Rosetown Summer

Flora met her best friend Nessy at the Rosetown Free Library when they were five and four, respectively. They were members – at their mothers’ urging and confidence – of the Summer Reading Club that summer. The theme of the club that year was Fly to Adventure, and their group – the youngest – was called the Honeybees. During craft time they made paper sets of wings to wear and paper garlands of flowers for the library windows, and they enjoyed little cups of lemonade they pretended was nectar. And, of course, they listened to stories and left for home with at least one borrowed book to read and return.
Even now, when Flora saw a honeybee, she often thought of the library.
Flora had enjoyed being part of the library’s Summer Reading Club every summer since then. She had been a Caterpillar, a Porpoise, a Prairie Dog, and an Alpaca. As had Nessy.
This summer, though, the girls had not joined the reading club. Nessy’s piano lessons and summer travels with her parents to visit family near and far had kept her quite busy and more than a little disorganized. And Flora’s part in helping with the opening of Rosetown Paper and Press had distracted her thoroughly. Flora was easily overloaded by too much activity. Her mother had recently explained to her, in fact, what an “introvert” was and asked her if she thought she might be one.
“Yes,” Flora had answered. “And I am pretty sure Serenity is one too.”
But Flora did so appreciate the library. The theme this year for summer reading was Great Migrations, and had she joined the club, she would have been a Blue Whale. She had encouraged Yury to join, but Yury wasn’t interested, primarily because his Saturdays were taken up with dog school and family time. Yury’s father was a doctor and always busy at his office on Main Street all week. So on Saturdays, Yury’s family enjoyed seeing a movie together or bowling at Rosetown Lanes. One of the good things about Rosetown was that it was really quite a pleasant place to be on a Saturday.
“I’ve hardly been to the library this summer,” Flora said to her mother one day as they walked past it toward the Windy Day Diner for lunch. Flora’s mother was on her way to the paper shop to design cards for the fall season ahead. Flora had suggested some crow cards, and her mother thought that was a good idea. Fall seemed to be a crow’s favorite time of year.