Free Soul Dancing with the Brass Band (The Brass Band Series) by Vicki Renfro

would say star quality . I had some serious questions for my mother.
    We spent my interview chatting about what my mom had been doing for the last twenty-some years. By the time I assured him for the third time that my parents were still happily married, he weaseled a promise from me to bring Mom by to see him the next time she was up for a visit.
    My new job wouldn’t be anything demanding, just swiping student ID cards during the late shift at the checkout counter. But even at minimum wage, it would be nice to get a paycheck, and not have to rely on my parents for spending money. After all, isn’t part of the college experience supposed to be about growing up before you’re thrown out into the real world to make it totally on your own?

     
     

Chapter 9
     
     
    THEY NEEDED me to start work ASAP, so I scheduled my orientation for the following morning. When I arrived, I found four nerdy, sorry… studious looking students that all appeared to be upper classmen.
    “My name is Anne Marie,” the administrator said as she handed us all a packet of forms to fill out. “I am the one you will receive all of your work assignments from. At the beginning of your shift, report to my desk. I am located outside of the research offices at the end of the main hallway.”
    As she continued, it slowly began to dawn on me, that this was a much more interesting job than the one I thought I had applied for. Dear Mr. Delaney was a smart guy. He must have gotten me this position… now Mom would be sure to thank him when she was on campus for parent’s weekend. I was almost more excited to begin my new job than to start classes.
     

     
    Monday, I arrived at the library a little after three for my first day of work.
    “Good morning, Hillary,” Anne Marie said, handing me a packet. “Here’s what I’d like for you to do first. When you finish this, which should take you the rest of the afternoon, you can come back to see me. If it’s after 5:30, someone else may be here and they can let you know if we have any other urgent requests.”
    I took the packet and laid everything out on a reference table in the corner of the library. There was a detailed map in the packet of the entire library and a list of books I was supposed to find. When the first book was located, I had to scan the requested pages and email them to the university that had placed the order. Then I had to find the second book, and so on, until I got to the end of the list. The map gave me a pretty good idea where to start looking, so I took off on my first search.
    Libraries can be musty places, especially in old areas where most of the books aren’t often opened. The third book on the list was one of those books and proved to be nearly impossible to locate. It wasn’t on the first four floors of the building like all of the others, but on an odd “half floor” at the library’s far north side.
    Wow, now this reminds me of childhood ! I thought as I stepped onto the glass-floor of the room. The old library in my hometown had a glass floor just like the one I was standing on. I still don’t understand why glass , but this room was long and narrow with a ceiling that was so low it made me feel claustrophobic.
    It took me a few minutes to find the book since someone put it back in the wrong spot. As I reach ed for it, I remembered something else from childhood. You had to tap your fingers on the edge of the bookcase to discharge static electricity before touching anything on the shelf or you’d get a hell of a jolt from the glass floor.
    I tapped and pulled the old dusty book off of the shelf and because the binding was so limp and broken, it fell open...so... I read:
     
    “ This book comes to you as a friend who knows you, not for what you seem, but for what you are and are capable of becoming .”
     
    Never had a book introduced itself to me before! It made the book seem like a living, thinking entity rather than print on paper. The warm feel of the old