game. Well, even though there had been no course at LSU in Dealing with Politicians 101, the truth was that she was living it now, like it or not, and there was no better way to learn her lessons than to face the politician in question without fear. Perhaps she could even throw him off his game.
“We’ll be reading and commenting on Gone with the Wind from a particular perspective,” she began, sitting across from him in his inner office one afternoon. “All our members are women so far, as you know very well from the organizational meeting.” Then she explained the Scarlett versus Melanie theme to him and waited for his response.
Councilman Sparks took an awkward amount of time before answering while staring her down, but Maura Beth made a concerted effort not to fidget in her seat or otherwise indulge nervous body language. “Are you going to go feminist with this club, Miz Mayhew?”
“I wouldn’t put it that way, no.”
“Because I was going to say that you might just be ruling out fifty percent of the population of Cherico with a girlie-girl approach,” he continued, flashing one of his dazzling, but completely insincere smiles. “Some men like to read, too.”
“Are you a reader, Councilman?”
He produced a peculiar laugh that came off more like an intrusive sound effect. “When it suits my purposes.”
“No doubt.”
He calculated a moment longer, tightening the muscles of his face further. “You’re so full of unexpected visits these days. So, was this one to prepare me to do well at the upcoming book review and ‘all you can eat’ buffet? Or was it to suggest that I stay away because I couldn’t possibly fit in?”
“Oh, I don’t think wild horses could keep you away. But I did think it was worth mentioning that I intend to give this project my all. When I first came here, I promised myself that I would make a success of the Cherico Library, and by that I meant to turn it into the type of facility that people just couldn’t do without. I admit that it’s been hard, slow going these past six years, but you may have ended up doing me a favor by challenging me the way you have. I trust you’ll bring out my best professional instincts.”
Councilman Sparks shrugged his shoulders and seemed to relax his posture. “You have a penchant for soapboxing, Miz Mayhew. Maybe you could moonlight in my next election and write speeches for me. That is, in case this library thing of yours doesn’t work out.”
At that point Maura Beth knew it was time to leave. She had summoned her courage to face her adversary once again and dealt with him aboveboard. Yet, he always had an answer or a clever quip for everything—a master of one-upmanship. She knew his intention was to wear her down, but she just couldn’t let that happen.
“Well, if you’ll excuse me, Councilman,” she said, rising from her chair. “I have a library to run.”
He rose across from her without smiling. “But for how long, Miz Mayhew? For how long?”
After what seemed like two months instead of two more weeks, the August 17th inaugural meeting of The Cherry Cola Book Club finally arrived. Once again, Maura Beth had chosen to stage the festivities in the library lobby instead of the meeting room; but she had gone online and ordered some decorative touches to offset the drabness of the premises. As before with the flyers, Connie had been delighted to step up and fund them. Surrounding the refreshments table laden with the various dishes all the women had brought were blow-up movie posters of the stars of Gone with the Wind—Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland, and Hattie McDaniel. Maura Beth, Renette, and the Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday front desk clerk—the amiable, hardworking Mrs. Emma Frost—had reinforced the Technicolor stills with cardboard backing and had spent the previous afternoon standing them up against