Chapter Nine
I helped the student get connected to a research website on one of the library computers and to print out some materials she needed for a paper she was writing. When she seemed like she could pick it up from there, I headed back to the desk.
I looked up as the library doors opened. I smiled at the harried-looking middle-aged woman who came in with her cheerful mother and a slouching teen. “Hi, Ramona.”
Ramona came in a couple of times a week to take her daughter to tutoring and her mother, Denise, to find a book. She prompted her daughter to head over to where the tutor sat waiting and then came over to chat. “Hi there, Ann.”
“How are things going?” I asked.
It was a loaded question. Ramona rolled her eyes and said, “Well, I’m hanging in there. It’s been quite a week over
