The forgotten story of Max's Barbooks

We often complain about our daily challenges, flaws and imperfections. Susan was no exception. Like most of us her mind wandered in fantasy thoughts to escape reality. But what would it be like to meet someone escaping fantasy to become real?

Monday, 6:00 AM

The alarm clock just went off and a few snoozes later, she dragged herself to the bathroom making silly faces in the mirror, in an attempt to get rid of her puffy eyes . The little voice in her head was reminding her about her extensive and stressing weekly to-do list, and made her feel even more down. Finally a sparkle of hope crossed her mind. Max’s Barbooks, had their special monthly lunch event, that would brighten up the day! 

Max’s Barbooks was located in the heart of the city’s office-center. It was a charming 4 floor Art Nouveau building surrounded by only skyscraper buildings. An oasis in the middle of the desert, for the stressed employees of the neighborhood. Literature amateurs and daydreamers would rush in to order a sandwich and a coffee in a library setting decorated with curled steel decorative elements. They would pick a book of their choice and have a lunch-date with it for weeks. A delicious multitasking that would help them escape out of their tense jobs, even if it was only during lunch break. 

Special monthly events consisted of an exclusive formula: it offered an extra dessert in the menu, but even more important, a unique valuable curiosity book of the basement of the shop to be taken home for the whole month. Those books were not to be sold, so it was a big privilege.

12:17 AM

Susan pushed the heavy wooden door at Max’s Barbooks. She felt already exhausted after 4hours of draining meetings, but excited about her exquisite lunch and the surprise curiosity book covered up in wrapping paper waiting for her on the table. 

Before even taking the time to contemplate the delicious lunch, she hurried up unwrapping the surprise. The only thing she knew was that this month's theme was fantasy. 

A leather-bound book cover showed the title  ‘A glimpse into the other world of Fantasy’. 

“Ohh, really… Max must be kidding.” Fair enough the cover in itself was great, but Susan had expected some more advanced piece of literature, rather than a non-fiction guide to fantasy-writing, as she thought it was. After a big sigh she put the book in her bag and decided to focus on lunch. Luckily that part of the event made it up for the poor book selection, or maybe she had just bad luck she thought, sneaking on the neighbors tables trying to read the title of their books. 

12:29 AM 

While considering exchanging her book with a neighbors one who just left for the restroom, her cellphone called her back to reality… 

A WhatsApp message from her boss appeared. 

‘Susan, I’m really sorry, I know how important this monthly event is for you, but we have an urgent and unexpected meeting at 1PM, we need you to be there (complications for the plans on the new shopping center area). Be there on time!! Big client ;-) 

Could this day go even worse than it already went? She took a look at the big and refined exotic salad, the glass of red wine and the huge slice of “Schwartzwälder kirch” pie and finally a quick glance at the subway app. To be back on time she had exactly 11 minutes to leave.

Well, at least the salad would serve her as dinner… During the next 8 minutes she managed to ask for the bill and to let wrap up the salad, meanwhile she engulfed the pie in 6 big bites, looking like a squirrel making food reserves and then drinking the glass of delicate red wine as if it were a glass of Coca-Cola light on a hot summer day.  

***

Samuel had a life most of us would dream of - he had it all- . Only child of King Alexander, his life was already settled. He would soon inherit the kingdom of its father. Stretching out from the Magical woodlands of the Unicorns to the Misty Mountains of the Dwarfs to the Deep Oceans of the Mermaids.

And actually he felt quite happy and fulfilled until he made a shocking discovery about reality. 

Prince Samuel could always be found in the Royal Library as soon as he had a moment of free time, a place mostly runned by the best talented magicians of the kingdom. 

Recently, he clandestinely managed, with their complicity, to get access to very private and unpublished book collections. Hidden behind a stone wall and protected with a secret code, the books were normally only meant to be read by a select group of experienced-magicians.

Since his early childhood he had always dreamed of entering this place and there he finally was, sliding his fingers over the back of all those sacred books. It was told that some very deep and profound mysteries were kept there. The kind that could disrupt peace and balance in the kingdom. 

The Prince spent countless hours in the prohibited and hidden library, taking notes. All nuggets of pure wisdom, that would prepare him well to rule over this vast territory. 

But nothing compared to what he discovered in the Meta-physics part of the library. One peculiar book cached his attention: “A glimpse into the other world of reality”. Almost instinctively Samuel hid the book under his cloak and left the occult library with it. 

