#46 Talia

Dear diary,

I got this SMS from Talia yesterday:

hi jay+shan im so xcited!i gotta job @ refugee cntr,my uncle works dere,he sed I cn wrk wif him,lets face it lib is fkd rite now wif bibtek+its munky takin ova,im so sry u guys hav 2 put up wif it,i culdnt do it n ive bn waitin 4 job lik dis1 2 cum along 4 ajes,lv u guys,tlk soon! :-)

So, she’s not coming back to the library then. Normally I have great difficulty in interpreting the meaning of Talia’s text messages, but this one seems abundantly clear. She has found somewhere better and gotten out of the poisonous library environment while she still could.

Maybe I should’ve done the same, and gone back to Adelaide for the apprenticeship. I put it off until December but I know I could walk in any time and they’d be only too happy to see me. So why did I stay? Because of Talia? Well, kinda, but also because I grew to love working in the library. Sure, the staff are crazier than half the patrons (and that is really saying a LOT), and the work’s not all that challenging (I’ve lost count of the number of times distressed patrons have come up to me saying the catalogs aren’t working, when they’ve accidentally switched off the screen), but I really do like it there.

It’s stuffed now, because of Viktor and BiblioTech. Of the original ten staff, six have left. Talia’s found a new job, Pepper’s on vacation, TJ and Bron have been fired, Ernest’s still in hospital and Sylvia’s taking extended sick-leave. Only four of us remain. Goldie looks worn down and scared she’ll lose her job. Boudecia is keeping the place still together, and I think she’s the one thing that’s stopping Viktor from taking full control of the place. Then it’s just Shannon and I, and we can’t even get along.

What happens now?

-Jay