The Bringer of Stories

The Bringer of Stories

Matilda walked slowly along the main street. She was tired after a long day at school and browsed in the shop windows on her way back home. There was not much to get excited about, she knew them all and they always looked the same to her. Today she felt sad. The results from the latest math’s test were not good and she knew her parents would not be happy. It did not help how hard she tried, her marks never seemed to improve.

When she came to the corner, she saw an old bus parked by the curb. It was painted in bright colors and there were kangaroos, koalas, cockatoos, possums and lots of trees covering the entire bus. There was something written along the top in big black letters but she could not make out what it said. The letters did not make any sense to her. She was dyslexic. She wanted to learn to read more than anything in the world and was envious of her younger brother who always had his nose in a book. It seemed that her teachers and parents had given up on her a long time ago. She was ten years old and had still never read a book.

A woman wearing a long green dress covered with little pink blossoms was standing outside the bus. Her long hair was tied up in a pony tail under a red velvet hat and Matilda could see long dreadlocks hanging down on her back. She was barefoot and when she smiled, she showed the whitest teeth Matilda had ever seen.

-        Hey there, she said looking straight at Matilda. Lovely day, isn’t it?

Matilda paused in her steps while she looked curiously at the woman. She had been taught not to speak to strangers but this lady seemed nice and besides there were lots of people walking down the street so she was not alone.

-        Hello.

She greeted her shyly and looked curiously in through the open door. It was an old bus, something from another time. There was a step leading into the bus and it looked like there were shelves in there full of books. A white cockatoo caught her attention as it was sitting on the side mirror starring at her with big dark eyes.

-        Hello! Hello! Hello, it said.

Repeating the words three times and she could not stop herself from giggling.

-        Don’t mind George, he gets a bit silly at times but he loves people. Especially if you talk to him.

The woman stretched out her hand to let the bird climb up on to her arm and it continued up to her shoulder where it settled while it continued to look at Matilda.

-        There, I think he wants to get to know you.

She leaned forward so Matilda could reach the bird.

-        You can pat him on the head with your finger. He likes that but be careful he doesn’t bite, he has a very strong beak.

Matilda had only ever seen a cockatoo once in the zoo when her mother took her and her brother for a visit. She remembered how startled she was when it began to talk to her.

-        Hello cocky, hello cocky, he said.

She wanted to touch him but was too scared and watched when her brother carefully scratched it on the head with his finger. The bird raised its yellow crest and stepped from one foot to the other, as if he was dancing.  

George stood perfectly still and Matilda moved closer. She hesitated for a moment before stretching out her hand to touch his head. The bird instinctively bent his face down as if he wanted her to continue stroking him and she carefully moved her finger over his yellow crest. The top of the feathers felt soft and she watched as he closed his eyes.

-        Ooh, he likes that. You are his friend now he will be happy to sit like that all day.

The woman laughed loudly throwing her dreadlocks over her shoulders. She looked at Matilda with bright blue eyes.

-        I am Emily by the way, what’s your name?

-        Matilda.

-        Matilda, that’s a pretty name, just like the song.

She began to sing with a soft clear voice.

-        “You come waltzing Matilda with me….”.

And so it began, starting on that day, a long and deep friendship that would take Matilda on a magical journey through the world of books and change her life forever.

Emily owned the Magic Book Bus and visited the small towns in the country that did not have libraries or access to books. She stayed for a while so people could come and borrow or read a book, or perhaps just have a chat. The collection was big and there was sure to be something there for everyone. Quite often people did not know what to look for but she tried to find out something about them and from what she learned she was able to recommend a book that might be of interest. She was the bringer of stories, the window to the bigger world out there, a travelling library.

Matilda came to see her every day after school and Emily was only too happy to read a story or a chapter from a book. She told Matilda about the world and about all the places you could visit even if it was only in one’s imagination.

-        You can even go to the moon, she said while she took out a book with a big white moon on the cover.

-        The moon?

Matilda was curious as she opened the book and looked at all the pictures of the moon and the planets beyond.

-        Yes, it might be a little bit further away but you can still go there.

They sat on the red velvet cushions which covered the worn wooden bench, sipping cold lemon cordial. Matilda felt like she was treated as an adult for the first time in her life. Somebody seemed to take her seriously, it felt special to sit in the bus with Emily and all those wonderful books and all her troubles at school started to disappear. George was always there, sometimes sitting on Emily's shoulder or he sat quietly on the mirror out the front watching people walk by.

Matilda chose the books by the covers. She could not read the titles, the words got mixed up and sometimes she read a word backwards. It embarrassed her in the beginning but she relaxed when she realized Emily was not going to make fun of her mistakes and she could even laugh at the made-up words.

-        Where shall we go today?

Emily watched as Matilda searched the wooden shelves for that one book that was going to take them on today’s journey. She had seen it before, how parents and teachers did not have the time to give to a dyslexic child and she made it her goal to try to help her.

-        Paris!

She knew about the Eiffel Tower from school and here was a book with a picture of the tower on the cover. She dusted the book as Emily had taught her to do and they sat down together. Matilda closed her eyes and listened to Emily's soft gentle voice. It was not long before she could see the streets of Paris and the bright lights of the city, the canal with the houseboats, the artists quarters on the hill and she could hear the music drifting up from the cellars. She never knew there was so much more to discover in Paris. She could even feel the Mona Lisa’s soft smile looking back at her. Emily read about this wonderful city as though she was really there, her thin silver bracelets rattled like little bells when she turned the pages. Matilda felt the excitement in her voice and she loved the scent of sandalwood drifting through the bus. It was a wonderful mysterious place. The world out there had now arrived and nothing would ever be the same again.

As time went on Matilda overcame her shyness of speaking in front of the class and was happy to be asked to talk about places of interest. She had also learned a lot about the native animals and started to dream of what she wanted to do when she grew up. She wanted to travel, paint and she wanted to work with animals.

Eventually Emily moved on but she returned occasionally to the little town to visit Matilda who grew up to be a very determent young lady. When times were tough, she remembered the happy moments in the Magic Bus, the words, the sounds and scents, the smell of real books and she always remembered Emily and George who taught her there was a world out there to be discovered.

Today Matilda ties her dreadlocks up in a pony tail as she picks up the sketching pen ready to paint another canvas. She pauses, lost in her thoughts before she sketches the outlines of a big old bus.

-        Yes, she murmurs, let’s go to Paris!

There is a tug on her skirt and she looks down at the little girl standing beside her.

-        Mum, what does Paris look like?

Matilda turns to the canvas.

-        Wait, and I will show you.