Heather loved working at the library and was impressed with her little sleepy town for putting so much effort in to keeping it open. It had now been turned into a meet and greet centre with book clubs and local writing groups making good use of their conference rooms. She was also proud of her staff, nothing seemed to make them happier than indulging her in her bright ideas but she had to admit the colourful rainforest was a stroke of generous, even for her.
Neville had helped them get it right and even brought Burt in with his three colourful ladies, for that extra special flavour of the Brazilian habitat. Burt was Neville’s eighteen year old blue macaw that talked and loved to perform. They had entertained the children and the adults looked impressed too. It helped that the latest Disney film had been released and the plight of the birds within the pet industry had some how struck a cord of utter disgust in their little world. Perhaps it had more to do with the passion of Neville; he was a bit like Burt in many ways; a chatter box everyone wanted to listen to and the ladies loved him feathered or human. Once you had the mums hooked the children had to follow, Heather loved a cunning plan.
It was all packed away now just the central tree to tackle. A sleepy Sunday afternoon was the ideal time. Heather had made busy getting everything back to normal so when the quiet poet came on Monday he would have the tranquillity he needed. He got distracted easily and would worry at the slightest detail, a blank canvas was best for him. Though once on his feet and reading his poetry and answering questions he did command his audience. They were lucky enough to have him came twice a year and they were now charging five pounds, which included wine or coffee, making it more of an event. So that is why she took out the steps and found herself, in this perched position.
The branch that she was now sitting on was in-fact an old beam that had blended in well with the theme of a forest. It had been a little bothersome while she tackled cutting the straps that anchored the pretend branches to the trusted beam. Taking the main tree down in stages from the very top would be easier and a lot safer she had thought. Well it would have been if she hadn’t climbed on the beam and her leg had not got so excited that it pushed the ladder over.
The likelihood of anyone coming in this afternoon was slim to zero and it had taken her an hour to ring round everyone she could think of to pick the ladder up. It would have been so simple if only she could get through to someone. She had even contemplated climbing down but would rather feel foolish about knocking a ladder down than breaking a leg. The mobile reception in the library was poor so was unable to through to anyone; eventually she knew she would have to try to make a call to the fire station. Failing that it would have to be a 999 call.
Her dad and brother were on the same shift at their local fire station and as it was dad’s last day and the end of his shift, she new she would never live it down. She could just picture the gathering around the Sunday roast telling the story of when Auntie Heather got stuck up a tree in the library on the day he retired. She took a deep breath as the phone rang out loud against the quiet of the still room. After briefly explaining her predicament they insisted that they could not just pop out to give her a hand Oh no! They were on duty. It had to be a full on emergency, think of the publicity they had said. They had put her on loud speaker too, she could hear everyone laughing.
She had been sitting there now for an hour and a half knowing they would have their network of family and friends getting all the people they could think of to make the most of this situation for the benefit of the community they would say but the enjoyment of finally catching her out would be their strongest prey drive!
The sirens were screaming out her embarrassment as closer and closer came their call. She could hear lots of people too. She could see the headline now ‘Local librarian all of a flutter’. Well if you’re going to be the main exhibit you might as well enjoy it, just think of Bert she told herself ruffle up those feathers the show must go on.
There had been applause and many laughs as she was ‘fireman lifted and man handled’ down from her perch in an un-ceremonial and truly embarrassing way. This was not helped by the very pretty blue dress she had worn, thank heavens she had put her thick leggings on.
The reporter concentrated on the mobile phone is a life saver that we rely on but when the signal is bad who ya guna call? A good angle Heather thought and very kind of him and went some way in making up for the Photos he made her pose for. He also gave a lot of much needed publicity for the library and the events they were going to hold in the next few weeks. This was worth the strife she would get for the next week or two. But it would never make up for the lifetime of grief from her ever loving family and had turned out to be a true retirement gift for her dad.
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