Linda awoke with a start. She felt a brushing on her arm. At first she thought it was a nightmare. But she wasn’t sure. She groped around blindly in the dark until she felt her nightstand. She felt the familiar cord on her lamp, and pulled it, instantly covering her room in warm light. The only difference about her room was the book on her nightstand. She picked it up and began to read. She had already read the first story. It was about a boy, named Archie Smith. She started on the second story. It had a picture of an angry man beating a lump under a rug. She giggled, and was curious about what happened next. But she felt tried. She turned off her light, put the book next to her, and drifted off to sleep. She had fitful dreams about creatures …show more content…
Linden took a deep breath. “Not many people know this, but my real name is Peter, and my last name is Wenders. My middle name is Linden, so I like to be called Mr. Linden. A long time ago, a strange man came to this very library. It wasn’t a library then. It was the main building of a company that published books for children. I was in charge of picking the books and stories we would publish. Anyway, one night, a strange man knocked on my door. He introduced himself as Harris Burdick, a traveling magician and a budding writer. He gave me fourteen drawings with captions, and said he would be back the next day to bring me the stories. But he never returned. For years, I searched for him, but never found him. Our company was using money faster than we could bring it in. We went out of …show more content…
“Years after that, I had plenty of money from the sales of Mr. Burdick’s book. I only took 10 percent of the money, which is a standard publishing fee. But it was enough to retire and buy the building that my old publishing company was in. It was always my dream to own a library, so I turned it into a library. Just when I figured it was time to lead the quiet life, Mr. Burdick arrived at my door, furious as can be. At first, he was mad that I never gave him his money. So I wrote out a generous check, so that he could take the money out of an account I was saving for him. I explained that his book sales had been off the charts, and that I had fulfilled his request of not giving him any credit. But, then he got mad about that! He said that he had changed his mind and wanted me to give him the credit. I told him that if he wanted we could publish another edition of the book, with the true story about his work, but he was still furious. He pulled out a glowing orb from his pocket, said some strange nonsensical words, and threw it at my books. He told me that he had cursed my books, and that I would never be able to leave my library. That part is true.” For the first time he looked sad. “I can never leave this library, except to grow food in the backyard. As much as I love books, they don’t do well as companions. I can order new ones from my computer, but that’s about it.” Linda was speechless. But before she could