Now You See Me by Lesley Glaister Read Free Book Online Page A

listening to the teacher droning on and on. It’s safe too. You’re not alone but you’re anonymous. Nobody will bother you as long as you are quiet.
    This could be my life. An easy job that earns me enough money just to live and leaves me room to concentrate. A pillow on which to lay my head. Peaceful afternoons in the library minding my own business. Small and private and one thing after another thing with nothing strange. There are worse lives than that.
    The man next to me smelt homeless. I tried to work out the different elements of that smell. There’s old grease, pee and smoke all mixed up, a kind of trousery jumble-sale smell. I sneaked a look under the table. The hems of his trousers were all frayed over his swollen-bunion-shaped tennis shoes. His nose was like a huge hairy strawberry. He caught me looking and leered so I could see the last few pegs of his brown teeth. I looked down and pretended to be engrossed in the book which turned out to be about lighthouses.
    It was OK. Then suddenly a voice said, ‘Lamb?’
    I shrieked. A librarian looked over, her eyebrows shooting into orbit. It was him, Doggo. My mouth went dry. He sat down beside me. I scooted my chair away, screeching it against the floor.
    â€˜Shut the fuck up,’ he said.
    â€˜Go away,’ I hissed. He looked up from behind his shades at the librarian and huddled into his jacket. We sat in silence for a minute. The old man had the racing pages open and was marking horses.
    â€˜What do you want?’ I said. ‘How did you know I was here?’
    â€˜You think I’m here because of you?’ My hands were shaking so I could hardly turn the pages but I flicked through the book anyway, seeing nothing.
    â€˜Why are you here then?’
    â€˜You mean some dumb-fuck like me who can’t even read?’
    â€˜I didn’t mean that.’ There was a pause. I looked at him. ‘Can you?’ I said.
    â€˜What?’
    â€˜Read.’
    â€˜Oh fuck off. The cat sat on the mat. Yeah, I can fucking read.’
    â€˜Congratulations.’
    â€˜Sarky bitch. OK, yeah, I followed you.’
    The librarian was staring and the old man openly listening. I shut my mouth. I was thinking hard. As I’d walked into town I’d maybe had that feeling that someone was watching me, that sensation between the shoulder blades, that feeling of eyes. I’d even turned round once but seen no one. Thought, don’t be paranoid. Who’d want to follow you? Who do you think you are, the centre of the universe? as my mum used to say.
    I made sure to keep breathing. I made sure to keep calm, seem calm at least. Not like he could do anything to me in the library.
    â€˜I didn’t say a thing to Mrs Banks,’ I said, ‘if that’s what you’re scared of. But if you don’t leave me alone …’
    â€˜Shhhh,’ he went. I looked up. The librarian’s face was all pursed up. Doggo was going to get me chucked out at this rate. If I got chucked out they might not let me in again and it was one of my best places when it was cold. I smiled at the librarian but she didn’t smile back.
    â€˜Come outside,’ he whispered.
    â€˜No. Go away. What do you want?’
    â€˜I want help.’
    I looked at him then and got an unwanted glimpse of myself in the mirror shades.
    â€˜Help?’
    He nodded. His mouth looked very soft amongst the glossy black of his beard.
    â€˜Look, let’s get out of here. That bitch hasn’t taken her eyes off me.’
    â€˜Who do you think you are, the centre of the universe?’ I said. Then I felt sorry. He was right anyway, she hadn’t. He looked younger than I remembered. Maybe not much older than me. Young and jumpy and needing help from me. No one had ever needed help from me.
    â€˜You a student?’ he said.
    â€˜Yeah. Why?’
    â€˜What in?’
    I focused my eyes on the