22 november

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This story is dedicated to my friend Evelyn, who is right in the middle of the story, and my friend Daniel, who is in a different story at the moment.

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On Monday, Melissa and Evelyn decided to go to the library.

“Where’s Daniel?” Melissa asked. “I thought he was coming with you.”

“He’s not coming today,” Evelyn told her. “He’s asleep.”

“Well!” said Melissa, and off they went.

When they got to the library, Evelyn slid the books they had already read into the book-drop at the front desk.

“Let’s go downstairs now, okay?”

“In a minute,” said Melissa. “Let’s walk around a little and see what they have up here.”

“What kinds of books are these?” asked Evelyn, pointing to some shelves.

“All of these books in this whole part of the library are true,” explained Melissa. “These books right here are biographies, so each one is the story of a real person’s life.”

“Oh, that one’s Obama!” Evelyn reached for a book on a high shelf. “Can you get me that one?”

Melissa pulled the book down from the shelf. “You’re right, there’s a bunch of them! Here you go. And oh, here’s another one—this one’s written by Barack Obama. He wrote it about himself, so it’s an autobiography.”

Evelyn opened the book and flipped through the pages. “So many words! How did he do it?”

“What do you mean?”

Evelyn looked puzzled. “I mean, how did he get all those words there?”

“Well, he wrote them! It’s all true, so he wrote the words down, then rewrote them again and again to make them better, and other people helped, and then they got it published!”

Evelyn still looked puzzled.

Melissa continued. “Anyone can do it! You could do it! You could write a book! You and I could write a book together!”

Finally, Evelyn closed the book she was holding and handed it back to Melissa, announcing, “It’s too many words for me. Can you put it back?”

Melissa sighed, and put the book back.

They walked through the biographies, then stopped to look at the travel books. Evelyn wondered if she would like to visit Antarctica, and Melissa decided that she would like to visit Australia.

“They have picnics for Christmas, you know,” Melissa told Evelyn. “Their seasons are opposite from ours because they are on the other side of the world!”

“Okay, maybe I’ll visit Australia, too,” Evelyn decided. “I think maybe Antarctica is too cold.”

Finally, Melissa and Evelyn left the non-fiction section and went looking for some music and some children’s books for Evelyn to take home to Daniel.

When they were leaving the library, Evelyn said to Melissa, “You know, we really could have our own book.”

Melissa smiled. “Do you think so?”

“I think so. I mean, right? And it could be true? And we could tell our own stories?”

“Definitely,” Melissa agreed.

“Let’s do that,” Evelyn said.

“I’m in,” Melissa said.

“Me, too,” Evelyn said.

… And so they did, and here they are, because this, friends, is non-fiction.