“Would you looky there,” I said. Because my nugget was in the middle of a thread Charles had started about the Seven Slot Grille, a restaurant in Reed City. Right there, Melinda Hedges had typed a short message: Hey, cuz. Bob and I ate there last winter. Loved it!

I did a bit of social media confirmation, and learned that, yes, the Melinda posting to Charles Sellers’s Facebook page was indeed the same Melinda who was a regular library patron and sometime bookmobile patron. Melinda and her husband were in their early thirties and ran a small and thriving accounting business. During income tax season, she didn’t have time to read a word, but the filing deadline had been almost a week ago, so maybe she’d have time to talk.

Before I could think too much about my actions, I opened the library’s database, looked up the contact phone number for Melinda, and dialed. By the time she answered, I’d come up with a plan, which only proved that I could do well under pressure.

“Hey, Melinda. It’s Minnie Hamilton from the library.”

“And the bookmobile,” she said, laughing. “How’s Eddie doing?”

“Fine.” At least as far as I knew. While he was almost certainly lounging somewhere cozy and comfortable, there was also a chance he was on top of the kitchen counter, clawing at the paper towels, yanking out paw-sized chunks to strew about the floor.

“Got a question for you,” I said. “We’re setting up the library’s summer lecture schedule”—I quickly used my computer mouse to open the pertinent spreadsheet to make it true—“and I remembered that you had some programming suggestions, but I can’t recall any details. Do you remember?”

“Sure. I think an introduction to stargazing would be great. And wouldn’t it be fascinating to learn about education systems in other countries?” She spun out a number of other ideas, all of which I added to the list.

“Great,” I said, meaning it, but also very much meaning the next thing I said. “Do you have any ideas about who might be willing to teach some of those? For free, ideally?”

“Oh. Well. Um, you know, I never thought about that.”

It was a rare person who did. “That’s okay. It’s always good to get some fresh ideas, no matter what. And you never know who’s going to end up in northern Michigan, especially in summer.”

“Truth,” Melinda said. “There’s an Airbnb place down the street from us, and the wife of one family who came last year is a puppeteer for some big children’s television show.”

“Can you find out if she’s coming back?” I asked. “And if she’d like to give a library program?”

“Will do.”