Page 1 of Bear Necessities

1

Enid

The January sunblinds me as I wait for my co-worker, Ray, in front of the Corvid Valley Library.It’s an unusually warm day, even for California, and I dressed in too many layers this morning.I peel off my jacket when I see Ray pull up in our work vehicle, fondly referred to as the Ghost Gobbler.

“Sorry, sorry,” Ray jumps out the door, flashing me his charming smile.

“Yeah, yeah.Why is it when you’re in charge of bringing the Gobbler to a job you always arrive late?”

My coworker shrugs his broad shoulders and pins his badge to his shirt.

“Because I suck?”he suggests, followed by yet another charming grin.

Rolling my eyes, I turn to the library.They built the building in the late 1800s, old by California standards, but it received a decent facelift a couple of years ago.The work order we received stated that there has been some apparent paranormal activity off and on since the renovation, but lately it’s become a problem.Corvid Valley is certainly used to the paranormal, so Ray and I need to see what exactly is going on.

We enter the hushed library and head over to the help desk.

“May I help you?”an elderly librarian asks us, peering up from his smudged spectacles.

“Yes, we have an appointment with the head librarian.Ms.Smith.”

The man looks us up and down, nodding.

“Ah, yes, the spirit chasers.Follow me.”

It probably would have been faster for the librarian to point us in the right direction, because following him keeps us at a snail’s pace.But it allows me to study the inside of the library as we walk.From what I see following the elderly man, nothing looks out of the ordinary.

The man lightly knocks on the wall beside an open door in the back of the library.

“Ms.Smith?Golden State Ghost Whisperers are here for your meeting.”

“Oh great, please send them in.”

Ray and I walk into a dimly lit office and come face to face with a friendly-looking woman.

“Hello, I am Helen Smith, Head Librarian here,” she says, reaching out her hand to shake ours.

We exchange formalities and sit down in front of her desk.

“So, Ms.Smith, we have your intake form here.Thank you for filling it out.We’d also like to hear from you, in your own words, what the library has been experiencing.”

“Of course.Well, I have worked at this library for fifteen or so years now.It’s an old building, and the state gave us bond money a few years ago to renovate it.Everything went beautifully, except we appeared to have woken a ghost.Or attracted a ghost.Or something.I’m honestly not an expert on this type of thing.”

“OK, so you were aware of this supernatural being after the renovation a couple of years ago?”Ray asks, taking notes.

“Yes.And it was fine.A few hairs standing-on-its-ends moments for librarians after hours, but nothing that was an issue.Until last month.Suddenly we are coming in to work finding, well, a goo I guess, on the book stacks.I didn’t mind sharing space with a ghost before, but I definitely do mind it hurting our books.”

Nodding, I look over at Ray.

“Sounds like a bored ghost to me.May just need to be told it’s free to go.Can we spend the night here?Since it’s apparently leaving ecto when the library is closed?”I say.

“Sure, yes, that is fine.Do you think it’ll do it if you’re in the building?”

“Only one way we will find out,” Ray says, snapping his notebook closed.

* * *

Ray is like a brother to me.We have worked as a team for Golden State Ghost Whisperers the last five years, ever since I joined the company.Previously, I lived and worked in the Town of Sea Glass, on the other side of the country.After a crappy breakup with a cheating piece of shit of a husband, I left my life back east and paved the way for a new experience in the California sun.With my experience, GSGW scooped me up as soon as I interviewed, and I have been happily dealing with the paranormal in and around Corvid Valley ever since.