Today Carl wasn't Mary's favorite colleague. He was late again! She used to like him before, but it had changed this morning. When she came to work (in time!) there was a man at the door waiting for the library to open. From the very first sight Mary understood this man would be difficult to deal with. And she was right. He wanted to use the library computer, but refused to get a library card or even show his ID.
- Nice to see you, - she said to Carl when he finally came.
The man had already left.

She wanted to be angry. She really did! But seeing Carl's face it was hard to be mad at him. He was clearly embarrassed.
- No, not really rude. Just a bit pushy.
One of the reasons she liked working in the library was that this place was a magnet for weirdos. If not for them it would be really boring to spend the whole day surrounded by old dusty books.
- So how was your weekend?

Mary opened her mouth to answer the question but managed to say only "I" before she saw a familiar figure. It was one of their regulars, "Squeaky" as the library staff used to call her. She always wore a medical mask and a fur hat, even in the worst heat like today.
Carl went for her order, and Mary started looking for books on the History of Tea. This request was weirdly normal. Last time she wanted to find books about the goat that belonged to the mistress of the Russian Emperor. She always had to be served as fast as possible. She came to the library by taxi and it was waiting for her outside.
- The weekend went by too quickly, - Mary answered Carl as Squeaky left. - Oh, is this Mr. Short Pants?
She pointed out the window. There was a man who was crossing the road. Squeaky's taxi doused him with muddy water.

If Mary couldn't see Mr. Short Pants' age in his library account she would wonder how old he was. He looked like a child in adult's body. Probably because of the short pants and suspenders he always wore. Actually, perhaps it was thanks to suspenders his pants looked so short. Anyway, one should have given him credit, Mr. Short Pants definitely had a style.

She followed him with her eyes till he disappeared on the round stairs and then she answered the phone. Oh, Japanese-lady was one of her favorites. This lady wasn't actually Japanese, but she was hunting for books in Japanese and about Japan. This alone was not weird at all, but the lady was quite rude to the stuff and everybody felt a bit resentful towards her. But not Mary. For some reason she was the only one the lady was never rude to, and a couple of times the lady said that they were kindred spirits. The fact some colleagues made fun of.

- No, not yet. We'll inform you when your order is completed. Thank you! Have a nice day!

She put the phone down.

- Well, quite a busy morning! Would you like some coffee?

She was a couple of years older than Carl and his request for bumble coffee reminded Mary her own age. She had no idea what bumble coffee was. For her coffee was just coffee, with sugar or without it, with more milk or less. But, of course, she wouldn't say anything like that out loud. She didn't want Carl to think of her as an old lady.
- So many new books today. Let's see if there is anything interesting.
One of the perks of being a librarian is that you always have the access to all the latest books and can be the first to read them. Mary tried to control herself and not to take home too many books. But it was not an easy task because there was always something that caught her eye.

Okay, that bumble coffee wasn't that bad. Carl brought her a cup with something that looked quite fancy. Although it didn't really tasted like coffee.
They checked the boxes. Carl was right, the half of the delivered books belonged to one of the other departments. Actually things like that happened all the time, so she would be more surprised if everything was as it should have been.
- Okay, let's send them back.
For about hour and a half they were dealing with the boxes. One could think that it was not a pleasant task, but Mary loved this part of the job. When they finished with the new arrivals, it was already lunch time. She went first leaving Carl to manage on his own.

It was a big mistake to eat lunch in a work kitchen. Mary couldn't enjoy her pumpkin pudding because of the flies which to be fair were not very interested in human food, but, it seemed, wanted to eat some of Mary's flesh. They bit her through her clothes. The library security guard, Nicholas, used to say that these flies don't bite everyone, but only those who have a certain blood type. He tried to figure out which one it was and asked everyone who came into their kitchen what their blood type was.

On her way to the reception desk, Mary found something weird. She was very surprised to see a razor blade on the windowsill next to the stairs. How could it get here? She didn't touch it, but took a photo on her phone.

-Have you seen Nicholas? - she asked Carl a minute later. Then she showed him the photo. - Look at this.

Mary could assume that the blade belonged to their guard because he literally lived in the library and stayed there overnight. However, that wouldn't be like him at all. He never threw his things around.