When I studied the TPL map before I set out for Davenport Library, I wrongly assumed that Shaw Street went up as far north as Saint Clair Avenue West. For this reason, my decision to take the streetcar west from Saint Clair West Station was ill-advised. By the time I heard the automated voice announce Dufferin Street, I knew I’d probably gone too far.
Deciding to try my luck on foot, I hopped off the streetcar into the rain, walked down Dufferin to Davenport Road and then proceeded east on a prayer that Shaw would appear soon. I was getting tired and cold, so when I saw the small warm building on the corner of quietly residential Davenport and Shaw, my spirits lifted. On that dark afternoon, the library’s lights and Christmas wreath looked especially welcoming to this sojourner. And I valued reaching Davenport all the more because of the difficulty.
The door made a chunky clink when I opened it, but none of the three patrons inside looked up. Glad to rest my feet, I sat down at a table and let the pale lime walls of the narrow room soothe me. The floor’s blue and green tiles were attractive, and I liked the way the shelving had been adapted to a space that called to mind a New York railroad apartment. Davenport’s tall shelves lined the west wall, each a three-sided entity unto itself; a book-seeker could lose herself in the contemplation of titles in front of her and on either side.
Although it took only a few minutes to cover the library’s 3,604 square feet, I lingered for more than an hour at a table in the northwest corner marking papers. I felt the gratitude of a traveller who has found shelter after being cold and lost. How lucky I was to spend a rainy afternoon in this secluded box car of a branch!
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