A Catalogue of Quiet Hours

Dear Whoever Finds This

A letter left in a library book, and the reply that found her.

June 1, 20256 min read

The letter was tucked into page 114 of a library copy of a novel no one had checked out in six years, which Yetunde supposed was the point — a message meant for whoever was patient enough, or bored enough, to read that far.

Dear whoever finds this, it began, in handwriting too neat to be careless, I don't know what I'm hoping for. Maybe just to know someone reached page 114.

Yetunde had reached page 114 by accident, on a Tuesday she didn't otherwise remember, in a library she only visited because it was raining and her umbrella was, as always, somewhere else.

She did not return the book the following week. Instead, she wrote a reply on the back of a receipt, tucked it into page 115, and returned both to the shelf, where she had no real reason to believe anyone would ever find them.