Jake Mckeegan

A short story that has in some key aspect, a book:

Write a short story that includes a book in some key aspect of the plot, setting, or character development.

“Hello. Yes, I’m talking to you. Don’t get startled. Yes, I am a talking book. Why am I talking to you? I happen to learn more from the people reading me than they learn from me. So let me tell you one such story…”

It was a frosty Tuesday or a Wednesday. I never get told the day. On this particular day, someone came for a book, and they found me. Anyway, this wasn’t a normal person! This was a tall, black-haired kid looking for a book for a book report. I was pretty short (until I grew two inches when my author wrote a new, longer conclusion for me), so he decided to pick me.

Now, as a book, I get very offended when someone accidentally rips my pages or doesn’t treat me with care. But this was different.

RIP… One page down. I wanted to scream, but if I did, I was afraid the boy would discover I wasn’t a normal book. The way that he ripped it though… it wasn’t on accident. He threw my page into the fire. Uh oh. I knew what was happening next.

As a magical book, I can do a few things. I can talk, walk, and doggy ear pages when people accidentally close them. Oh, I can also cast spells.

No, not Abracadabra. That’s lame. That spell only works on rabbits. I was going for something more like… Mutare In Muse! Also known as… Change into a mouse (in Latin)!

He didn’t change into a mouse though. He changed into a dirty, low-down rat. 

I scrambled away and ran as fast as I could. I wish there were a “Make the book run faster” spell, but unfortunately, there isn’t one.

Then, I found my way back into the library. This library.

But I wasn’t alone.

A big, ugly rat ran into the library! 

I needed a plan. I knew that the rat would catch me and tear me into pieces. So I thought, “How could I get rid of a rat?” That’s when I got an idea.

How do you get rid of a rat? You get the exterminators. The one benefit (no offense) of being able to talk to humans is prank-calling when the library is closed, but what if I called the exterminators? 

I looked around. The phone was just a few inches out of my grasp. I almost had it. Then, the rat found me. 

He started moving in. He was running like crazy. Hundreds of books an hour for sure, and I was only a few inches away.

Quick! What do you do if you want to get somewhere that’s high up? You stand on a stool, or a ladder, or a heavy book, or… Wait! A heavy book!

I looked to my left. Nope, only the children’s section. I looked to my right. There! The science section! I ran over, flipped over the thickest book that I could find, and I reached over and called the exterminator.

The exterminator was too late. The rat was still coming. What should I do? Then I remembered what the Latin word was for “make the book fly”. I was about to fly away…

“But then I found you! You scared off the rat.

Please don’t say that you want to do a book report.”

(inspiration comes from “Shelf Life”)