Goose in the Pond - Earlene Fowler [119]
He brought back a small stained duffel bag. “You may as well keep this junk,” he said, sliding it across the counter to me. “Nobody else is going to claim it, and we’ll just throw it out.”
“Thanks,” I said, grabbing the bag.
In the car I unzipped it. There was a pair of clean khaki pants, a bunch of pens, and wrapped in a threadbare towel about fifty rainbow-colored computer disks with all the labels torn off. Deep in my gut I had a strong suspicion, or hope, that they were Nora’s missing disks. Would her last column be on one of them? And the question remained, where did the Datebook Bum find these and who threw them out?
Now you should go to Gabe. I glanced at my watch. But if he’d just got back from confession, the last thing I wanted to do was start another fight. At least give him time to do penance before I forced him to sin again.
One more hour or so wouldn’t matter, I convinced myself while heading for Elvia’s store, the only place there was a computer at my disposal. She wasn’t working tonight, but her clerks knew me and let me into her office. I switched on her IBM and pulled out the disks, my heart sinking just a little. It was going to be a tedious business. I glanced at her expensive desk clock. Five-forty. I could work until about six-thirty or so without anyone wondering where I was. Then I’d have to call home and make some excuse as to why I was late.
Not being an expert on the computer by any means, it didn’t take me long to realize that Elvia’s software program was different from the one Nora used. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t get the disks to read. I’d have to take these somewhere else, someplace that had a large variety of software programs on the hard drive. A computer store? I wasn’t sure that they’d let me use a computer for hours. If I walked in carrying fifty some-odd disks, it would be pretty obvious I wasn’t there to buy a computer. The only other place I knew with that sort of equipment was the library. I hesitated for a moment, then shook off my uncertainty. It was a public place, and no one would have a clue as to what I was doing.
I glanced at the clock again, then picked up Elvia’s phone. Rita was the only one home, and I quickly told her to leave a note telling Dove and Gabe I’d be at the library for a few hours. I shoved all the disks in my backpack and headed for the library.
I was disappointed to find all six computers in the computer lab full, with no time slots open until the next day.
“Is it always this crowded?” I asked the clerk.
“Sorry, school’s back in session. You know how that goes.”
My desperate look must have touched him.
“Say, you could always use one in the children’s department,” he suggested, “if you don’t mind sharing the room with kids. The computers are a little older, but they still work okay.”
“Do they have a variety of software programs in them?” I asked.
“Not if you’re looking for the absolute latest, but they have the old standards.”
“I’ll give it a try. Thanks.”
I only had to wait a half hour in the children’s department.
“Monday nights aren’t as popular,” the library clerk told me when I paid my two dollars. “Parents are still recuperating from the weekend. Wednesdays are another story. You’d have to sign up a week ahead of time for Wednesday.”
The computer room was in the corner of the children’s department, with a small glass window and a cooling system that obviously needed work. The air in the room was freezing. There were four computers, but only one was occupied. The young girl and her mother were using Print Shop to make invitations for her upcoming birthday party. I switched on the old IBM, pulled out the stack of disks, and stuck the first one in.
My prayers were answered when I saw that one of the software programs matched Nora’s. I opened the first file and scanned the table of contents. It was a list of stories based on African animals and folklore. I opened each file and read the first few lines to make sure that’s really what the file contained, then