Books Aren't Coins

Submitted into Contest #91 in response to: Set your story in a library, after hours.... view prompt

7 comments

Fiction Friendship

"So, Mr Smarty Pants," said Strowl next to me. ‘Books aren’t coins you know.’ I give him an expression that means ‘Be quiet! I did not come here to steal, and you need to shut up or ‘She’ will hear us!’ Strowl understands and shrugs saying; "Why are YOU acting like the boss?” I give Prowl and Strowl a cross look. “Because I am the boss silly!” I clarify. All I see are the blank expressions of the two. “Look Chris!” Prowl said to me. “Don’t be so noisy, otherwise Librarian Grouch will hear us!” Strowl nods his head before ducking down to hide with me and Prowl. “

Look, there she is!” Strowl says with excitement. He said that too loud.

“Who was that?” Librarian Grouch said, now alerted. NO! why did Strowl have to say that? This is going to ruin the whole plan. I need to get into the library to get my book. My mother had accidentally put my school library book into the public library. I needed to get it back. “Duck!” says Scrowl, warning us that Librarian Grouch was coming in our direction. Unfortunately, that made the matter worse because he screamed the word. This meant that Librarian Grouch started moving faster towards us, running on her flimsy legs. “Gotcha!” She said as she grabbed my collar. She pulls me up and begins to examine me. “What were you doing spying on me?” I try to block out the smell of her breath. It smells like a honey sandwich. “I was not doing anything!” I lied. It may be better if I did not tell the truth.

WRONG MOVE

“YOU WERE TRYING TO STEAL ALL MY LITTLE BEAUTIFUL BOOKS YOU PEST!” She screamed at the top of her voice. I hear the rustle in the bushes as Strowl and Prowl leave the carpark. It is just me now. On my own.


A WHILE BACK


School library day today. I hop into class with a book in my hand. The teacher tells us to pack up, but it takes an extra five minutes until we actually do. I walk home forgetting that the book is still in my bag. When I get home, I find out I accidentally brought it home. I read it anyway. Later on, my Mum says “We are going to the library!” I say “OK!” And we go. I look at all the books while she returns the ones we have read. I feel sorry for Mum because Mrs Grouch is the Librarian and she has to give the books to her. Anyway, I find a couple of books and I go to Mum to order them. I feel sorry for Mum here as well because she has to give the books to You-Know-Who so that she can order them. What I am trying to say is that there are no workers at the library because no one wants to work for the librarian. I can easily see why:

  1. Her face is so ugly
  2. She is mean
  3. Her name is Librarian GROUCH
  4. I just do not like her


See? I have my reasons. She has wrinkles all over her face too, but everybody gets that. Anyway, when I get home, I go upstairs to read my book. But it is not there. Then I realise; Mum had returned the school library book to the public library. I need to get it back to school.

At night time, I head out with my friends Strowl and Prowl to get it back.


NOW


I am kicking my legs around in the air. Librarian Grouch is the worst person you could meet. "You have some explaining to do,” She clarifies, looking at me with beady eyes. I want to scream. And I do, but it is night time. No one is awake. Well, apart from me and a few others so that does not change anything. It is all Strowls fault. He screamed and got away with it. I however, the good and quiet one who was completely innocent was the one that got caught. “Do you know that there were two other ones with me?” I smirk at her. “Were there now?” She says. She clicks a button in her hand and out from the ground shoots a little cage with two people in it. I would never have guessed. It is Strowl and Prowl. The other runaways. They got caught afterall.

I tell her the truth, hoping she would believe me. I was wrong. She still thinks I tried to rob a book store. I am begging her to believe me but Librarian Grouch is not the type of person who would say “Yes, I believe you. Now move along!” She is the person who would say “Children these days. LIERS. BIG FAT LIERS.” And this is what she says. I sigh and give up. But Prowl has other ideas. “Librarian Grouch!” He says, blowing a raspberry at her. She drops me and turned around at him. I made my move and leapt up on her making her fall down, down, down, into a big black pit. I don't want to be a murderer though so I jump around the pit to make dirt fall so the pit won’t be deep enough to kill her. Then together we walk into the library, find the book and bring it out. What an easy challenge.


Deep deep down the librarian landed in a pile of mud. She would get revenge on the three. They were just kids. Getting up, She started digging. Digging her way out.


I look into the sunset. I made it just in time. Walking home I remember what had happened. It had been a not so nice action packed day but I did it never-the-less.

But that was just for now.


April 25, 2021 23:38

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7 comments

Arwen Dove
00:05 Apr 26, 2021

Cool story! Again, check for punctuation errors and stuff. You had some great ideas shown in this story, Well done!

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Arwen Dove
00:20 Apr 26, 2021

Also, the tenses change quite a bit, especially towards the end. Make sure you keep the same tense consistent throughout the story.

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Ed .
00:23 Apr 26, 2021

Thanks a lot! Yes I will try to work on the tenses.

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Arwen Dove
00:24 Apr 26, 2021

Cool! ;)

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07:09 Apr 26, 2021

Yes if you kept the same tenses you would change this amazing story to a perfect story. 👍

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TJ Squared
03:36 May 02, 2021

I'm just going to document small errors while I read: 1. ""So, Mr Smarty Pants," said Strowl next to me."--> Mr needs a period after it. 2. " “ Look, there she is!” Strowl says with excitement. He said that too loud." --> you should connect this to it's quotation and bring it down. 3. "“Were there now?” She says." --> "Where are they now?" And there you have it. I've noticed that you like lists and pits in your stories XD. L.W.

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07:08 Apr 26, 2021

Great story lot’s of detail (If that makes sense.) Good job! 👍

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