Friday Fiction: ToiBox Edition No. 001 #fridayreads (family, library, stone, push)

Time for something new. Anyone who’d like to join in is welcome, but if you’d simply like to read it, that’s cool with me. Hopefully readers and other writers will enjoy this and even leave me a comment or two.

So here’s Friday Fiction #001 Prompt #2449113142

Topic/Theme: family | Location/Setting: library

Character(s): na | Object(s): stone | Action: push | Random Additive: na

The Story Stone

On a warm day in the distant future a boy cries out.

“Ahh! I’m tired of this crap!”

“Sim, stop whining. We haven’t even been at it that long.”

“May, we’ve been pushing the shelves around for hours. I mean seriously, nobody cares. Why can’t we just stack’m along the walls and start loading them up?”

“You’re joking right? Don’t let Dad hear you talking like that or we’ll both get a lecture.”

“Did someone say lecture? Is it bad that I know that means you guys are talking about me?”

“No Dad, it just means you’re honest with yourself; too bad Sim didn’t get that trait. Have the books arrived yet?”

“Just now; that’s why I’m here to relieve Sim.”

“Oh thank that crazy god in heaven you’re always talking about.”

“Don’t get too excited son. I’m only relieving you so you can help unload the crates of books. May, you think you can handle this on your own for a while?”

“Sure Dad; the dolly is in good condition and everything’s laid out perfectly in your floor plan. I’m good.”

“Come on Simon, don’t look so glum.”

“Aw Dad, you know I hate it when you talk all old and outdated.”

“Well son, that’s why I keep doing it. It builds character and you’ll thank me later.”

“Yeah, that’s what Mom used to say…Wait, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-“

“It’s okay son. You’re allowed to remember your mother. We all are.”

“Dad?”

“Yes May.”

“Do you think she really wanted all this? I mean, what if we got it all wrong and are somehow disgracing her memory instead of fulfilling her dream?”

“Oh honey, I know it’s hard not having any certainty, but I know your mother wanted this library. It was her dream for years, to have a place where people could come to read free stories and escape reality.”

“But Dad, no one else wants this place. No one’s going to come here.”

“Sim, you’d be surprised how many people are just waiting for a chance to hold a real paper book in their hands again. They are secretly excited, watching us behind closed doors, just waiting to read stories of make-believe long forgotten. Besides, we have the stone. It has to go somewhere.”

“Oh my, the stone. Seriously Dad, how are we supposed to get that in here? You, me, and Sim together can’t move that thing. You sure it shouldn’t go to a museum?”

“Don’t worry about the stone. Let’s finish the library and let the stone worry about itself.”

On a cold day in the very distant future a woman exhales.

“I can’t believe we actually made it here. We’re standing only a few meters away from the Story Stone.”

“I told you I’d pull through. After ten years of putting up with me, you deserve the best anniversary vacation possible. Plus you’re always going on about those stories and old books.”

“Thank you Charles, it’s wonderful. Aren’t you excited? I mean look at this place.”

“Yes, Susy, it is quite remarkable. Where do you think they found all these books? And what’s up with this stone? Why is there a line just to see this stone?”

“Oh Charles, you never listen when I talk, do you?”

“Honestly Susy I try, but you’re always talking about books. No body reads books anymore, not even the digital kind.”

“Well, thanks for enlightening me. In case you care to know at some point, the stone is a bit of legend.”

“What kind of legend?”

“The magic kind. Apparently this library was started by a woman who wrote some kind of grant about the value of books, but she died before the library was ever built. The story goes that the woman was studying some old ruins and was killed by the stone. The ground shook, the stone rolled, and she was caught in this path, but she didn’t die instantly. It’s said that while she lay under the stone, waiting for someone to find her while slowly suffocating, she noticed the words on the stone.”

“The stone has words on it?”

“Yes, now you’re interested aren’t you? It turns out that the stone had a story carved into it in a language that’s long been extinct. However, since the woman was some kind of scholar, she could make out most of the words. She wrote down as many as she could before died.”

“Well, then what?”

“Well, then her body was found and sent home to her family. It was her husband who found the notes written on paper in her pocket. No one really knew what to make of that paper since no one actually writes on it anyone, so it was collected and included in her personal effects when she was shipped off. Aside from writing as much of the story as she could on the paper, she also wrote a note to her husband. She told him to find the stone and bring to a place where people could escape reality.”

“And so he brought it here and built this library. That’s kind of sweet actually. The only thing I wonder about though, is how they got it in here. It’s so big; they must have built this place around it.”

“Well Charles, my darling, that’s the real kicker. No one knows how it got inside. There’s no record of a crew or any special equipment being used to move the stone inside, but there are plenty of records showing that the building was completed before the stone was placed here.”

“That’s just silly and a little creepy. See Susy, that’s why people don’t read anymore. It creates silliness like this…Oh well, looks like were next in line to see your precious Story Stone.”

“Yes we are and I’m so grateful.”

969 words

Friday April 3, 2015 – Prompt #055372151
Topic/Theme: hate | Location/Setting: station
Character(s): humanoid alien | Object(s): na | Action: guide | Random Additive: na

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords