Erin Lorandos
Bio
If you looked me up in the library catalog, I'd be filed under mom, librarian, and female writer—and conveniently, I have got the tattoo to match!
Stories (20)
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A Quandary in Quarantine
Chapter Seven Luce and I had gotten back to Elsewhere pretty late the night before, so I had done nothing but fall into my bed and immediately go to sleep when we finally got home. In the morning, when my alarm went off, I got ready quickly, opting for a quick messy bun in my hair, my tinted moisturizer and a rich colored lip gloss. Then, I headed to the library a bit early. I hoped that if I could poke around a bit before everyone else got there, it would shake that feeling I’d had the last time - that I was going to get caught doing something I should not be doing.
By Erin Lorandos2 months ago in Fiction
A Quandary in Quarantine
Chapter Six Watching the clock slowly tick closer to 4:00 pm made me feel like I was back in elementary school, eagerly awaiting the last bell of the day to ring. At 3:55, I gathered my things and powered down my computer. I stole a glance at Irene’s closed office door. An urge to go in overtook me, and I gave in, opening the door with my spare key. As I pushed open the door, a sudden wave of guilt passed over me. Don’t be silly, I chided myself. There was absolutely no reason I shouldn’t be in Irene’s office. Glancing over the surfaces of her desk and filing cabinet, I saw that little had been disturbed since the previous day. Again, that made sense - who else would have been in here? The police clearly had not deemed any of the papers strewn across her desk to be of interest in the case. But, as I looked them over, I saw that the genealogical research I had seen the other day was all still there. I glanced over my shoulder quickly before making the split second decision to take the papers. I needed to be able to cross reference them with the letter I had found, and I needed to do that in the privacy of my home, lest someone see what I was doing and think I was trying to cover something up. I quickly grabbed an unused manilla folder from the box on the top of Irene’s filling cabinet and hurriedly gathered the papers, jamming them in my tote bag.
By Erin Lorandos2 months ago in Fiction
A Quandary in Quarantine
Chapter Four The rest of that day floated by us all in a blur of news site-checking, trying to reconcile conflicting information, and outright denial (or, worse than that - silence) from much of the leadership both on a local level as well as the country as a whole.
By Erin Lorandos2 months ago in Fiction
A Quandary in Quarantine
Chapter Three I had had my one-on-one originally scheduled with Maggie for right after lunch, but after a brief phone call we canceled our meeting in favor of a short all-staff at 11 o’clock. She was worried about the town’s potential response as much as I was, and wanted to talk to everyone all at once.
By Erin Lorandos2 months ago in Fiction
A Quandary in Quarantine
Chapter Two Most Monday mornings, I usually followed more or less the same routine. I would arrive at the library around 7:45 or 8:00 am, do a quick sweep of the reference department - which also housed our Adult non-fiction collection - for any obviously out-of-place materials, grab a book truck on my way past circulation, empty the book drop - which is usually full to overflowing after the library is closed all day on Sundays. Next, I take that cart back to circulation so the desk staff can work on getting those items checked in, then I head back to my desk in the reference area.
By Erin Lorandos2 months ago in Fiction
A Quandary in Quarantine
Chapter One The sun was high and bright in the brilliant sapphire blue sky. A few perfectly puffy cotton-ball clouds floated lazily by. Looking up towards the sky out my front window, I could almost believe it was the middle of summer, rather than the beginning of March. But, it was definitely not summer. We were still deep inside a brutal Midwestern winter. The snow had been piled by the plows thigh-deep along the roads and an ever-present layer of ice hung heavily from the branches of the sturdy trees that lined the street.
By Erin Lorandos2 months ago in Fiction
