The Experience of Being Alive

Chapter Twenty-Four

“That’s ridiculous. There have always been Keepers and there will always be Keepers. One, Two, and Three.” The Queen shouted.

“Oh the numbers. Why must they be named with numbers?” The King was yelling as well.

“Looks like you’ve found your ancient citizen of the Stacks after all, and he was right under your nose the entire time.” Gandalf chuckled and pointed at Binny’s nose as he spoke.

“We need to find someone from a book that came out before yours Michel.” Binny said.

Hermione made a face but said nothing.

“Do you know of any older books?”

“Dickens, Voltaire, there are plenty.” The King said.

Gandalf gave Azaz a surprised look. “I didn’t know you read.”

“I’m the King of all the words. Of course I read. I should be the King over the Keepers if I’m being honest. Which I am. Being honest that is.”

“Ha!” The Queen laughed hard.

“That was their reaction as well.” The King said morosely. “I for one, wouldn’t mind a place where there were no Keepers.”

“We’d have to go back in time for that.” Binny said.

“And to think, maybe that boy and his dog would have been useful in that regard.” The King mused.

“I’ll explain it later.” Binny said quietly to the others.

“But maybe time travel isn’t a requirement after all.” The King said. “I have an inkling.”

“You have an idea?” Binny said.

“I was referring to these black birds that fly around my kingdom. But I also have an idea.” The King said. “There was a time, many many years ago when I made a special request to visit the Doldrums to inspect the outskirts of my kingdom.”

“The place where nothing happens.” Binny said excitedly.

“Exactly. It’s just outside Dictionopolis.”

“At least you get to visit your kingdom. I’m limited to the banks of that damn river!” The Queen complained to no one in particular.

Azaz continued as if the Queen hadn’t spoken. “And when I asked for it, I thought mine would be the only instance. But there was another instance. I asked the Keeper – I refuse to learn their names – if I could enter it, and they said, that it was private.”

“You can have a private space?”

“Apparently so. I asked if I could have a private space and was told, unequivocally, no.” The King fumed as he remembered the incident. But afterwards I got to thinking, who would get to have privacy.”

“I thought about it for a long time. I had also, on a separate note, wanted to meet some of the characters from some of the older books I had read. Dickens, Voltaire, etc. But I could never find them.”

“It’s almost impossible to find people in the Stacks.” Hermione insisted.

“True, but back then, there weren’t as many of us here.” Gandalf said.

“None of you were here when I arrived.” The Queen said.

The King continued, “And it occurred to me that perhaps, these older characters were hidden away in some of these private spaces.”

“But they’re private!” Arya complained. “How are we to find them?”

“Looks like you have your work cut out for you. Which saves you the trouble of having to find a pair of scissors.” The King said, with a look of satisfaction on his face.