Pablo was a ten years old boy like many others. He liked to play with his friends. He liked to play soccer. He liked school … sometimes … and he liked to learn new things, all the time.
He felt a bit sad because he didn’t need to wear glasses and he was glad he was no longer wearing a retainer.
That day his teacher had given a weekend assignment that required some research at the library. Given that the library closer to Pablo’s home was closed over the weekend, he decided to go right after school.
He texted his father to let him know that he was going to be home at about 7, right in time for dinner.
“Oh, no! My battery is about to die.” He thought. “Not a big deal.” He thought again. “I don’t need to use it ’till tonight”.
Then he got on his scooter and pushed for the few blocks that separated the school from the library. Once he got there he folded the scooter and placed it in a hidden corner he knew, between the door and the librarian desk.
“Good afternoon, Ms. Cynthia” Said Pablo getting in. Ms. Cynthia was the librarian, a nice old lady that knew Pablo very well. Ms. Cynthia was apparently very busy helping a few customers and didn’t notice Pablo.
Pablo went right upstairs, in the history section and without much difficulty helped himself finding a book about Cheyenne. His assignment was about the Native American studies that his class was doing. He sat down in a corner and started to read.
His favorite corner was right by the second floor emergency exit. There was an extra bright light right in top of the exit and Pablo enjoyed it because it made his reading easier.
This book must have been a very good book because Pablo was immediately immersed in how life was for a Cheyenne many years ago. He didn’t pay any attention to the many people that came and went by him, picking books and bringing books back.
Before he knew it he was already mid way through the book. A sudden stomach growl took his attention away from the book. Only at that moment he realized that it must have been late, he was very hungry.
“Time to go.” He thought. “I better hurry, they have already started turning the lights off and I want to check out this book”.
As he walked in the hallway he bumped a bit against a shelf and a book fell off. Pablo stopped to pick it up. The book was a bit dusty and looked very old. He could not read the title, so he blew the dust off, and as he was about to put it back on the shelf he realized that the book title was “The Adventures of Pablo”.
“Interesting” He thought. “I will check this out too.”
Downstairs it was dark and Ms. Cynthia was not at her desk. “Oh no! She already turned off the computer, I’m not going to be able to check out the book!” He thought. But it was then that he realized that nobody was around and that all the lights were off. Well, except for emergency lights.
He ran to the library door. It was closed!
Pablo was locked inside the library.
“Oh, no! What time is it?” He asked himself. The large clock in the main hall said it was eight o seven. The library had been closed thirty-seven minutes before.
He reached for his phone, but the battery was fully gone and the phone had turned off.
“What am I going to do?”
“I’m locked in the library and I can’t call for help.”
“My dad must be getting worried.”
“What to do …” He thought.
He ran around Ms. Cynthia’s desk and picked up her desk phone. “Please enter the security code.” A mechanical voice said.
“1,2,3,4” Pablo tried.
“Security code invalid, please try again”.
“What could it be?”
“3,3,1,1,0.”
“Could it be the library address?” Pablo asked himself.
“Security code invalid, please try again”.
Pablo tried a few more combinations but the sentence coming from the phone remained the same: “Security code invalid, please try again”.
Pablo slammed the phone. He was getting frustrated.
He turned on the computer on the desk. “I could email my dad.” But once the computer turned on Pablo saw that it required a password to be entered.
Pablo then walked upstairs. “There is a public computer.” He remembered.
The computer was there and there was no need for any password, but Pablo quickly learned that the Internet had been turned off in the building.
He started walking toward the windows to see if he could signal something to people on the street. As he walked he dropped the books that he was holding. Pablo could not help but stopping: the pages of the book that he had picked up, the one titled “The Adventures of Pablo”, were mostly blank!
He picked it up and looked, only the first few pages were written. He looked and read the last written paragraph.
The paragraph said: “His father went to look for Pablo by the library but found it closed, he looked around, tried again to call him at the phone, then left to look for him elsewhere.” Was the book telling what was happening?
Pablo didn’t know what to think but dropped the book and ran to the window. From it he saw his father downstairs looking around, the phone to his ear.
Pablo banged the window but his father didn’t notice, he could not hear it, the second floor and too far away. Pablo’s father left, obviously going to look for him somewhere else.
“My father is looking for me! I need to let him know that I’m in here … somehow …”
But then, immediately Pablo mind went right back to the book.
“It must be a coincidence”. Pablo thought.
He went back, picked up the book, and started to read it. No, it was not just a coincidence. It could not be just a coincidence!
The book described exactly everything that had happened so far. By reading the book Pablo learned that his dad had called a few of his friends before going out to look for him. And Pablo also learned that his dad was heading to their friend Rita and her daughter Beatrice. They were going to help. That is what the book said.
Yes, since the last time Pablo has looked at the book a number of new sentences had appeared.
“This book is writing itself as things progress!” Pablo said out loud.
He ran downstairs and then back up. Picked up the book again and the book reported that he had ran down and up.
“Should I be scared?” Pablo wondered. He left the book open and looked away from it. Then looked back! A new line had been added.
“This must be a dream!” Pablo decided. “Let me just calm down and I will wake up!”
He calmed down. But he did not wake up. It was not a dream.
He referred back to the book and learned that his dad had now also called on the police. And that two neighborhood policemen had joined the search.
Pablo had tried everything. The “security exits”: were not exits at all, but they surely were “secure”. Apparently once the library was closed the doors were locked.
Like a maniac Pablo now was running all over the place to check this or that and trying to find a way to communicate with the outside world. And at any thing he did he went back and checked what was reported on the book.
In all this activity he suddenly had a doubt.
Pablo went straight for his backpack and picked up a pen, then grabbed the book. Pablo sat down and started to write.
“If this book has written everything that happened, everything that is written must happen,” Pablo said with a determined voice.
So Pablo wrote: “After finding the library closed, Pablo’s dad stopped to think. Where can Pablo be? Would he go out of the library and not come home? No, Pablo would not do that; he must be still there. Pablo’s dad ran back toward the library.”
Pablo ran down toward the street level windows. From the windows he saw his dad and two officers arriving in front of the library. This time Pablo banged on the door with all his force, and the people outside heard the noise.
“This is officer Fred Amato”. Said a voice from the other side of the door. “Is there anybody inside?”
“I’m Pablo.” Screamed Pablo. “I’m locked inside!”
Pablo explained through the door that he had lost track of time and had not realized that the library was closing.
In a matter of minutes the police somehow got Ms. Cynthia to come there with the keys and soon Pablo was out hugging his dad and crying.
Pablo and his father went home and the police remained there to write a full report.
Officer Fred went and looked inside and as he walked he noticed 2 books left on the ground. One was about Native Americans. The other was a bit dusty… He could not read the title. He wiped it and read the title. “The adventures of Fred.”
THE END (For now)