The librarian speaks about librarians’

work at the conference table

he lists the ways they know

how to steer

and graze

an archive.
we learn

how to navigate a building with many doors

and get books from Bunnings-sized

storage facilities stacked in regional Victoria.
—
At the dining table reading,

again, hearing the tap in my kitchen

and the tap

in the other toilet drip.
The plumber came, and he fixed the tap in the laundry and the bathroom

but he said the others were shot.
They need to be replaced

he’d call the agent

who’d call the landlord

also called the rental provider

who doesn’t have a mobile phone

and is mostly uncontactable.
So, I can still hear the drip of the shot

tap into a small porridge pan in the sink.
I turn right to

slow the drip

and then left

because the plumber warned

not

too

tight
—
Around the neck

of the head of security

(big, bald and bearded)

hangs a lanyard with a pin attached to it.

The pin is that rainbow amalgam

of pride and trans flags, and

I note its presence

as incongruous and perfect.
He begins his speech

leaning back in his chair

at the conference table,

blue shirt with the top buttons

unbuttoned to loosen

a breath that breathes out

all the time in the world,

distinguishing between beep beep

and whoop whoop

signifiers of alert

and then alarm.
He says make sure to let security know

if you lose your pass

And the control room is always manned

And 2 guards and then

8 guards and patrols all night

and we can walk you to the tram if it’s late.
My lanyard is blue with no pin

it says ‘welcome’

in languages of the city
—
When it stops dripping it makes me nervous, repetitive domestic noise get on my nerves

until it’s gone and then its absence makes you nervous.
—
The crescendo will come

when the head of security indulges in a description

of what to do in case of 
                               It’s never happened but it could
the detail will be luscious and rich
                                                                 It’s unlikely but I have to tell you
because you never know who is coming through a public entrance.
                                                                                    An image comes to mind of a little library cradled

                                                                                    in the rough hands of the head of security
The guards with pendants around their necks

at the public entrances

can make a decision rapidly

they can pull

their tech necklaces

and all the doors behind them lock,

so,
In the unlikely event
—
I look at the tap and think

about the perfect tension

for preventing droplets

forming because nothing

is more boring than the

DEI module I have to

(must) do for work

The tipping point…Richard from KPMG says that social licence…I look at the tap to check for

a drip
—
Never in all the years I’ve been at the library
                                                                                    His fingers stroke the small dome lightly, like it’s a

                                                                                    kitten separated from its mother too young.
Can’t run? Barricade the door, turn off the lights and close the blinds, pretend not to be there, be

quiet, hide in the corner, wait, if you need to move, he says, stick to the walls and take cover, don’t

make yourself a target, not a big target like a big guy like him, he says, slink, if you have to move, but

don’t move, stay, hide, and never run with glee toward the police, because they might shoot you, he says

they don’t mean it, they are on a mission, he doesn’t say this last bit but this is the gist.
Another gist

the police are benevolent

just like him

the head of security
—
I didn’t know my blood type

so I tried to give

plasma

because that’s what the website said to do

if you don’t know
I like to follow instructions,

do the right thing.
After a long wait and a long interview, the technician hooked me up to the machine, asked me to

shuffle over to the side of the seat, further, yep further, he inserted the needle in a vein in my

right arm, it wasn’t in the centre, which they prefer because it’s more stable, anyway, the blood

refused to flow. I did the exercises as instructed via diagram, but the machine said my blood was

too sluggish, someone senior came to look because now my hand was tingling and she tried

adjusting the needle which she thought was against the wall of the vein, but it bruised, and she

said sorry we are going to have to end the donation
But I hadn’t donated anything
She got me to hold my finger

on a pile of gauze before

she wrapped my arm in a bandage

and said sorry again and the original technician gave me cream for the bruise

and further instruction
—
the bullet points on the small card in

the plastic sleeve read

report any suspicious behaviour or incidents
beware of tailgaters

the text message

thanked me and

apologised for

the bruise
—
Do the public engagement people

naturally resonate at a high frequency?
The head of security is a bass note

a large drop hitting the full saucepan

I can see he’s worked hard on this hum
I look back at the pin

on the lanyard

that rests on his chest

bobbing

as he chuckles

and we shuffle in chairs

around the table
                                                                                                   Swaddling the little library, his palms

                                                                                                   like an oyster shell made of flesh
I don’t mean to cause alarm
But!

He is the head of security! And this is the world!

And he has an important job to do!
—
I’d drunk the recommended number

of cups from the dripping tap
a drip rides on the tail

of the previous drip
—
Outside the library

three flags fly

backwards they read
SHRINE
SERVICE LGBTQ+ OF STORIES

PRIDE WITH

DEFENDING
—
Question 3 of 12

in the test section

on open questions
(note: answers are not recorded for this section)
Why do you wear the rainbow lanyard at work?
   A. Open

   B. Closed