Thank God there's nothing in the dress code about women having to wear nylons or a bra, Sue thought. Those things were taken for granted, she supposed. All women wore them. No need to require them to wear such things by writing it up in the dress code. Well, to hell with anything not specified in the code!

Sue slipped into her chair at the mezzanine information and requisitions desk and kicked off her high heels. There was nothing in the code about library employees having to wear shoes either, so to hell with them, at least while she was sitting behind her desk.

It was a slow morning, especially up in the mezzanine. The only real bustle was happening down at the circulation desk, where librarians and library assistants were busy checking in books that had been returned over the weekend. Monday mornings were always slow up here in the mezzanine because most library patrons didn't start filtering in usually until afternoon. Only a few patrons came to Sue's desk to requisition books from the basement stacks, so she went down herself instead of sending down an order for the books.

She welcomed the chance to get out of her desk and exercise her legs. She knew Miss Wilmar would frown upon such inefficiency, such wasted legwork, but Sue didn't care what Miss Wilmar thought. The head librarian had undoubtedly sentenced Sue to the most boring desk in the library this morning just to spite her. Miss Wilmar knew what Sue liked the most active tasks, so she made it a habit to always find Sue the least active, job possible.

At ten, Sue took her coffee break in the employees' lounge.

"Where'd you get that dress?" Nancy Hanes said.

"This old thing?" said Sue. "I've only had it since my freshman year of college. Used to wear it to dances."

"Bet it didn't stay on long after the dances," Nancy said, smiling suggestively.

"Not long," Sue said. "Not long at all." She sipped her coffee, feeling a warm glow in her cheeks.