A Children's Story

Amelia Jones spent a lot of time in the library. It was the only place her mother allowed her to go.

"It's educational" her mother would say. And then she'd say "you don't mind if I pop to the shops for a bit do you? Just for twenty minutes? You'll be safe here. You can learn something. You don't mind, do you?"

And she'd leave.

Whenever a kind-faced librarian asked Amelia "where's your Mum, dear?" Amelia would point to a nearby lady - someone with nice hair or pretty shoes - and say "there she is!"

And the librarian might think how different this little girl's Mum looked this week - in fact she seemed to look different every week. But better not to interfere.

Amelia liked all sorts of books. She liked detective stories, and she did a bit of detecting on her mother. She deduced, for example, that her mother was lying about the shopping, because she never had any shopping bags when she came back. She was also lying about the twenty minutes. Amelia deduced this by looking at the clock, or by hearing the announcement that the library would be closing soon.

Wherever it was her mother went, when she came back she would always ask "what did you learn today, Amelia?"

And Amelia would say "the Romans invented central heating" or "hippos can run at 30km an hour" or "sometimes you can get to other worlds through the back of a wardrobe."

But when she said things like that, about the wardrobe, her mother would get annoyed.

"No, Amelia. That's not educational. That's not real."

Amelia had one very favorite book. She never mentioned it to her mother, because it had all sorts of things in it that were not educational or real. It was about a brave princess, named Princess Ivy, who had lots of adventures. There were dragons in the book, and wizards and giants and mermaids and fairies. Every time she was at the library Amelia would read a bit of this book, and when she finished it she would start again. She kept it hidden at the back of a shelf behind some boring books about road safety, so no one would find it and take it out.

One day Amelia was reading this book when she heard the announcement that the library was closing. She put the book back in its hiding place and went down to the entrance to wait for her mother. She waited and waited.

"Where's your Mum, dear?" asked a librarian, "we're closing soon."

Amelia looked around in a panic, but there were no nearby ladies to point to. Everyone else had gone home.

"She's in the toilet," Amelia said, "I'll go and find her."

Amelia ran to the toilets and hid in a cubicle. When she heard someone come in she put her feet up on the wall so they wouldn't see her.

"She's not here," said a voice, "she must have gone."

"Should we be worried about that kid?" asked a second voice, "she's here so often, and she always seems to be by herself."

"I wouldn't worry," said the first voice. "At least her parents are trying to get her to learn. Most kids this days just play computer games all the time."

Amelia heard the door close. She waited as long as she could, then at last crept out of the toilets. The library was dark. It was quiet. It was empty. When Amelia reached the glass doors that were supposed to open by themselves they didn't open! She tried walking backwards and forwards past the doors and waving her arms about, but it made no difference. She was trapped!

Suddenly her mother appeared on the other side of the doors.

"Mum!" Amelia called through the glass, "I can't get out!"

"Oh dear!" her mother called back, "silly me. I must have lost track of time, and they've closed the library!"

"Can you phone them and tell them to let me out?"

"Oh no, I can't do that. They'll want to know why I left you alone. No, don't worry, I'll come back for you in the morning. You'll be safe here. You can learn something! You don't mind, do you?"

"Wait!" Amelia shouted, "come back! I do mind! I don't want to stay here!"

But her mother was already walking away and couldn't hear her.

Amelia didn't know what to do. First she sat down on the steps that led up to the non-fiction section and cried for a very long time. Then she got angry. She shouted, even though her mother couldn't hear her, "I hate you! I hate you! I never want to see you again!" and she threw some nice, heavy encyclopedias at the wall, pretending it was her mother's head. Then she got scared. It was getting darker and darker, and she didn't want to turn the lights on in case someone saw. Her heart started hammering. There were so many shadows. Anything could be hiding in them. Was she really alone in the library?

There was only one thing to be done. Amelia went back to her hiding place and pulled out her favorite book. She went to the corner of the children's section where there were nice comfy bean bags and sat down. Enough light came through the window from the street lights outside to see the book. She opened it.

WHOOOOSH!!!!

A gush of orange flames burst from the book, followed by a thick cloud of white smoke. Amelia dropped the book in astonishment. It fell open, and something began to crawl out from the page: something big and green and scaly! A dragon!

Amelia hid behind the nearest bookshelf and watched as the dragon lumbered off towards the travel section.

When she turned back to the book she saw someone else climbing out of it - a girl in a silver dress, with a diamond tiara on her head and a sword in her hand.

"Princess Ivy!" Amelia exclaimed.

The princess watched Amelia emerge from behind the bookcase.

"How do you know my name?"

"I've read your story over and over. It's my favorite book!"

Princess Ivy looked confused, but she said "never mind that now. We've got a dragon to kill. Do you have a sword?"

Amelia didn't.

"Well, never mind, I always carry a spare, just in case. Here."

And she pulled a sword from her boot and handed it to Amelia.

"But I don't know how to kill a dragon."

The princess looked amazed. "At your age? Well, it's time you learned. Come on!"

They ran after the dragon, following the sound of its roars and the smell of smoke. They hid behind a stack of cookery books and watched the creature pacing the aisles, snorting flames.

"Why don't the books catch fire?" Amelia asked.

"I don't know. It doesn't make sense," Ivy said.

Amelia wondered if it was because the books were from her world, and the dragon was from Ivy's - but before she could say this out loud the dragon was heading straight towards them!

"Now!" Ivy shouted, and Amelia ran, sword out, towards the dragon. The flames may not burn the books, Amelia thought, but they might burn me, they feel hot and real enough. And look at those sharp teeth!

Wham!

She was knocked sideways by the dragon's huge tail. She scrambled to her feet just in time to see Princess Ivy getting knocked the other way. Already the tail was swinging back towards her, but she ducked it just in time.

"Aim for the heart!" the princess shouted, "you can see it glowing through the skin!"

Without stopping to think Amelia thrust her sword up towards the red, glowing patch on the dragon's chest.

There was a deafening hissing noise, and white smoke filled the whole room. Then the smoke cleared, and there, where the dragon had been, was a little grey pile of ashes.

Amelia ran over to Princess Ivy and helped her up.

"Are you alright?"

Ivy grinned. "You just killed your first dragon. You'd better keep that sword. They come in handy from time to time."

And Amelia did.

When her mother came the next morning she asked "what did you learn last night, Amelia?"

Amelia said "I learned how to kill a dragon."

Her mother sighed and made a disappointed face. "Amelia. That's not educational. That's not real."

But, as they walked out of the library, Amelia smiled to herself, and patted the sword hidden under her coat.