Ken Chambers (just_ken) wrote in reduxpitch, @ 2015-12-27 14:49:00 |
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Entry tags: | !bingo, !challenge, !thread, character: ken chambers, location: knockturn alley, retired character: lisa turpin |
WHO: Ken Chambers and Lisa Turpin
WHEN: July 1998
WHERE: Wizarding Central Library
WHAT: An encounter
CHALLENGE: Backstory (Summer), Bingo (Quitting Time)
Ken had been working at the library for two years now. Two endless years. At least he had finally achieved the coveted promotion from page, which involved shelving and more shelving and then perhaps if he was a good boy, some more shelving, to desk clerk, which at least allowed him to interact with people instead of only books. It still wasn't a particularly exciting job to him. Sure, sometimes he came across something really interesting to check out which he otherwise never would've seen. Sometimes people had interesting or hilarious questions for him, most of which he was in no way qualified to answer. Most of the time, though, it was just a way to pay the bills which required almost nothing in the way of overtime, very little heavy lifting, and nothing so crass as hard work.
Today had been an epically boring Wednesday, though. Usually summer in the library wasn't so bad. With kids out of school, there were far more patrons, and less boring downtime as a result. Today, though, the cooling charms had broken shortly after lunch and hadn't been fixed yet. Most of the patrons had long since fled, leaving Ken plenty of time to get ahead of his closing chores. It was now seven minutes and sixteen seconds - he was craning his neck to the point of pain to check the clock on a near-constant basis - until quitting time. Precious, precious quitting time. There was nothing else he could do until the library officially closed, and he tapped his foot impatiently behind the counter, trying not to look hot, bored, or frustrated as he watched the very small number of patrons wander around the stacks. There was somebody in one of the study rooms too, and in a couple minutes he would get to go warn them that time was nearly up. And then, gloriously, he could flee the scene. Maybe he'd go to the ice cream parlor. Definitely he'd go to the ice cream parlor. It was going to be wonderful.