The Box, Chapter 4
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Naina walked to the Charleston County Public Library on Calhoun Street after work with the crystal sphere in her purse. That Tuesday evening, August 6, it took her ten minutes and thirty-three seconds to walk over. She knew the streets of downtown like the back of her hand, and she often counted either the steps or the time it took her to get from one place to another. Naina created personal challenges to entertain herself, slowing down or quickening her pace to ensure she reached in a predetermined time or number of steps.
She often spent her evenings at the library. It was quiet. She didn’t mind the homeless who hid in cool comfort from the sticky heat, or the bow-tie-wearing older gentleman sporting a walking stick who jetted in on his golf cart to read the day’s edition of the Wall Street Journal. People there kept to themselves. It suited her.
Naina stayed until closing at 8 pm that evening as she did every time she went to the library. But other than that, she didn’t do as she usually did. She didn’t look for the latest romance from Nora Roberts or In Death series published under the pseudonym of J. D. Robb. She didn’t hide the book she was reading in between the stacks such that she could find them when she came back. Naina didn’t take any books home. She didn’t want to bring the germs…
