The Benefits of a Barbara Twig
by Mary Jo Rabe
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Table of Contents parts 1, 2, 3 |
part 2
“You must be Barbara Seiterich,” Annegret said when the girl stood up. “Father Tauber said you could help me in the library.” After just one glance, Annegret already approved of the new addition to the library staff. Annegret was impressed with the way her new help immediately cleaned up her own mess; she was showing the right attitude.
The young woman wore dusty blue jeans, black canvas shoes, and a baggy gray t-shirt. Obviously, she dressed for hard work, not for looking pretty while sitting at a desk.
Annegret’s ankles were swelling up again. She had spent too much time that morning cataloging new acquisitions. Her feet didn’t approve when she sat at her computer for more than one hour at a time. Usually, she spent more time pushing book carts.
Annegret walked over to the young woman and extended her hand. “Welcome to the Chancery Office library,” she said. “I’m grateful for your help. Call me Annegret.”
Old-fashioned, but obligatory, courtesy in the Chancery office demanded that the older person or the person at a higher level in the hierarchy offer interaction on a first-name basis.
Barbara went to shake Annegret’s hand but lost her balance and fell onto the desk, propelling a stack of books onto the floor. “I’m sorry—”
“Don’t worry about it,” Annegret said as Barbara picked up the books. “Books don’t break.” Actually, they might be damaged quite easily, but Annegret could see that this time, strangely enough, no harm had been done.
The young woman smiled hesitantly. “Thank you,” she said. “I’m Barbara. I’m in my final year studying Law, and I appreciate the opportunity to earn some money here in the Chancery office. It’s only a ten-minute walk from the Law School.”
A Law student. Annegret wondered if Father Tauber was trying to do her an additional favor. “How long have you been working in the Records Department?” Annegret asked.
“Not quite a year,” Barbara said. “People have been so nice to me. I love it here.”
Annegret wondered briefly how nice Frau Grob and Herr Hollenbeck were to her, but incompetent lawyers might have some respect for — or fear of — a law student.
“So,” Annegret continued, “then you know your way around the Chancery office.”
“Yes,” Barbara said eagerly. “Lately, Father Tauber always let me deliver the documents from the Records Office, and so now I know where everyone is.”
Annegret thought she could imagine why Father Tauber wanted Barbara out of the Records Office as often as possible.
“That’s perfect,” Annegret said. “See that book cart over by the shelves? It’s loaded with periodicals and books that have to be delivered to the users who have requested them. Each object has a name attached. Push the cart through the halls and you should be able to find the right offices and deliver the media.”
“Great, that’s what I enjoy doing most,” Barbara enthused. “I love to talk to people. They all tell me fascinating stuff. And Father Tauber is so kind; he never complains when I need hours to deliver everything. I’ll try to work faster for you.”
“No, no,” Annegret assured her, “take as much time as you need.” Annegret needed more time to decide what tasks she could delegate to Barbara. She had wanted help for so long and had gotten used to doing everything herself.
Barbara ran over to the book cart and accidentally kicked the side of it, knocking one stack of periodicals onto the floor. However, Barbara picked them up cheerfully and put them back on the cart.
Annegret decided not to mention the fact that the folders on the book cart had been stacked in the most efficient order for distribution and were now thoroughly mixed up. Yet, maybe it would be better if Barbara took more time to deliver them.
Barbara pushed the book cart to the door, ran it into the door, and then somehow managed to exit. The door wasn’t damaged, even though the crash had been fairly loud.
Annegret walked back to her desk, sat down carefully, and re-read the e-mails to her boss from Frau Grob and Herr Hollenbeck. It was obvious they were trying to rid the Chancery office of its library.
Annegret walked to the window and looked at the Barbara twig. It was still a skinny thing, but Annegret sensed that the twig had personality. She was already beginning to appreciate its presence. “Well, little twig,” she said. “I’m sorry if my library is a depressing place at the moment, but I’m glad you are here to cheer me up.”
This time she was certain that the twig waved an optimistic greeting as it swayed back and forth, even though there was no breeze Annegret could detect.
While Annegret stayed at the window and watched the Archbishop stroll around in his backyard, she also mulled over the possible demise of her library. To her surprise, the Archbishop saw her and waved. This was new. The Archbishop had never acknowledged her presence before. The twig seemed to wave, too.
Then Barbara ran back into the room. “Do you have a screw driver or maybe a hammer? The book cart bumped the elevator door on the second floor, and one of the wheels fell off. I’m sure I can fix it, but I need some tools.”
Annegret had been working in this library for a few decades and so, of course, she had all kinds of tools. She had long since learned the benefits of do-it-yourself, even if she herself was actually all thumbs when it came to fixing things. She pulled at the dented bottom drawer of her desk and pulled out her little, black, plastic tool case.
“Here you go,” she said to Barbara, who grabbed the case and ran back out the door after stumbling into the doorframe. Annegret wondered briefly if it was possible for Barbara to destroy her stainless steel tools, but then went back to thinking about how her boss would fail to defend the library at the upcoming meeting.
Annegret’s worries about her tools turned out to be unnecessary. Barbara didn’t damage the tools. She actually delivered the books and magazines accurately and promptly. Annegret felt a fleeting gratitude to Father Tauber for lending her his student help.
However, in her first week in the library, Barbara knocked the computer monitor to the stone floor, and it exploded. Annegret thought the twig trembled at the noise, and so she told it soothingly not to worry. The twig nodded or seemed to move, Annegret thought, with approval or even pride. She was sure she felt emotions emerging from the twig. The atmosphere around her desk seemed supportive, where it had previously been absolutely neutral.
Barbara wanted to try to fix the monitor, but Annegret wouldn’t let her pick up all the pieces. So, Barbara insisted on going to the IT service people to ask them for help.
