The Library Imp

THE LIBRARY IMP

“Attention patrons. The library will be closing in ten minutes. I repeat, we are closing in ten minutes. Please move to the checkout desk as soon as possible. Thank you for visiting the library.”

Leon jumped up and down. He was so excited. He loved closing. That meant that he was free to explore, explore, explore everything—all the books, all night long. He jumped atop the bookshelf in the corner, waiting until the library was his.

Leon watched from his hiding spot as Mrs. Danvers—his favourite librarian —turned off most of the lights, leaving the front panel on for security, and walked out the front door, locking it behind her.

Leon nimbly jumped to the ground and started towards the fiction section, then changed his mind. The Children’s section—yes, that was where he was going to go tonight. He loved all the really interesting “friends” he met in the children’s section. Those were the fun books. No blood and gore—although he did enjoy a bit of mayhem when the mood struck him. No, tonight, he wanted the innocence of the children’s section.

He ran over to the “M“s, and pulled out Winnie the Pooh. He tapped on the spine of the book and fanned the pages downward. Out fell all the characters—Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Rabbit, Piglet, Kanga and Roo, Owl, and Christopher Robin. The figures plopped to the carpet gently—well as gently as a character can when being evicted from their book.

At first they looked confused, then they realized that Leon had summoned them again.

Rabbit walked over to Leon, placing his hands on his hips and said, “Leon! I have to let you know this is not as much fun as you think it is!”

Leon smiled. He did like Rabbit, but just not as much as the other characters. Rabbit always complained. And he was a bit of a bully, to boot.

”I’m sorry Rabbit, but I miss seeing you all. I love your stories about the Hundred Acre Wood. You have such interesting lives. I just live in the library.” He sighed dramatically.

”Oh Bother!” said Pooh. “You’ve made Leon sad, Rabbit!”

”What about me?” questioned Rabbit, turning to look at Pooh. “I’m pretty sad, too! He just picks up our book and dislodges us from our home! Any time he wants!”

Christopher Robin stepped forward, peacemaker that he was. Looking at Rabbit, he said. “We weren’t really doing anything important right now.” He looked at Leon. “And it’s nice to visit the library. We don’t have a library in the Hundred Acre Wood. All the books here are so interesting!” He smiled.

Roo hopped forward. “I love coming to the library! I get to see all the books and hop around on the carpet, and use the … the … you know, those machines that show you everything?” He looked at his mother.

”Computers, Roo. Computers,” said his mother, Kanga, smiling.

He smiled brightly. ”Right! Computers! I love the computers!” He hopped toward the bank of computers at the back of the library.

Leon followed Roo. He liked the computers, too, but he had to be careful which computer Roo used, because they didn’t want anyone from the outside to see them. That exact bad thing had happened before when The Cat in the Hat had been in the library. Cat was so mischievous and behaved so badly that Leon had known that inviting him out of his book was a mistake. Even when Leon told Cat that he couldn’t use the main desk computer, Cat had poo-pooed Leon and had started tuning switches and jumping on the keyboard. At just that time, a police patrol had happened by, and noticed the the computer light dancing in the dimly lit room. Leon had to run to get his book, force Cat back inside, turn off the computer, and run and hide himself. The police had wandered around the library for most of the night! Leon would never make those same two mistakes again—using the computers close to the window, and inviting the Cat in the Hat into the library.

Leon set Roo up in one of the dark corners of the library, and returned to the group. On the way back, he grabbed The Tale of Peter Rabbit and tapped Peter out beside Rabbit. Rabbi scowled first at Peter then at Leon.

”You know, he’s only going to get into trouble, don’t you?” tipping his head in Peter’s direction.

Leon shrugged. “Then you’re going to have to take care of him for me!”

Christopher Robin spoke up. “Leon, do you think Charlotte could visit tonight? And you know, Fern, as well?”

Leon smiled. He knew that Christopher Robin really only wanted to see Fern. He saw how blushed when she spoke to him.

”Oh, oh, oh!” said Piglet, jumping up and down. “You could invite Wilbur, too!”

Charlotte’s Web was a good match with Winnie-the-Pooh. And Leon knew that Piglet missed being with other pigs.

“Oh, oh, oh! And Babe he continued. Then his face darkened. “But not the three little pigs. They’re mean.”

Leon couldn’t argue. He went back to the book shelf and pulled out the other books. He also grabbed A Busy Day For Birds, knowing that that Owl loved to just fly around the library, swooping and turning with all the other birds.

When he got back, Leon asked Kanga which book she would like see her friends from.

She smiled at him. “Oh, I’m fine, thank you, Leon. I’m just going to help Roo on the computer,” and hopped away. That left Eeyore, Pooh, and Tigger. Leon asked.

”Oh,” said Pooh, “Corduroy The Bear. He is such a good friend. And Paddington! He’s such a lovely bear, with his blue coat and smashing red hat. And maybe a cookbook with delicious honey dishes, of course. Playing does make one hungry. For honey!” Pooh rubbed his tummy.

Leon looked towards Eeyore. ”The Wonky Donkey. Maybe he’ll make me smile,” said Eeyore. Leon wasn’t so sure. Eeyore’s face was still as long as ever. Leon wasn’t sure anything could brighten up Eeyore, but thr retrieved The Wonky Donkey from the shelf.

That left Tigger. He smiled at Leon. “No book for me! Let’s just you and me play!” And they did just that, bouncing and hopping all over, playing tag and hide-and-seek, jumping from one bookshelf to another.

All the characters played throughout the night. Christopher Robin stopped blushing and seemed to be less shy around Fern. He and Fern talked and walked around the library. At one point they were standing beside Kanga and Roo, watching videos on the computer. Charlotte had climbed between two bookshelves and spun a web with the word “fun” woven into the middle. Everyone got along.

But Leon noticed that the sun was starting to brighten the sky.

”It’s time, everyone!” he yelled. All the characters ran to their books. Leon opened them, and rubbed his hand across the page, and each character jumped back into their book, disappearing into the words and letters. There were a lot of characters, and a lot of books. Leon quickly returned the books to the shelves, turned off the computer, and made sure everything was as it had been when Mrs. Danvers left the previous evening. He had to hurry—he knew she would be opening the library very soon. He had no sooner finished, when he heard her key in the door. He ran to the back of the library, and just managed to jump up on top of the bookshelf, when she came in, turning on the lights as she entered.

”Boo!”

Leon jumped, and almost fell off the shelf. He looked behind him. There was Tigger, smiling at him.

”Tigger! You can’t be here! Why aren’t you in your book?” hissed Leon.

Tigger just shrugged. “I thought we could play some more.”

Leon’s eyes went wide. There was no way Tigger could stay in the library all day. He definitely was NOT a library tiger.

“Tigger, you have to get back in your book. How can the book be complete without you in it?”

”But I want to play!” whined Tigger.

”No!” said Leon. “You have to get back in your book!!”

”Here you go,” said a voice from below.

Leon almost fell off the shelf, again. Mrs. Danvers was standing right below them, Winnie-the-Pooh in her hands. She held it up to Leon. He opened the book, rubbed the page, and scooted Tigger back into the story. He handed the book down to Mrs. Danvers.

“You knew?” he asked.

She smiled. “Of course I did. I’ve always known. You’re not my first library imp. Just my favourite.”

She smiled at him, and he knew in that moment that everything was going to be okay.