scene 52

[charmedillusion]

You know what's strange? Certain visits to the library, that's what's strange. Not that the act of visiting the library is ever strange, but when you've spent the entire summer doing much less reading than you thought you would, and you choose a book, and it ends up being entirely not what you expected

Comments

[livingmyths]

Oooh! Sounds like a really good book!

I work here at the library and sometimes I get so caught up in the books I forget to go home at night!

[livingmyths]

Good! I like company. Long as there aren't too many people.

Oh gosh, I'm no writer! I just like to read. I didn't get much schooling, what with moving on all the time.

I don't remember very much. I was kind of really little. And I don't like to remember most of it.

[charmedillusion]

And you like books. We're going to get along just fine.

But you probably could, if you tried! Have you ever at least tried to write it all down, even if it doesn't sound like a story?

I'll stop. Promise.

[livingmyths]

I bet we are!

Oh no, no, I just listen to stories. Or read them. I leave it for smart people to write them.

Okay. Thank you.

[charmedillusion]

Definitely!

Oh, but I bet you could. I think it'd be a wonderful story, too. Something to think about, at least?

[livingmyths]

It'd all come out wrong. But if you want I can think about it a little.

[charmedillusion]

Think about it a little. And maybe a little more after that.

[livingmyths]

Maybe. But I think people would just laugh.

[charmedillusion]

Oh, I don't know about that. I wouldn't.

[livingmyths]

Maybe...

[charmedillusion]

...Maybe you'll think about it some more? Good!

[livingmyths]

So what do you do here? Do you have a job or go to school or something?

[charmedillusion]

You'd think I'd have started working, wouldn't you, seeing as I've been here since December. But no, I actually haven't started working yet. Though if I did, I'd want your job. Working in a library is probably the second best thing I can think of.

But when I'm not reading, I'm usually wandering around the City or making sure my roommates stay out of trouble. We just moved, so there's still lots to do and arrange around the house.

[livingmyths]

You like being in a house? Are your roommates nice?

I always kind of sometimes dream about being normal, you know? And living in a house and having friends like that. The way you read about in books?

But I don't think I can.

[charmedillusion]

I do, and yes, they are. I don't know if you've met them already, but their names are Lucy, Peter, Caspian, Edmund, and Susan.

I think most other people would envy you - I know I always read books about people who didn't have ordinary lives and envied them. Legends and stories make the real world so dull in comparison.

Why do you think that?

[livingmyths]

Oh, I think I just talked to Lucy! She and Peter are going to come into the woods with me one day.

It's not so pretty as it sounds. Living on the street, watching other people get sick and die or overdose. Never having enough to eat...

I'd be scared. I need lots of doors and a way to still see the stars all night and if there were too mny people it would make my head hurt 'cause I would be trying so hard not to listen to what they were thinking.