esprit - Academic Scranton - The University of Scranton

Katherine remembered all she wanted was a Thundercats Action book, but
the librarian shoved a Cinderella fairytale book in her hands and scooted her
out of the door.
The little girl and her mother were walking back to the desk. The
mother, no longer preoccupied by her cell phone conversation, urged her
daughter to speak up: “Tell the nice lady what you want, Sophie.” The girl
hid behind her mother at first, peeking out at Katherine from behind her
skirt. Katherine smiled, and began mapping out the location of princess
books in her head. But the little girl, surprisingly, asked in a little voice:
“Do you have any spooky books?”
Katherine’s shift ended at 5 o’clock, just as the city was
transitioning. Across the street, she recognized Purple Pumps from before,
and watched her as she tried to make her way down the street in her
too-high heels. She walked with her eyes on the ground, and Katherine
wondered if she was afraid of making eye contact with anyone or just
appreciated the way the flecks of glitter embedded into the cement made it
sparkle. Just as she passed Katherine on the other side of the street, a man
in a full suit passed the woman and Katherine’s attention broke, and she
looked away.
The setting sun illuminated everything with a soft orange light and
Katherine’s shadow grew to enormous proportions. It was a perfect copy
of herself, except it looked as though someone had stretched her limbs,
making them long and distorted versions of what they were supposed to
be. She raised her arms slightly just to reassure herself that her shadow was
still attached, that it hadn’t torn away. She looked around, suddenly selfconscious,
but the people passing didn’t even notice her. The city was great
for this reason. It’s the only place where the stars are on the ground and
the sky looks like freshly paved asphalt. With each step, Katherine’s mind
was brought back to the little girl, pirouetting around in her pink dress,
chasing scary stories.
Katherine turned into her apartment, nodded at the bell hop and
took the elevator to her room on the third floor. She stepped over a pile
of files stacked on the floor and kicked off her flats near the shoe rack. She
threw her coat over the couch and moved a pile of books to sit on a chair
near the window. Her mind wandered to her plans for later: she might
25