GIVING NOTICE (chapter two sneak preview)

Stephen escorted Max to the entrance to the library, gave him a big hug and a kiss on the forehead, and then quickly hurried off to his office to get his own day started. Max watched him depart wistfully. I do so love that man, he thought before opening the door to the expansive library.

Immediately he heard his boss, Mr. Warren, bellowing from somewhere on the second floor of the great room. “Marcus, I swear I’m going to set you on fire and watch you burn if you don’t start making some progress on the encyclopedias! And when I do, any jury would acquit me as soon as they hear how you have worked me down to my last fucking nerve!”

Max swallowed nervously. Mr. Warren was clearly in a mood this morning; whatever Marcus had done to piss the mercurial hawk off didn’t bode well for anyone. Max nervously fished his phone out of his pocket and checked the time. 8:53… at least Mr. Warren won’t be mad at me for being late, he thought with relief. He shoved his phone back into the pocket of his shorts and quickly made his way up the staircase to the second floor to find his boss and report for duty.

He found Mr. Warren seated at a reading table, rubbing his temples wearily. Max quietly approached the brown-and-white hawk and cleared his throat. “Good morning, Mr. Warren,” he said cautiously.

“Good morning? Good?” the hawk answered without looking up. “What, pray tell, is good about it? My coffee has gone cold, we’re way behind schedule in the reference section, and the gods have seen fit to curse me with that jackass of a donkey, Marcus. But I shouldn’t be dumping my headaches on you, Max. I’m sorry, good morning.” Mr. Warren at last looked up at the golden retriever. “Oh, the headset I requisitioned you showed up this morning. It’s downstairs on the librarian’s checkout desk. Make sure you wear it when you’re working so that I can hopefully minimize the amount of yelling I have to do.” Mr. Warren huffed wearily.

“Yes, Mr. Warren. What did you want me to work on today?” Max asked, eager to be helpful.

“That depends,” Mr. Warren answered. “Do you know how to use the Dewey Decimal System?”

Max nodded. “Oh, yes sir. I spent a lot of time helping out in the library in high school. And I doubt they’ve changed the system much in the last year.”

Mr. Warren instantly brightened. “Oh, you are a treasure. A literal lifesaver. You have no idea how happy I am to hear that. Seventeen offered to help, but he struggles with numbers because of his dyslexia. And Zane and Marcus, I doubt either of them even know what the inside of a book is supposed to look like.” He frowned bitterly, then shook his head. “There are six boxes stacked up behind the checkout desk full of uncategorized books. Do you think you could go through them, classify the books, and then add the appropriate stickers to their spines so they can be shelved? I’ll show you how to use the computer with the sticker printer.”

Max wagged and agreed happily, pleased that he was able to put his knowledge to work. Mr. Warren escorted Max downstairs to the checkout desk and gave him his headset, then he logged into the library computer and showed Max the relatively simple steps to add a book to the inventory, classify it, and print out its sticker. Once Max had done a few books to Mr. Warren’s satisfaction, the hawk thanked him again before returning to the second floor to resume his own work.

Max eagerly dove into the first of the six boxes, handling the older and more delicate books with care. He had always had a great fondness for books, ever since he’d first learned to read. Books were portals to other worlds, and they’d served as his primary escape all through middle school and those early, awkward years of high school when he’d felt most like an outsider. His classes had been easy enough for Max, but school itself had been hell. He had never really felt like he belonged in any of the cliques, not even the “weird quiet kid” group.

Instead, he’d spent every free moment hanging out in the school library. He was often the only student in the library, and he’d become friends with Mrs. King, the school’s librarian. She’d taken pity on Max and often let him help her during his free periods, and that’s how Max had learned the Dewey Decimal System and the workings of a library. In high school, the library had been his only sanctuary from the social games that everyone except him seemed so adept at playing. The library had been a quiet, welcoming shelter from the feeling that he never really belonged.

That was part of why working at StartAgain felt like such a revelation to Max. For the first time in his life, he felt truly accepted and felt like part of something bigger than himself. In the span of less than half a week, he’d found everything his life had been missing; a wonderful boyfriend who was also his Daddy, true friends who loved him and enjoyed his company, and a sense of community that he’d never felt before.

With everyone else on the team busy upstairs, Max was able to make fairly swift uninterrupted progress categorizing and labeling the books. In the span of a few hours, he was able to empty two of the boxes and start on the third, stacking the books in tidy heaps on the checkout desk based on their categories. Max enjoyed the work, but especially enjoyed the sense of satisfaction as he saw the steady progress he was making.

He was startled by Mr. Warren’s voice squawking directly into the headset Max was wearing. “Max, how are you getting on with the uncategorized books?”

Max held a button on the left earpiece, just as Mr. Warren had shown him. “Great, sir. I’m starting on the third box now. I had a bit of trouble with one book, figuring out if it was astrology or astronomy. The author seemed to bounce back and forth. I decided to classify it under astrology in the end. Otherwise, no issues sir!”

“That’s great news,” came Mr. Warren’s reply. “I’m calling a lunch break so I can take something for this headache and lie down for a bit. But I haven’t forgotten what I promised you and Seventeen yesterday, an extra hour break to spend together in a double-ended gag. Did you want to eat first, or did you want to wait until after? Seventeen is up here practically vibrating with enthusiasm, I should warn you.”

Max blinked. He’d completely forgotten about that. But he didn’t want to disappoint his gecko friend Seventeen, and the idea of spending an hour strapped together by a gag did sound like a lot of fun. Plus, Stephen’s breakfast had filled him up nicely and he wasn’t starving for lunch yet.

“I’ll come up and Seventeen can take our hour first, if that’s alright sir,” Max replied into his headset. A moment later, he heard Seventeen whooping at the top of his lungs with joy from somewhere above.

“I take it you heard that,” Mr. Warren chuckled. “He’s very eager. Well, come on up then and I’ll get you boys situated.”