I was asked about this story in particular, so I went ahead and finished it. It's October anyway, so a horror story is appropriate, even if it isn't quite a Halloween story. This is definitely in the style of the early spicy pulp horror stories, known as the "Shivers." Thanks to sbrooks103x and texquill for beta read and editing. Any errors remaining are very much mine, probably added after their able assistance. As with most pulp-style stories there is far more innuendo than graphic sex. If you really want to see what Rose and Lily look like, look up "Thelma Todd and Clara Bow."
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Crypt Girls
1923. Saint Louis, Missouri
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Rose drifted up the central stairs of the library, carrying the dusty tomes in her charge. She and Lily were "Crypt Girls," sorting and re-shelving books in the main stacks in the sub-basements. Rose was occasionally charged with helping people in the public research rooms, while Lily usually stayed in the stack down in the "The Crypt." The pay wasn't great, but with both her and Lily bringing in small paychecks as library assistants, they were able to keep up with the rent and have enough to live on, although sometimes a bit sparsely.
They'd graduated St. Tristan's after rooming together for four years there, and they'd gotten a lot closer than they'd ever have expected. Not long after they left the University, Lily had hired on at the library in Saint Louis and then sent Rose a letter asking if she was interested in working at the library as well. Rose was more than a little relieved; her mother was pressuring her to consider marrying a suitable well off man. Perhaps sensing the kind of relationship Lily and she had fallen into, her mother didn't really seem to care which man. Rose had happily moved in with Lily, and they'd easily resumed their relationship, a very easy-going "Boston Marriage." Very occasionally, they would accept a double date invitation to a club or dancing, but neither she nor Lily had any real desire for a serious long-term male companionship. They'd both tried that, and had some fun, but found each other much better company.
Even if they'd been inclined, dating men was problematic, the library did have a morals clause, even if it was nowhere near as strict or seriously enforced as some of the ones she had seen; an occasional date would be acceptable, but any hint of real impropriety, or even a long term relationship, would cost them their jobs.
The public library research room was usually empty during the day, with the exception of the "quiet man," Ken Stanton, who spent Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays researching almost from open to close. Rose figured he must be a professor, or, perhaps, a writer, although his broad shoulders seemed rather more designed for longshoreman duty. The conservatively dressed man was always intensely focused on his wide ranging research, but was invariably courteous and distantly friendly to Rose, who found usually herself searching for a bizarre variety of obscure texts on his behalf. He usually wore a nice linen suit, occasionally removing his jacket while he sorted through the Crypt of books Invariably, he would quietly ask for her permission to doff his jacket - and it wasn't in a perfunctory manner; she got the feeling he was actually concerned that he might offend her. She considered him something of a reliable fixture and, to be honest, a pleasant diversion. He was certainly better than the standard run of Frat boys she always had propositioning her, and he certainly had far better manners.
He'd been coming here since before even Lily started working at the library and knew the holdings well. A ragged scar ran down the left side of his face - Lily irreverently insisted that it was a dueling scar, but Rose harbored a suspicion that it was more serious, since his hands were heavily scarred as well. Perhaps, she mused, they were remnants of an early life hard-lived - or, she figured, he was of an age that he could well have served in the War. On anyone else, those scars might have been menacing, but he was so quiet and unassuming, they just didn't have any impact, at least on her. His rather broad and heavily muscled shoulders, however, did attract her attention, although not in a negative way. Lily teased her about him, telling her that she was dreaming of being carried off over one of his shoulders, and, perhaps she was, just a little bit. Of course Lily didn't seem too put off with the prospect of it herself - pointing out that he did, after all, have two shoulders well-suited for transporting fair maidens.
Today, Mr. Stanton was already in his shirtsleeves and linen vest - it was hotter than usual, even for mid August, and, while the tall ceilings and ceiling fans helped a lot, the heat was everywhere. The man seemed to be focused on the limestone caverns that dotted the central Missouri landscape -Rose had brought up a dozen books ranging from geology books to land grants, as well as recent newspapers from the area.
She shifted the final books onto the table next to him.
He glanced up at her. "Did you have any luck finding them all?"
She smiled. "Every one, although there were two different land grant volumes covering the time period you are looking at, so I brought them both."
His gaze focused on her more directly for a few seconds. "Oh? Well thank you, Rose, that will save some time." Distractedly he added. "I don't think I'll need anything else for a couple of hours, so you can retreat to the Crypt - it's a lot cooler down there. Beautiful flowers shouldn't be left to wilt in the heat." He said it in such an off-hand way that it was more a statement of fact than anything else.
Rose blushed, thanked him, and headed back down to the Crypt, first informing Mrs. Crenshaw of her whereabouts then working her way down to help Lily; as it turned out, Lily was as deep in the Crypt as it was possible to get - the 3
rd
subbasement, where the walls were carved from the living limestone. Lily was working just outside the restricted stacks- the area closed off to all but a few employees. The restricted stacks were for particularly rare and expensive books, city records, and those books that might be deemed of "morally corrosive nature." If a book in that zone were requested, Mrs. Crenshaw would have to get approval from at least two Library Board members, then, if the request was approved, the patron would have to do his or her research in the zone with a library assistant present at all times.
Lily was sliding books neatly into their places on the shelves from her huge wooden rolling cart, but once she saw Rose was alone she stopped and plopped herself onto a clear spot on the cart, leaning against the shelves.
"Have a seat, Rose," she gestured to another conspicuously open spot on the cart. Lily had a great memory, so she could shelve books many times faster than the next fastest attendant - a fact she occasionally took advantage of by getting way ahead, then sitting and reading for long periods of time. She still managed to get more far work done in the Crypt than anyone else. Mrs. Crenshaw certainly knew about Lily's long breaks, but overlooked it since the work got done. Besides, Lily could be a distraction if she were in the public areas. Lily's tall, lean form and white-blonde hair were just as notable as Rose's curly red locks and shorter, fuller figure, but Lily lacked Rose's ability to avoid confrontations. More than one college frat boy had been given a ringing slap before Lily was eventually sentenced to the Crypt.
Rose pulled her sweater off the cart, put it on and slid up onto the cart next to Lily.
Lily smiled and raised one eyebrow. "So how's our man?"
Rose told her about his comment on flowers and wilting.
Lily giggled. "Think he'd want to come down here and do a little gardening?"
For the next hour they shelved a few books and Lily quietly kept up a stream of endless sharp patter, full of gardening innuendos; she was especially interested in plowing and fertilizing. Both of them were in pretty silly moods when they heard the heavy door at the top of the stairs. Footsteps echoed as someone came down from the second subbasement.
Much to Rose's surprise, Mrs. Crenshaw came around the corner, leading Ken Stanton and carrying her heavy key ring. He had his jacket back on, which Rose felt sure would disappoint Lily, but the lower Crypt was quite cool.
"Rose. Lily. Mr. Stanton requires access to the restricted stack. So, given that we don't have a male assistant available today, I am going to require both of you to stay in the area. There are some books that require re-shelving in the restricted stacks any case."
