Page 269 - The Midnight Library

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How It Ends

Mrs Elm looked a lot older than she had done at the Midnight Librar y. Her

formerly grey hair was now white and thin, her face tired and lined as a map,
hands spotted with age, but she was as adept at chess as she had been years
ago in the Hazeldene school librar y.
Oak Leaf Care Home had its own chessboard, but it had needed a dust
down.

‘No one plays here,’ she told Nora. ‘I’m so pleased you came to see me. It
was such a surprise.’
‘Well, I can come ever y day if you want, Mrs Elm?’

‘Louise, please call me Louise. And don’t you have work to do?’
Nora smiled. Even though it had only been twenty-four hours since she
had asked Neil to put up her poster in String eor y, she was already
inundated with people wanting lessons. ‘I teach piano lessons. And I help
out at the homeless shelter ever y other Tuesday. But I will always have an

hour . . . And to be honest, I have no one to play chess with either.’
A tired smile spread across Mrs Elm’s face. ‘Well, that would be lovely.’ She
stared out of the little window in her room and Nora followed her gaze.

ere was a human and a dog Nora recognised. It was Dylan, walking Sally
the bullmastiff. e ner vous one with the cigarette burns who had taken a
shine to her. She wondered, vaguely, if her landlord would allow her to get a
dog. He’d allowed a cat, aer all. But she’d have to wait until she’d caught up
with the rent.

‘It can be lonely,’ Mrs Elm said. ‘Being here. Just sitting. I felt like the game
was up. Like a lonely king on a board. You see, I don’t know how you
remember me, but outside of school I wasn’t always the—’ She hesitated.