Part 2 (during my lunch hour)

She glanced at her watch and noticed that it was only four o’clock. It was a little too early to be calling Kelly, even with the time zone difference. Madeline looked around the empty room and sat down on the cot that was serving as her bed until the end of the week. ‘I can’t believe they offered me a job after just a phone interview!’ she thought to herself.

After Madeline had found out about that the Baltimore Free Library wanted to interview her, she anxiously called up her grad school friend Kelly. Kelly graduated a semester earlier than Madeline and managed to find a job within a month of graduation. Kelly had emailed Madeline with her news and also mentioned that the library was looking for more entry-level librarians and perhaps Madeline might be interested in applying. So Madeline had applied, despite the fact that she had never really been interested in working in a public library or living in Baltimore. Kelly had been a godsend for preparing for the interview. And now she was hopefully going to be helpful in learning more about the area. Madeline had never been further east than Florida, so a trip to Baltimore would be her first visit the east coast.

Madeline basked the happiness of knowing that there was a job out there for her, even if it was all the way in Maryland instead of Wisconsin or Minnesota. The rejection letters that had piled up in her mailbox were finally forgotten. After a few minutes, she got up and logged on to the Internet to price flights. After some searching, she realized that she could call Kelly now and figure out when a good time to come visit would be.

“Kelly?”

“Madeline?”

“Yeah, did you--"

“I heard that you got offered the job! Congratulations!”

Madeline was confused. “But I just got offered the job a couple of hours ago. How did you find out?”

“I carpool with one of your interviewers. He was teasing me about prepping you for the interview, but it sounds like you did a great job.”

“Well, I had a definite in with knowing you!”

“Riiiight,” Kelly drawled sarcastically. “Did they tell you what subject department you were going to be in?”

“Humanities. But I haven’t accepted the job yet.”

“I don’t know any one from Humanities. But I can look into for you,” Kelly reassured Madeline.

“I was hoping to come out to Baltimore to meet the people I would be working with, see the library, and maybe look for an apartment. Would you be able to put me up while I’m there?”

Kelly paused and Madeline could hear pages flipping. “Uh…yeah. I don’t have anything planned in the next couple weeks. Next weekend is Labor Day and the library is going to be closed then. But how about the weekend after that?”

“That’s exactly what I was hoping you would say. Thanks so much, Kelly. I’m going to book my flight and then I’ll let you know when I’ll be there.”