***

Monday, 9 PM

The day had even been more exhausting than she had expected and Susan had just finished eating the leftover exotic lunch salad as a quick multitasking dinner while working late. On the subway she finally took out the book in an attempt to relax and quiten her overactive mind. After all it seemed that this book wasn’t just a standard manual on how to write a fictional fantasy world, but rather like a book written by a fantasy figure himself, now living amidst us and describing the meta-physical laws that govern the Fantasy realm. The book started to catch Susan's’ attention. She checked the name of the author. The cover mentioned the name S. Aragon, without any biography. She would Google it later on.

Tuesday, 5:55 AM

Susan woke up with the book open on her chest, just before her alarm went off. For once she felt alive and full of energy… Strange because she must have had a short night, reading up to very late and falling asleep even without putting the lights off. The story had been captivating so far and like in any good book, she got attached quickly to the protagonist. Something felt very odd about him though… how could a  Prince of a fantasy kingdom feel so real and even familiar, giving the impression that he was aware that he was conscious of living in a fairytale? Okay Google, tell me who is that author who wrote this mysterious book… Damn, no satisfying results… yes she knew already that Aragon was referring to a Medieval Kingdom in Spain… but no extra information about any potential author with that name. 

Too bad, no extra time to linger, she had to prepare for the day ahead and she would continue reading on the subway.

 7:23 AM

In an overcrowded subway Susan managed to get the last free seat and was just able to open the book squeezed between a man reading the newspaper and a young mother with a baby on her lap and overloaded with grocery bags. She got totally sucked into the Prince story again. Maybe because in a sense, she identified with his need for a higher purpose in life, the need for discovery of truth, the need to escape one's own world. Although they had one big difference. The protagonist of her book had a perfect life in all sense, in a fictitious fantasy world no need to deal with issues and challenges of the real world, isn’t it  ? 

All of a sudden she felt like having a lot of space around her, which threw her out of her story and daydreaming.

Ooh my goodness, this cannot be true, I missed my stop! I will be late at the office.

***

-“What? Are you out of your mind?” Merlin gazed with deep concern, when he saw Samuel taking the book out of his cloak. “You may be my best friend, and the Prince of this Kingdom, but the Order of Magicians have strict rules about their secret library. I already managed to get you access to it, not being a member of the Order yet. But stealing a book is highly prohibited and dangerous too…!Those books reveal secrets that may not be known outside these walls. Most people are not able to handle the truth they discover reading”

-“ Merlin, you don’t understand, I need your help on this one…” 

-“What are you up to Samuel? You already used that same line to get you in there”

-“This book, my friend, states that there is another world than ours, and that it can be reached”

-“Nonsense! You know very well that your father conquered all parts of our world and all is now part of the Kingdom of Aragon.”

-“I’m not talking about our world. What I’m trying to tell you, is that there is another world out there, that created all of ours. By people that bring us to life by imagining  us-into reality- through ideas running in their head. 

Merlin sat with his head in his hands, shaking his head in disbelief. His friend must have turned crazy or misinterpreted the book. But it only became worse and he got again involved more than he would have wished for…

-“The book states that there is a way to escape our “Fantasy world” and to become a real human in the real world. It proves its theory by giving a way to test it and go see it by ourselves. 

Merlin took the book out of the hands of his friend. 

-“This is utterly ridiculous! How could we be the imagination of people? Do I need to poke you in the eye to convince you we are real?”

The apprentice wizard was a high rational, but also very curious young man and Samuel saw that his friend's internal conflict was tending to be resolved by a stronger need for knowing the truth. Encouraged by this observation, Samuel continued “You will not regret this Merlin, imagine what important discoveries we will make for this Kingdom, you and I. We have nothing to lose to try!”

-“We?”

-“ Well yes, actually the procedure to get into the world of Reality involves different steps. I still have to read it more carefully what those are, but what I already know is that a magician is needed to perform some of them.”

Merlin kept quiet, but Samuel could read from the expression on his face and the stars in his eyes that his friend had tacitly accepted the deal.

***

Tuesday 4:45 PM

The book had completely taken over Susan, the need for reading it became an obsession, it felt like some kind of enchantment. Today she managed to sneak out early at the office and she would profit the 8hours ahead to read non stop and hopefully finish the book by then.

The day after, she would go back to “Max’s Barbooks” and try to find out a way to get to know more about this mysterious book. She was not really overly acquainted with the owners. One of them was obviously Max and she had spoken to him a few times and she had a good feeling about him. The other owner, she only had seen passing by on occasion. 

