The borrowed shelf

Fiction · Original fiction

The apartment building had a shelf for books nobody minded lending. One morning it held a small paper packet with the words: A question, free to borrow.

Inside was a card asking, What did you learn from a place you left? Someone added another card. Then a neighbour left a pencil on a string.

The shelf became crowded. Its caretaker moved the questions into a box beside the books and labelled it Unfinished conversations. People did not always answer. Sometimes they copied a question and carried it away.

The packet's maker never announced herself. She liked finding a new card on a Tuesday morning, when the corridor usually seemed too ordinary to surprise her.