Firestarter

“Do you mind my asking why?”

“I”-she paused-“I have to tell them something.”

The young man considered for several moments. He seemed about to speak, then held up a finger and went and conferred with another librarian. He came back to the little girl and spoke two words.

“Can you give me an address?” she asked.

He found the address and then printed it carefully on a square of yellow paper.

“Thank you,” the girl said, and turned to go. “Listen,” he said, “when was the last time you had something to eat, kid? You want a couple of bucks for lunch?” She smiled-an amazingly sweet and gentle smile. For a moment, the young librarian was almost in love.

“I have money,” she said, and opened the sack so he could see.

The paper bag was filled with quarters.

Before he could say anything else-ask her if she had taken a hammer to her piggybank, or what-she was gone.

12

The little girl rode the elevator up to the sixteenth floor of the skyscraper. Several of the men and women who rode with her looked at her curiously-just a small girl in a green blouse and bluejeans, holding a crumpled paper bag in one hand and a Sunkist orange in the other. But they were New Yorkers, and the essence of the New York character is to mind your own business and let other people mind theirs.

She got off the elevator, read the signs, and turned left. Double glass doors gave on a handsome reception area at the end of the hall. Written below the two words the librarian had spoken to her was this motto: “All the News That Fits.”

Charlie paused outside a moment longer.

“I’m doing it, Daddy,” she whispered. “Oh, I hope I’m doing it right.”

Charlie McGee tugged open one of the glass doors and went into the offices of Rolling Stone, where the librarian had sent her.

The receptionist was a young woman with clear gray eyes. She looked at Charlie for several seconds in silence, taking in the crumpled Shop and Save bag, the orange, the slightness of the girl herself she was slender almost to the point of emaciation, but tall for a child, and her face had a kind of serene, calm glow. She’s going to be so beautiful, the receptionist thought.

“What can I do for you, little sister?” the receptionist asked, and smiled. “I need to see someone who writes for your magazine,” Charlie said. Her voice was low, but it was clear and firm. “I have a story I want to tell. And something to show.” “Just like show-and-tell in school, huh?” the receptionist asked. Charlie smiled. It was the smile that had so dazzled the librarian. “Yes,” she said. “I’ve been waiting for a long time.”