The Bookmobile
Someday, maybe the library will go the way of rotary phones and VCRs… We already carry a virtual library in our pocket. A mobile library. Now add some wheels onto that library and paint it sweet cherry red…you’d have yourself a bookmobile!
Some guys might want a new mustang or a vintage Ford Fairlane, but as a kid I’d have traded either one for a chance to cruise around town in the Kidder County Bookmobile. The only ladies I might've impressed are Elizabeth Bennet or Scout Finch. Probably a muffler backfire rather than the rev of the engine. No pine tree would've been hanging off my rearview mirror—I'd have wanted the full effect of the pungent smell of all those musty pages.
I remember the ceremonial march to the little red truck full of boundless treasure. Come snow or sunshine, we’d go in small groups down the sidewalk from the school to the truck parked at the end. I’d ascend the steps into the mobile world of fantasy that could travel beyond the brick walls of the stationary school library. It was like visiting a foreign country where the settings were exotic and the language was just a little different and there were even more crazy characters than back home.
It was a different world back then. I was probably too young to be reading a Stephen King novel when I opened my first one. Mom hadn’t ever read It or she’d have never let me get to the end at the age I started exploring Derry, Maine. I still remember the delectable anticipation of picking the few books to borrow until the next time the ol’ mobile library came to town.
From time to time, I think back to that bookish boy in the bright red bookmobile, surrounded by books that could take me anywhere in a box van that could take me anywhere. The best of both worlds—I’ve traveled a lot since then, in both a van and in many more books.
I kept that younger me in mind when developing my new fantasy world that starts in Truth to Light. No curse words or tawdry scenes. No clowns in the sewer. No clowns at all. I think if Mom would’ve caught me reading this one, she’d have called dibs on being the next reader in line. I made it accessible enough for any kid who maybe isn’t quite ready for Pennywise while still opening eyes to a world beyond the boring old library on their phones.
Because a real library has wheels, baby.
No comments:
Post a Comment