Tell The Story –

Rory, aka A Guy Called Bloke, has tagged me to follow up in this challenge of “Tell the Story’ which was created by The Eclectic Contrarian .

Above is his image for Tell The story.

My story for this image:

Ten year-old Obi was a quiet child who was often bullied in the schoolyard because he preferred sitting under a tree with a book at recess rather than kicking the soccer ball around or chasing the girls. He’d been called bookworm, four eyes, sissy, scaredy cat, and worse many times. Because he was a non-violent sort and hadn’t a clue on how to respond to them, eventually the bullies gave up and went on to stalk more lively game. By then, Obi lived in his books.

Obi’s favorite place in the world was the library. It was a mere block from his home. He was able to visit through all seasons. He was well known to all of the librarians. Sometimes they would give him small chores, such as scanning the desks and the floors for wandering rubber bands or wiping up near the door when wet boots tracked rain and snow in. Obi’s favorite job was to help decorate the seasonal bulletin boards throughout the large library. Being allowed to help out made him feel a part of things – which he was.

One day Minnie, one of the librarians, said, “Obi, we have a wonderful special event coming up in a couple of weeks. There’s a traveling scholar who will be bringing his King Arthur Collection of books here and will be giving a special lecture about it. I need your help to make the bulletin boards look extra nice for it. We are asking for a small donation from those attending the lecture, which will be used to buy King Arthur themed books.”

Obi, Minnie, and Katie, another shy bookreader from Obi’s school, who had also, over time become a library helper, worked every afternoon all that week to get the bulletin boards looking just right.

Finally the Saturday of the lecture arrived. That morning, around 10 a.m. Professor Longhair McGowan arrived in a deep purple hearse, wearing a long green silk cape with a matching wizard’s hat. The professor’s name suited his hirsuteness, as his hair was long as was his beard. Professor McGowan looked very much like Gandalf in the Tolkien books. He talked and acted so much like him Obi and Minnie thought they were dreaming! As he had driven such a long way, Miss Perkins, the head librarian, escorted him to her office, where a lovely tea and biscuits had been prepared for him. He was most grateful, and his deep green eyes twinkled in thanks.

The books the professor brought were contained in seven wooden suitcase-sized, peg-assembled boxes. Although the boxes looked extremely heavy, when Minnie and the other librarians carried them in, they remarked at how lightweight they seemed. Each box had an engraved number on the top of it; they arranged them by number on the long table at the back of the stage. The lecture was to begin at 1pm.

Professor McGowan exited Miss Perkins’ office then inspected his boxes to make sure they were set up properly. All eyes were upon him as he nodded his approval. Then the professor made a statement in a deep, melodious voice, “Thank you all so very much for your warm welcome and delicious refreshments. We have a little time yet before the lecture, and I’d very much like to have a walk around your town. Would someone care to volunteer to walk with me?”

Mr. Pekoe’s hand shot up quickly, as Mr. Pekoe was thrilled at the idea of walking and talking with such an academic and interesting fellow. King Arthur was one of his favorite topics and he had worked hard to convince Miss Perkins to bring the professor there to speak.

The professor stated, “We shall return at 12:45pm. One word before I go: please stay away from the books. They are quite old and quite valuable for many reasons. Thank you so much. See you in a bit.”

Professor McGowan and Mr. Pekoe walked out of the library and into the warm sunshine and blue skies of summer. The rest of the librarians scattered to finish their preparations for the lecture. The door to the auditorium closed behind them. Soon it was just Obi and Katie left by the stage, staring at the boxes…..

Curiosity got the better of the children and they crept slowly closer. There were no locks on the boxes, just simple brass clasps, easily opened. They knew how to handle books and were very careful with them. One little peek wouldn’t hurt. They went to box #7 and opened it. In it they found some volumes with gold embossed engravings on them and others more worn looking. Obi very carefully lifted six of them out. He and Katie sat down on the stage to look into them, as none of the books had words on them. Each picked a volume. As soon as Obi began to open his volume, an unholy screeching came from the other books and there was a loud POOF sound. Looking over the children saw a cat-sized, scary-looking green dragon, wings opened, on the books and beside them a small crown, sword, and shield.

The dragon spoke in a voice that would melt stone and said, “OK, which one of you is going to be a hero today?”

THE END!

Now I am supposed to challenge 3 bloggers:

Kevin at What Words May Come

Jordy at Desert Rose

The Dark Netizen

Guidelines … Create your own Tell The Story around the image below, then select three bloggers of your own and add your own image to complete the tag. All you need do is create a tale, story or poem. Have fun!