Winning Story

Wednesday, 05 October 2011 09:00

Below is the winning entry from the Southbourne Creative Writing Competition. The winner was Mr T Elms from Hamworthy.

Filed Under Unsolved Murders

Miss Peabody was a formidable librarian. The branch of the counties library service that she ran was run like a military operation. Every book was cross referenced by author and subject, and on her morning inspection before opening, her eagle eye would spot the slightest infringement. Her golden rule was that everything had a proper place.

An overdue book would induce an icy glare that would petrify the heart of the bravest book lover. Few people crossed Miss Peabody. That is, except Roger Tibbs. Roger was all that Miss Peabody loathed. Roger was overweight.

Roger never looked washed. He loitered around the library every day, removing books from their allotted place, reading a few pages and then replacing them anywhere. Books he borrowed were returned overdue, with suspicious stains on them and crumbs in between the pages. Something must be done about Roger, She had tried and failed to get him banned, but head office had said that he was a rate payer and as such had a right to local services.

Things came to a head when Miss Peabody discovered that not only had Roger been snacking among the book shelves, but he had actually been stuffing Kit Kat wrappers between books. Roger had to go.

That same evening she took the bus to Roger's address, she carried a cardboard box and her two sharpest knives - she reasoned that one may go blunt before she competed her task. A short while later she caught a bus back to the library, the box resting on her lap and a beatific smile on her face. She unlocked the library and disappeared inside. She did not leave until the early hours when she went home and slept like a baby.

Next morning, patrons of the library had the eerie experience of Miss Peabody actually smiling at them as she stamped their books. In between customers her eyes would wander towards one of the book cases, and she remembered last night. She had removed several hundred books and slid the book case to one side. She had then removed a floorboard and beneath it she had placed poor Rogers head. Then she had returned everything to its proper place. The two knives she had hidden in a wall in the staff room, where tomorrow a council workman would be re-plastering after water damage from a leak.

Now this morning everything was bliss, there was no Roger in the library. Her gaze wandered once more to the bookcase and she smiled at the books along the bottom shelf. Unsolved Murders. She though about what she had carved on poor Rogers forehead. RIP. Her initials.

Rosemary Iris Peabody.