Page 72 - The Midnight Library

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‘Because, Nora, sometimes the only way to learn is to live.’

‘Sounds hard.’
‘ Take a seat,’ Mrs Elm told her. ‘A proper seat. It’s not right, you kneeling
on the floor.’ And Nora turned to see a chair behind her that she hadn’t
noticed before. An antique chair – mahogany and buttoned leather,

Edwardian maybe – with a brass bookstand attached to one arm. ‘Give
yourself a moment.’
Nora sat down.
She stared at her watch. No matter how much of a moment she gave

herself it stayed being midnight.
‘I still don’t like this. One life of sadness was enough. What is the point of
risking more?’
‘Fine.’ Mrs Elm shrugged.

‘What?’
‘Let’s do nothing then. You can just stay here in the librar y with all those
lives waiting on the shelves and not choose one.’
Nora sensed Mrs Elm was playing some kind of a game. But she went

along with it.
‘Fine.’
So Nora just stood there while Mrs Elm picked up her book again.
It seemed unfair to Nora that Mrs Elm could read the lives without falling

into them.
Time went by.
Although technically, of course, it didn’t.
Nora could have stayed there for ever without getting hungr y or thirsty or

tired. But she could, it seemed, get bored.
As time stood still, Nora’s curiosity about the lives around her slowly
grew. It turned out to be near impossible to stand in a librar y and not want
to pull things from the shelves.

‘Why can’t you just give me a life you know is a good one? ’ she said
suddenly.
‘ at is not how this librar y works.’
Nora had another question.

‘Surely in most lives I will be asleep now, won’t I?’
‘In many, yes.’
‘So, what happens then?’