Public Library and Other Stories

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Miriam Toews told me about how once, a couple of years ago, when she was sitting reading at a desk in Toronto’s public library, she saw her own mother come in and sit down in one of the sunlit seats by the windows. Her mother, without noticing her daughter there, settled down, stretched out and fell asleep.

She sat where she was and watched her mother sleep.

A library assistant approached her mother. She saw this assistant reach out a tentative hand and give her mother a shake.

Her mother didn’t wake up.

The assistant stepped back, stood as if thinking about it for a moment, then left her mother sleeping in the library sunlight.