Words To Live By

           He listened carefully, and finally he heard it…

           *CLICK*

           The last employee had left the library and had locked the door.

           “All Clear!” shouted a teenager covered head-to-toe in dirt. His bare feet barely creating a sound as he ran to join his friend, Huck.

           “Can we come out now, Tom?” asked Huck.

           An old lady gazed at the two boys over her spectacles and let out a long, “Shhhhhh!”. The sound closely resembled that of a snake that Tom and Huckleberry found down by the swamp.

           “Sorry, Ma’am,” the boys replied in unison, before the woman disappeared behind the bookshelf.

           “Let’s go round up the others, Tom.”

           Tom obliged Huck, and the set out to awaken their sleeping friends.

           Huck wondered down an aisle in the Fantasy section and slid a thick book from the shelf. He laid it upon the floor and called out for his friend.

           “Frodo! Frodo Baggins! Are you there, my friend?”

           Moments later, a grey mist plumed from the pages of the book, “Lord of the Rings”, and a short man with bushy brown hair upon his head and wide, flat feet appeared.

           “Huckleberry! It is wonderful to see you again!” Frodo exclaimed.

           “Come on, Frodo. We have a bunch left to wake up.”

           Meanwhile, in the Fiction section, Tom was searching for a girl named Alice. He had grown fond of her over the years. He loved the fact that she liked adventures and was not afraid to get dirty occasionally.

           “Here it is,” Tom stated as he set the book down. “Are you done your tea party yet, Alice?”

           A hole opened between the two pages, and Alice popped her head through.

           “Well, hello Tom!” Alice said as she pulled the rest of her body through the hole in the book. “The White Rabbit wanted me to tell you hello from him as well. He would have come along, but he was late, you see.”

           “Late for what, Alice?” Tom enquired.

           “Why, for a date, of course! He is a terribly busy bunny, you see.” Alice said with a wink as she shook the excess dirt from her blonde hair.

           Huck and Frodo had pulled down a book from a nearby shelf and opened it up. Out of the pages flew a young boy on a broom. His dark hair flying back across his brow as he raced around the library, revealing a lightning bolt scar above his right eye.

           “Harry!” Huck yelled out. “Down here!”

           Young mister Potter gracefully gliding down and landed softly upon the carpeted floor.

           “Hello, lads!” Harry chimed out. “Are you up for a game of Quidditch?”

           “Our broom riding skills aren’t as good as yours, Harry.” Huck said as he chuckled at the thought. “I would like to see you do some of your magic tricks though, Harry.”

           “They are far from being tricks, Huck. I know that Frodo can attest to that, right, Frodo?”

           “Absolutely,” Frodo replied. “I have seen both good and bad magic. It takes a lot of skill to master and is quite dangerous in the wrong hands.”

           The boys set off in search of another friend while Alice and Tom took their time walking hand-in-hand over to the children’s section. The book was titled, “Charlotte’s Web”. After setting it on the floor and opening it up, Alice called out for her friend.

           “Fern! Are you in there, Fern?”

           The noise of several animals made it difficult to hear a reply, but a minute later, a spider web shot out of the book, and a young girl with her hair in a ponytail climbed up the web.

           “Is it alright if Wilbur comes up to visit too, Alice?”

           “Yes, of course! The more, the merrier,” Alice responded.

           Held tightly in one arm was a small pig. He snorted at the sight of the two strangers.

           It’s okay, Wilbur. These are my friends, Alice and Tom.”

           Wilbur let out a happy squeal and Fern let him run around for a while.

           Fern leaped toward Wilbur to try and catch him but missed. Tom volunteered to help, but when he attempted to apprehend the pint-sized porker, the pig slipped through his fingers, sending Tom falling back into the shelf behind him.

           One of the books fell from the shelf and thumped hard upon the floor.

           “Fe Fi Fo Fum! Who just dropped me on my bum?” A thundering voice bellowed from inside the book, “Jack & the Beanstalk”. A giant finger began to poke through when Tom quickly shoved it back in and closed the cover, placing it back on the shelf where it belonged.

           Huckleberry, being the curious boy that he is, began searching through the fiction section. He pulled out a book from the top shelf and read the title. “Gone with the Wind”. He opened it up and yelled into the pages, “Hey y’all in there. Did you want to come play with us? We got plenty of friends here for you to meet.”

           A male voice with a Southern accent called back, “Frankly, my boy, I don’t give a damn. Miss Scarlet and I have our own private party happening already here at the plantation.”

