A tap..tap..tapping

I’ve mentioned before that I arrive early so I can walk all four floors and get some of my steps in for the day. I enjoy my quiet time walking through the stacks and letting my mind float free. Just me and the quiet library until this morning. I was on the 4^th floor near the Greek and Latin texts when I heard a tapping from outside the window.

“…suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.”

            What Was That?!! I’m on the 4^th floor for crying out loud and alone in the library. My heart began to beat faster as I neared the window. I peered through the blind and saw only the beautiful pink streaked sunrise so I continued my walk through the stacks to the other side. My imagination was in full throttle as I wondered what this mysterious tapping was. Suddenly, as I neared the final stack, I again heard a rapping at the window. I stopped,

“..long I stood there wondering, fearing,

Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared dream before;

But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,”

            I heard no sound except my beating heart. As a fan of horror and sci-fi I’m sure you cannot begin to imagine the thoughts going through my head and yet I needed to know. I tiptoed ever closer to the window and waited breathlessly for the next tap-tap-tap. 

There! Quickly I peered through the blind and found the source of my distress. Not a raven but a large black crow. With a loud raucous CAW he sprang aloft in the dawning light to perform another tap-tap-tap flight and hopefully to return to my library,

“Nevermore.”

My apologies to Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven.