Lenora pushed herself up enough to look out at the passing city, its museums and parks with trees for climbing and sculpture gardens all blurring by. So many wonderful things out there in the vast world, and she was exploring absolutely none of them. All this on a day when she’d worn her favorite loose, comfortable dress, hoping for some excitement. “Where are we going now?” she asked. The nanny had spent the morning rushing from one horrid boutique to another, buying herself dresses for parties while Lenora sprawled on chairs with nothing to do. Yesterday it had been perfume shops all day long. Lenora wanted to know what fresh nightmares awaited her this afternoon.

“To the library,” said the nanny. “Now shush, I’m one marshmallow away from winning a gold sparrow.”

Lenora perked up. “The library? You? Why?”

“I’m checking out a book to impress the friend I’m visiting later.”

Lenora sat up completely. “Can I go to the children’s section?” With a stack of books beside her, she thought, she wouldn’t be bored for days and days.

“No,” said the nanny.

We’ll see about that, thought Lenora. The nanny was, after all, quite inattentive.

Their chauffeur let them out on the front steps of the library and leaned back against the limo and unfolded his newspaper.

“Don’t get comfortable,” the nanny warned him. “We won’t be long.” She pulled a candy bar from her purse and began to munch.

Lenora and the chauffeur exchanged sympathetic eye rolls as the nanny marched up the steps (the nanny chomping on her candy bar as they passed a NO FOOD IN THE LIBRARY sign) with Lenora in tow. But she was only in tow at first, then gradually less so as they climbed the stairs. By the time they reached the front desk, she had gotten herself completely out of tow. At that point it was easy to slip away.

She raced down one row of shelves and then another, putting distance between herself and the nanny before she could make a beeline for the children’s section. Lenora loved the children’s section. She loved libraries and being surrounded by silence and people reading. She threw her arms wide and inhaled deeply. This particular library was very new and did not smell enough like books yet to suit Lenora. But it did have lovely, large windows through which sunlight poured in eagerly, and beautiful cedar beams that stretched up to the high ceiling. Her parents hardly ever brought her here, and Lenora was determined, when she grew up, to go to the library anytime she wanted.