           Huck looked up at his friends, shrugged his shoulders, then slammed the book shut.

           The six friends soon met up in the reading area of the library. Hugs and handshakes were exchanged before deciding on what adventure they should take. They decided on a sci-fi adventure. Closing his eyes, Frodo reached out for a book. His short arms could only reach halfway up the shelf, but he managed to grab hold of a thick hardcover book. They opened it up and one-by-one, they leapt into the book.

           When they landed, the six friends were surrounded by millions of stars in a dark sky. The land around them was covered in swamps and fog. Odd looking creatures scurried across their path as they walked. Harry had his wand at the ready just in case they were attacked. Alice held tightly onto Tom’s hand and Fern squeezed her pig so tight that he let out a painful squeal.

           “Sorry about that, Wilbur.” She said to her little pink friend.

           A rough, but kindly voice spoke from somewhere beyond the fog.

           “Lost you are. Help you find your way, I will.”

           The group strained to see where the voice emanated from, but through the dense fog, it was impossible to locate.

           “Fear not, young ones. A friend I am.”

           Suddenly, out of the fog waddled a short green creature carrying a wooden staff for support. Frodo felt tall for the first time in his life.

           “Who, or what are you?” Harry demanded as he aimed his wand in the creature’s direction.

           “A lonely old creature, I am. Yoda, my name is. Welcome, you are. Dagobah, this place is called.”

           Tom asked Harry to lower his wand and he kneeled next to Yoda.

           “What kind of place is this? It looks creepy to me. Why would you want to live here?” Tom asked the toad-like creature.

           “Long time I have been here. Thinking I have been doing. Wait here, I must. Young Skywalker I must train. A Jedi he is destined to be.”

           Just then, a spacecraft darted swiftly above their heads, crashing into a nearby swamp. Yoda turned in the direction of the crash and started to leave. The rest of the group began to follow, but Yoda stopped them, saying, “Go, you must. Training, we must do.” With those words, he disappeared into the fog. The friends headed back toward the spot where they entered to story and took turns returning through the pages into the silence of the library once again.

           Looking at the clock, Tom realized that the night was nearly over, and they would soon need to get back to their books before the library staff arrived. They each went their separate ways after saying their goodbyes, until all that was left were Tom, Huck, and Alice. Tom asked Huck to go on ahead while he walked Alice home.

           They arrived back at Alice’s book about her adventures in Wonderland. Tom leaned over to give Alice a kiss, but before their lips could meet, Alice felt a tug upon the hem of her blue and white dress. She looked down and staring up from the hole in the book was an odd-looking man with white hair and buck teeth dressed in purple and gold with a large purple stovepipe-style hat upon his head.

           “It’s teatime, Alice! Come along now. You mustn’t be late.”

           “I will join you shortly, Hatter,” she said to the strange man.

           “I suppose I must go, Tom. It was lovely seeing you again. I hope we can get together again soon.”

           “You can count on it, Alice. I will call on you the next time it is safe to come out, okay?”

           “Splendid. I will be looking forward to it,” Alice replied before leaning quickly forward and kissing Tom on the lips. Her cheeks reddened as she dove headfirst into the rabbit hole and headed back home. Tom went back to join Huck on another adventure down the river on their raft.

           Huck sat silent for a moment, then asked Tom, “I know you got this thing for Alice and all, Tom, but do you think if you and Alice get hitched and move away somewhere, will we still be friends?”

           “You can count on it, pal. Ain’t nothin’ gonna keep us apart. We will be friends for life.”

           Huck just smiled and laid back on the raft, soaking up the Missouri sunshine.

           Back in the real world, the library staff began to arrive. As the head librarian turned on the lights, she dropped the books that she was carrying. The floor of the library was covered in muddy footprints of various shapes and sizes, including what appeared to be pig’s feet.

           The police were called, and an investigation was done, though the police found no evidence of a forced entry and no footprints or unusual fingerprints near either exit. The police officer assured the librarian that it was likely a bunch of kids who hid inside the library. He asked if anything seemed to be missing, but she could not see anything out of place except for the novel, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” which was laying open on the ground. As the librarian bent over to pick it up, she could have sworn that she heard running water and boys laughing, but she pushed the thought out of her head assuming that the stress of the vandalism was making her mind run amok. She set the book back on the shelf where it belonged, carefully lining it up evenly with the books on either side. As she turned and walked away, the book inched forward ever so slightly. By the end of the day, it will be in position to fall once again, for everything that is printed on paper could be words to live by.