Annegret had the feeling that her twig approved; it moved confidently and seemed to grow.
The IT people brought Annegret a new, wide-screen, LED monitor. That was what they had in storage, and they said her old monitor couldn’t be repaired. Obviously, Barbara had better powers of persuasion than Annegret could have ever known to wish for.
While the IT people worked to connect the monitor to her aged computer — which perhaps took even longer because they had to install new software and attach new cables — Annegret walked over to her window and looked out. The Archbishop was pacing around in his backyard, probably praying. He waved again.
Her Barbara twig on the windowsill now had all kinds of little, green knobs on its sides. The twig swayed gracefully and, Annegret thought, calmly. Annegret told it that it looked pretty.
She thought the twig looked happy, and Annegret felt relieved. So far things had turned out better than she had expected.
Barbara was exactly what Father Tauber had promised, cheerful, hard-working, but a complete klutz. However, she always brought back fascinating gossip after she delivered library materials.
“The secretaries are all convinced that Frau Grob and Herr Hollenbeck are having an affair,” Barbara said in her second week in the library.
“That’s interesting,” Annegret said. “Considering they are each married to other people. I suppose two such disagreeable people would have to find each other irresistible.”
“They are always having meetings that they don’t tell their secretaries about or leaving the Chancery office together,” Barbara said. “This makes the secretaries angry, because they can’t find their bosses when someone important and impatient wants to talk to them.”
Annegret didn’t know how useful this information would turn out to be, but she filed it away at the back of her mind.
That morning, Barbara brought both of them some hot chocolate from the vending machine. Annegret sipped hers slowly, but Barbara’s cup slipped out of her hands somehow and spilled onto the floor.
Barbara insisted on cleaning up the liquid, which had flowed under the mammoth, old computer under the desk. She lifted the computer onto the book cart, but too close to the edge. The cart tipped over and bounced the computer onto the stone floor. The metal case broke off and sparks flew from the computer fan.
This time Annegret saw the twig shudder with fear, but it could also have been from laughter. In any case, she went to comfort it before she looked at the mess on the floor. She felt the twig relax at her touch. Without asking, Barbara ran to tell the IT service people.
They came, took one look at the chocolate-soaked pieces of the computer and brought Annegret a different computer, complete with the newest versions of her programs. Since she had always been conscientious about saving all her work to the Chancery office’s servers and, since all cataloging information was stored online with the University library, she didn’t lose any data. Still, it took a few days before she had her computer working the way she wanted it to.
She stopped her computer work frequently to tell the twig that everything was fine. To her amazement, the twig continued to thrive despite the dark and gloomy weather outside the window. Father Tauber had heard right: the twig definitely flourished with constant attention.
After Annegret had the new computer working to her satisfaction, Barbara surprised her with an even newer laptop. “I was talking to Herr Laule when I brought the IT people their periodicals, and he said he thought the library could use one,” Barbara said.
The twig grew taller before Annegret’s eyes. For some reason, she felt the need to thank the twig, and it continued to grow.
Herr Laule had never offered Annegret a new laptop. Of course, maybe Herr Laule was just trying to make a good impression on Barbara.
The twig shook, and Annegret felt it disagreed.
She couldn’t deny the advantages of Barbara’s increasing popularity. People talked to her. Actually, the longer Barbara worked in the library, the more popular she seemed to become.
The twig also glowed when Barbara entered the room. Or, at least, Annegret thought it looked especially shiny.
Annegret was certain she didn’t have any enemies, with the exception of Frau Grob and Herr Hollenbeck, but she was often too busy to talk to people. There was always so much to do. Except for Father Tauber, she really didn’t have any friends at work. Now she felt that the twig was her best friend, someone who shared her thoughts.
Barbara took over many of the time-consuming, menial tasks that Annegret had always done. Annegret was beginning to see that she had spent far too much time on unimportant things. The twig agreed, or Annegret thought she saw it nod its consent when the buds shook.
By the end of Barbara’s second week in the library, the twig in the bud vase now had huge bulges on all sides, and they pulsated enthusiastically. Annegret talked to it more and more and told it that she was grateful to have a Barbara twig. The twig was visibly happy to hear this. It moved and grew, and that made Annegret happy.
At the beginning of Barbara’s third week, Father Tauber burst into the library, this time without calling first or even knocking on the door.
“I found out what Frau Grob and Herr Hollenbeck are planning,” he said. “They were both careless enough to open their private e-mails to auction houses from their work computers. They are asking about the prices for old books. As soon as they do away with your library, they plan to sell the books and keep the money.”
“Wouldn’t the money from book sales belong to the Chancery office?” Annegret asked.
“No, no,” Father Tauber interrupted her impatiently. “They are going to claim they just threw away worthless books and then keep the money. They already set up a separate account for the auction house. They seem to think they can get away with this.”
Annegret sighed. “This situation is partly my fault. No one knows what books we have in the basement or how valuable they are. I haven’t had the time to catalog them yet.”
“Well,” Father Tauber said, “Frau Grob and Herr Hollenbeck demanded master keys for the building about a month ago. I assume they smuggled in some expert to evaluate your books on a day when no one was there.”
Annegret nodded in agreement. “The ominous meeting Herr Schlossberg informed me about is next week. I need to prepare a list of the old books in the basement and ask the University library for help in determining how valuable they are. Then it will be up to the Vicar General and Archbishop to protect these books by keeping the library in business.”
“Get the information,” Father Tauber said. “Then you have to persuade your boss to defend the existence of the library.”
The twig swayed its agreement vigorously. Annegret felt empowered, though she should be scared.
Copyright © 2026 by Mary Jo Rabe
