The Librarianist

Bob is surprised by how easy it is to both sneak onto the train and to evade the ticket taker. At one of the stops, Bob watches two women on the platform. They talk loudly to one another, gesturing. Then, they receive some luggage from a porter. One piece bursts open, spilling out several Victorian wigs. The women inspect the wigs, then pack them back into the suitcase.

The two women are named Ida and June, and they enter the private compartment where Bob is seated, bringing with them two dogs. They do not immediately notice Bob; when they do, they assume he is deaf because he is so quiet. After some time, Ida asks Bob if he is traveling alone, then deduces that he is running away. She reminisces about wanting to run away as a young girl.

The train reaches its final station—a town called Astoria. Ida and June say goodbye to Bob, but he decides to follow them, and, hoping to remain unseen, sneaks onto the bus they board undetected.

Ida spots Bob rather quickly into the journey and becomes angry that he is following them. June reprimands her, insisting that Bob is bothering no one. June explains to Bob that she and Ida are actors: before the war they ran a successful troupe, but she fears that their careers are coming to an end.

The bus arrives at a hotel and Bob follows Ida and June as they exit. They are greeted by the hotel owner, Mr. More. Ida is upset that he has not displayed the playbill for their upcoming performance. Mr. More counters by explaining that the town has gone into decline since Ida and June were last there.

Suddenly, June notices Bob behind them; Mr. More invites them all to come inside and have some soup.

Mr. More asks the group to walk with him around the exterior of the hotel so that he can show them the pea gravel he has had installed. As they walk, he explains that the reason the playbill is not displayed is because the man who was his printer died by suicide. Mr. More discusses the printer and his reasons for suicide, lamenting his death as he was the town’s best printer.

He shows the group the conservatory, then, which is hot and humid and overflowing with tropical plants. He explains, after Ida asks, that it is the project of Mr. Whitsell—resident of the hotel and a retired insurance salesman. Ida and June despise the changes to the conservatory but Bob, seeing Mr. Whitsell hiding after the others leave the room, compliments him.

Bob then walks through the hotel lobby to where Ida and June are eating bowls of beef stew and joins them.

Mr. More agrees to allow Bob to stay at the hotel; Bob pays him the $4 nightly fee and is shown to a room on the second floor. June is assigned to the tower room, and, after being assured by Mr. More that is structurally safe, she too leaves.

Once in his room, Bob counts out his remaining $17, then Alice, Mr. More’s niece, enters. She has been told by her uncle to be kind to Bob and presumes there must be something wrong with Bob to warrant this instruction. She says she has promised to meet a boy named Tommy at the movies and leaves.

Bob tries to sleep but cannot. From the window, he sees Alice outside the movie theatre, waiting for Tommy. When he does not arrive, she goes inside anyway.

Bob wakes and, when he is told that Ida and June are breakfasting at the town’s diner, goes to join them. They propose Bob works for them, at least for the time being, in exchange for their paying for his room and board and giving him daily payment of $1. Bob agrees and says he is willing to learn the tasks he needs them to complete.

After breakfast, the women make plans to work on a script and place Bob in charge of their dogs, Buddy and Pal. Bob walks the dogs around town. When he returns to the hotel, he sees Alice inside of his room. He throws a piece of pea gravel at the window to get her attention, and she explains she is preparing to mop the floor.

Mr. Whitsell appears at his second floor window then, asking Bob for the newspaper and cigar he gave Bob money to purchase at the diner. Bob meets him in the conservatory where he gives Mr. Whitsell the items.

Bob watches Ida and June rehearsing in the dining room, which has been rearranged to resemble an auditorium. Ida is situated in a stockade, and June is playing the executioner. However, they are arguing: Ida wants to know what crime her character has committed and June feels this information is not important to determine. Finally, they agree on a backstory for the criminal Ida is playing.

When they hear the dogs, they call out to Bob. He tells them he and the dogs got on well.

Ida teaches Bob how to drum, demonstrating a drumroll. She explains that they use a recording of a drumroll in their performances but, should Bob master the skill, they would like for him to perform the drumroll.

After the lesson, Bob continues practicing in his room until Mr. Whitsell asks him to stop, explaining that the sound is making him angry and nervous. Bob takes the drum outside, crosses the street to the shore, and practices at the edge of the water.

Bob, Ida, and June head to the diner for dinner but find a note saying it is closed because the cook has run off. Back at the hotel, Mr. More prepares a spaghetti dinner, and Alice and Mr. Whitsell join them. Bob notices a poster advertising Mr. More’s run for a city councilman position, and Mr. More laments losing the election.

June asks Mr. Whitsell how he came to live at the hotel, and he summarizes his sojourn from North Dakota after retiring. He had plans to travel by bus across the country but found it dull, and when he ended up at Mr. More’s hotel, he simply never left. Dinner ends, and June and Ida take coffee with them to their evening rehearsal, while Alice leaves to meet someone.

Bob practices his drumming at the shore the next day, as the performance is to take place in 36 hours. Ida summons him to come inside where she wants to evaluate his drumming abilities. June is on the phone, trying to get coverage of the performance from the local newspaper.

Ida takes Bob into a bathroom and asks him to perform the drumroll. Though he has learned to do so, he cannot perform it well with Ida watching. She instructs him until they are interrupted by a loud cranking sound, which the dogs bark at.

The sound comes from a hand press from which June cranks out advertisements announcing their performance.

Bob is sent into town to distribute the handbills advertising the performance. While he is there, the National Guard can be seen approaching from a distance. The Sherriff makes an announcement to the town via a loudspeaker: a series of pranks between two lumber camps in the mountains has gone awry, and there are rumors that the camps will riot that night.

Bob gets rid of all of the handbills and returns to find Ida and June rehearsing. The three head to the diner for lunch; the cook has returned but has had to retire the “frizzled beef” dish because of its unpopularity. After lunch, they find Mr. More and Mr. Whitsell crowded around a radio at the hotel, listening for news of the riot, which has not yet begun. They listen into the evening, when Alice heads off to the movie theatre.

The riot begins as Bob goes to bed. He hears reports of the action on the radio and watches Alice outside of the theatre. When Tommy appears, Bob feels homesick for the first time.

A crowd gathers in anticipation of the riot, hoping to watch it unfold. Bob joins but is approached by a police officer. The officer pulls out a “missing person” flier: it features a photo of Bob. After radioing headquarters about the missing child, the officer agrees to drive Bob back to Portland personally. He instructs Bob to retrieve his belongings from the hotel, then return.