The evening had flown by and her alarm clock was showing 1:03 AM when satisfied she turned the last page of the book. She had made it, even though she had no idea how she would be able to manage to stay awake the next day, with only 5 hours of sleep. 

She had not been home in her apartment tonight, but rather it felt like she had spent months on the road with a Prince, like developing a close friendship, while he let her discover all corners and little details of his fantasy kingdom. All of it felt so real, he too, as if they had met before.

On a last attempt she tried to Google the name of the author one last time. But this time she tried to use the full first name of the protagonist of the book. And yes… there you had it, the social media profiles of a writer. But it was only when opening the profile picture, that she froze: she indeed had met the author of this mysterious book…

***

Almost a month had passed in the Kingdom of Aragon and the night was showing a full moon. The Prince and the apprentice magician were meeting under a multi centenarian oak tree. 

Samuel started to explain the steps of the procedure, they would have to go through to make the plan work out.

-The first step is that I have to write a leather-bound book about my life and a travel throughout all of our Kingdom.

He took a book out of his cloak and handed it out to his friend.

-“Ooh that is what you have been up to last month? I almost thought you were already in your other world as no-one saw you around these days”

Samuel continued solemnly:

-“This is the part where your magic comes in. You will have to put some spells on the book, so the reader thinks he or she has invented my Kingdom and that I really exist in the other world, as an author. 

-“I can do that, but how will you get that book on the other side?” Merlin wondered.

-“Your first set of spells will automatically generate a last spell that will cast us and the book in the other world. This will happen from the moment I will write the title ‘ A glimpse into the other world of Fantasy ‘ on the cover.

-“Wait a second”, noticed Merlin excited, “Do you mean that  I go with you?”

-“Yes, Merlin, if you agree. I will need your magic skills to finish the procedure completely. Once we will be in the other world, your magical powers will help us to fake us a real life in this place and the opportunities to encounter the best suitable reader to make the spell permanent. This will happen when he or she comes back to me with the book and asks me if I’m the author or protagonist of it.”

-“I can manage that and after all it is a long time we went on an adventure, you and I” said Merlin.

Samuel smiled, but soon after the expression on his face turned dark. With a sad tone he added:

-“There is a downside to this endeavor, that you must be aware of before we go.” If we succeed this will be a road of no return, well at least for me. Once the last spell is cast, I will completely merge with an identity in the real world and I will lose this one of my fantasy character in Aragon. Every single memory of my past life here will be lost and nobody in Aragon will ever remember I existed.”

Merlin started to remember why those types of books were stored in a secure section of the library and put his hand before his mouth as he was realizing slowly all the ramifications of consequences of such actions. Only a bit later on he started to get concerned of his own fate and he found the courage to ask about it. 

-“You can go back home Merlin, but I will also get erased completely out of your memory”.

-“There must be a manner to avoid this, for sure a complementary magic spell or something… we won’t give up on our wonderful friendship, aren’t we?”

-“Actually, I didn’t want to bring up the other possibility. You have the choice Merlin, you can also leave Aragon behind and follow the same fate as mine. We will make that choice when the reader will ask us to which world we belong. Reality and Fantasy will then rearrange to match our answers” 

***

Wednesday, lunchtime, Max’s Barbooks 

With a lot of excitement, Max saw their “reader” coming in with Samuels book under the arm and settling down on a little table in a dark corner.  “Sam! Sam! Samuel!! “ Max shouted while hurrying to the basement… “It is the day! After all those years we succeeded, we have found our reader! I knew opening Barbooks would be the way!”

When both young men approached Susan's table, she exclaimed “Max, I’m confused about this book, for a moment, it felt like both of you were Merlin and Samuel in Aragon's Kingdom. Ohh but you Sam, I recognize you now, you are the author of this wonderful book! Wow!” 

-”Well Lady, I’m afraid we are only normal folks, no heroes but just an author and publisher and both owners of Max’s Barbooks.“

-”Yes of course” Susan nodded, how stupid of me. Forget about it, you can just bring me the lunch of the day. 

While Max and Sam left, strangely happy about their conversation, she took a last glance at the book, and saw that all of the content vanished and all of the pages had turned blank as had the title.

She even couldn’t remember any content, any character or the author of the book.

All of it was gone, and the only thing she could figure out was that she was there to eat her lunch in her favorite spot and escape reality with a good book.