A Royal Visitor

The Queen has come to live in the school library. We do not know why she is no longer in residence at Buckingham Palace. Maybe she sneaks back there at night, but her days are spent with us.

She has visited the book collection and especially appreciates the Shakespeare. She has posed for "selfies" with students and teachers. (Mainly teachers.)

But mostly she stands behind the circulation desk, among the ridiculous quantity of extra furniture that perpetually hovers there. She does not help check out books. That would be undignified. She may have left the palace but she is not a mere serf.

Her expression never changes. I suppose it comes from years of cultivating a public persona, a mask. She does not reveal her inner self. She is mute and mysterious.