
#74
I find myself deep in the heart of a strange library, miles from civilisation, searching for a book about string. But the shelves are bare! Oh what cruel fate is this, to have come so far, to have braved so many perils all in vain! I swooned. I think I swooned, anyway. Come to think of it, I'm not exactly sure what a swoon is. I suppose I could have looked it up, seeing as how I was in a library, but the swoon section was miles back. Oh, this was all too confusing, so I decided to sit down and have a Twix instead. Yum yum.
That's when I saw it. The book, I mean. That's when I saw the book. I had missed it before because it was lying flat on the shelf, but now I saw a gleam of light from the illuminated fire exit sign reflected on its spine. I reached out for it excitedly - it was a book called All About String and, coincidentally, it was all about string. It was all there: there were chapters on the history of string, the chemical composition of string, the part string played in the Apollo moon missions. There were even string recipes. And - oh joy of joys - there was a chapter entitled 'What to do with Eight Thousand Feet of String'. I turned to it quickly. It said: 'Put it in a drawer. You never know when it will come in handy."
I closed the book with a thump, choking on the big cloud of dust that it created. At last, I had an answer to my question! All I needed now was a drawer big enough for eight thousand feet of string. I sighed contentedly and leaned back on the shelf behind me. There was a click, a rumble and the bookcase slowly began to slide open...