Downtown, with its mix of old and new buildings, some made with wood, some with brick, and a few made with stones hauled years ago from nearby fields, was a complex delight every time I remembered to look around. Today, however, my noticing capacity was limited because Eddie kept distracting me with a running commentary I had no chance of understanding. After we reached the library, he mrr’d as I ran through the preflight bookmobile checks. He mrr’d as I carried him inside and strapped the carrier to the floor of the passenger’s side, and he mrr’d at Julia Beaton, my outstanding part-time bookmobile clerk, as she bounded up the stairs.

“And a good ‘mrr’ to you, too, Mr. Eduardo,” she sang out.

I squinted at her. “Do I detect a new accent?”

“My dear assistant library director, there is no such thing as a new accent.”

What she’d said sounded familiar, but only sort of. “Did that start as a Mark Twain quote? About ideas?”

“Ideas, accents.” She waved a suddenly languid hand. “What’s the difference?”

I grinned. It was going to be one of those days, in which the only thing to expect was the unexpected. Julia was in her mid-sixties and had spent years onstage in New York swooping up suitcases full of awards. When the roles started to dry up, she convinced her husband to move back to her hometown of Chilson, where she grew increasingly bored until my aunt Frances mentioned that I was looking for part-time help. Five minutes after we’d met, I made up my mind to hire her. This decision was confirmed her first day on the job when she started to talk to Eddie just like I did, pretending that he understood every word.

This was important because Eddie was a fixture not only in my life, but also on the bookmobile. He’d stowed away on the vehicle’s maiden voyage, and though I’d tried to keep his presence a secret, Eddie wasn’t big on secrecy, and even less big on staying in the cabinet I’d tried to hide him in.

Keeping my then boss, Stephen the Stickler-for-Rules, from knowing about Eddie’s presence had kept me in anxiety for some time, but it had worked out in the long run and these days I couldn’t go anywhere without someone asking how Eddie was doing.