A. C. Ward
Published: 2019-08-11
Total Pages: 412
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The librarian smiled and pointed, "You'll find it over there, on the third row, second shelf from the bottom on the left side.""But you don't even know what book we're looking for, " Charlie said."You're looking for the book titled, 'Are Dragons Real?' are you not?" she sternly questioned."Why yes, but how did you know we would look for that book?" Charlie frowned."I know because I expected you," she said.Charlie assumed, at that moment, she meant that she knew they were searching for information on dragons. Later, he would not be so sure he was right.He took hold of Allison's right hand and Brian by the left hand and started toward the rows of bookshelves.The elderly lady surprised Charlie with her answers and only then did he begin to question how she knew what they were looking for. He stopped and turned to ask her more about her meaning.She was gone from the desk where they had seen her and they appeared to be alone in the library. Charlie, once again, assumed she had returned to her other librarian duties.Allison broke away and ran down the rows of shelves, touching each book, and singing as she skipped. Brian also ran quickly in the direction of the shelf the librarian had pointed out.Charlie continued to stand facing the desk looking for the librarian."I found it Dad! This is it!!" Brian was beside himself jumping with excitement. Charlie quickly walked down the rows of bookshelves and moved to where Brian and Allison had made themselves comfortable sitting on the floor.Brian was holding a large brown leather book. It was about twenty inches in length, twelve inches wide and little more than four inches thick. The leather had a dull shine to it and had a soft feel to the touch.On the cover was a menacing dragon breathing fire and flying high in the clouds. At the top of the cover was the title of the book emblazoned in gold letters, 'Are Dragons Real?'. At the bottom, in smaller print, was the author's name, 'The Keeper'. Both of the children looked up at their father with wild anticipation. They could hardly wait to open the book and begin the adventure.Charlie sat down on the floor beside them with some effort and discomfort and touched the book. He slowly opened it, perhaps, afraid of what he may see. Brian tried to read the words on each page but could not. He looked at his father, "Dad, what does it say?" The writing was very beautiful. The scroll-type letters were surrounded by graceful illustrations in the margins of each page. Each illustration depicted some scene of a dragon performing some aerial maneuver.The print was not like that made by a commercial print press. Each page appeared to be hand-written by someone with a graceful and unforced hand."I don't know son. It looks familiar, but I can't make it out." Charlie didn't recognize the language but some of the words appeared very familiar.At that moment flash of recognition struck Charlie's brain! He thought out loud, "Could it be Old English?""Daddy look at the pretty pictures," Allison was pointing at a particularly striking print.Charlie looked at the prints but thought that was not really what they were. Each page felt, to the touch and appearance, to be original watercolor paintings on the pages. Each illustration was an individual piece of fine art.Charlie wondered how could a book be hand-written and each illustration painted using contemporary technology? It didn't seem practical to him. For however it was created and for whatever reason, it was a beautiful and almost a magical book, he thought. The book was covered in a fine brown leather. The cover was hand-tooled with etchings on the bindings. A huge dragon graced the front cover and was beautiful to behold.And the adventure to find a dragon began.
