37 MENDING
He crashed into bed the moment he got home and did not wake again until noon. As soon as he did, Christian dashed about the Book House, showering, dressing, wolfing down a breakfast much larger than the tea and muffin he usually had. Then he scrabbled in the kitchen drawers to look for a notepad and a pen. A list, he had to make a list. What did he need?
Food, of course, but what else? He ran a hand through his hair, mussing it up in a way that made him look like a scarecrow, but he didn’t notice. What had he thought of last night? Oh, yes. Pillows and a quilt so Minerva would be more comfortable, although it occurred to him that in the daytime she would be a marble statue lying on pillows and covered in a blanket. Oh, well. No one was going to see her anyway, and maybe (if she could feel things when in statue form) she would be more comfortable.
He worked for half an hour on his list of provisions, and when he was done this is what it said:
Nonperishable food items
Gauze bandages and scissors
Pillows and blankets
Matches
Rope
Washrag
Rose bushes and topsoil
Tent
Cutlery and cookware
Tea kettle and bags
Change of clothes
Pocket handkerchief
Books
Any other person might have looked at this list and crossed off several unnecessary items, but Christian spent several extra minutes mulling it over and wondering if he should add more. He had never been camping before; he thought it was a good list.
Books, a tea kettle, bedding, scissors, and cooking utensils he had, but he had never needed rope for anything and, try as he might, he could not find the matches he thought he had. He took a bus into London to buy the supplies he lacked. By late afternoon, with the help of a man and his daughter who had seen Christian falling off the bus with his load, the topsoil, rose bushes, tent, paper bags full of groceries and gauze, tea kettle, change of clothes, and books were all loaded into the wagon from his shed. He packed pillows and the extra quilt from his front closet around everything. The rope hung on a hook beside the front door; the matches were in Christian’s trouser pocket and the pocket handkerchief in his shirt.
He sent off a message to the head of the accounting department to say an emergency had come up and he would be out of work for a week or two. He felt guilty about it, but after all (he told himself sternly), it was an emergency and he really would be out of work for a while. Then he went to the reading-room and attempted to fill the strange cavity in his chest with the words in his books.
But though he tried six different novels, he found himself unable to concentrate on any of them. He set them aside and instead moved about the house, feeling restless, straightening and tidying endlessly to kill time until sunset.
He went to his bedroom for the clothes he’d worn the night before but paused at the sight of the garden gnome on his bedside table. It had been there since his second night in the park, when it had presumably climbed into his pocket as he sat with Minerva. He should bring it back. The park was not safe, but surely the garden gnome would at least appreciate being brought back to life.
Christian took the garden gnome out to the wagon and then returned to his bedroom. His clothes from last night lay on the floor, crusty with sweat and covered in dirt and blood. He had stripped out of them and thrown them aside before his shower. Now he picked them up to put them in the wash, but not before feeling the pockets for leftover items. From the front right pocket he pulled out his copy of The Hobbit, now more battered than ever. It looked worse than he had realized last night. The edges of the pages were burnt. The cover had disintegrated, as had the first several pages (a long and boring forward he felt he could live without) and the last (Bilbo’s return to Bag End, which he wished had survived). It needed binding or it would fall apart completely.
He dug about in his closet for the book-binding materials he had acquired over the years: binder’s board and glue, Bristol board, a craft knife, cloth, a bone folder, decorative paper and waste paper, a weight, a straight edge, and thread. He had not had occasion to use them in many years, as he hadn’t needed to scrounge in scrap-heaps for books since he was a teenager, but he had brought them with him whenever he’d moved, packing them into closets just in case.
He sat at the kitchen table with the book and carefully cut away the remainder of its spine so he could make a new one. This was, he thought as he traced a new spine onto the Bristol board, the most delicate book-binding he’d ever needed to do. None of the books he’d found in people’s rubbish bins as a child had been in such poor condition, their pages curling at the edges and almost dry enough to crumble to dust in his hands. Those books had always been in decent shape. Perhaps their covers suffered from water damage or their spines had peeled away, but the pages were always whole, always legible.
Christian traced a front and back cover on the binder’s board and cut them out with the craft knife. The familiarity and steady quietude of the work calmed him. Books would never change, no matter what freakish things happened in the world. And yet—He spared a glance out the window behind him as he glued the new spine and covers to the cloth. The world did not look like any freakish thing had happened. The neighbor he could see from his kitchen was nosing about in her shed for the lawn mower, now that the day had cooled. A robin hopped about in the grass. And somewhere across the street, Minerva lay on her pedestal with a missing arm.
The roar of the lawn mower cut through the evening air. The smell of exhaust drifted through the window. Christian wrinkled his nose and bent over his book.
He was so absorbed in his work that he did not notice when his neighbor finished mowing her lawn and went inside for the night. When he finally looked out the window again, he saw with some surprise the sky was dark.
Christian closed the book, slipped waste paper between the covers to keep the glue from leaking onto the pages, and placed the whole thing between weighted boards to set. Then he hesitated. He was supposed to let the book set for at least a day; otherwise air bubbles would form and it would not dry properly. But he needed to leave, and he wanted to bring it with him.
He carried the whole contraption out to the wagon. Then he went back inside, grabbed the rope from its hook, locked the front door, and pulled the wagon across the street.
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137,507 Literary Works • 672,040 Reviews
Timmy here!!
I have missed another day! Or was it just a morning... I forget. Anywho, here I am now, ready to
killreview this piece.This chapter seems like the slowest one so far, focusing on the minute details rather than the big picture. There are so many little things that you draw the reader's attention to in this one, the mending of the book, the list he makes, etc... But I think that's a good thing! It brings the piece down for a moment, and allows the reader to take a breath. After all, this tenseness can be rather stressful!
There were a few things I noticed that I thought were inaccurate, or just didn't seem right:
One thing I noticed, and didn't particularly like in this chapter, was the excessive use of lists. Not Christian using the lists, really. That was fine, and I liked the break in the work where all there was was one list running down the page. That was neat. It was the use of he grabbed, this, this, this, this, this, this and this that seemed overdone, since you do it several times throughout the chapter. A few of them I think belong in there, especially the one where he was getting off the bus and everything went blooey all over the place. That was humorous and an amazing visual. I think where he is getting the stuff to mend the book--that is where it might be overdone on the listy side of things. Can't you just state that he went and grabbed his stuff for mending the book, and perhaps describe one or two of them, but not an incredibly long list? I dunno. It just seems overkill for me.
Nope. Doesn't really happen. I run push mowers several hours a week, and I never smell exhaust. Ever. I don't know if its the brand I use or whatever, but I haven't had that happen. No. wait. I have it happen on rare occasion, right when it starts up initially (like when I have swamped the engine with fuel). It depends on the size of the mower, of course, but I don't think it would have that kind of an impact, even if it did have a little bit of exhaust, especially if its the neighbor's yard. That means it has to travel a long ways to get through the window... Now I am just rambling on, so I will leave you there. xD
I really liked this part. You are just describing everything that he was thinking and seeing, almost like its just a normal observation. Yesh, this is happening. This is happening. Oh, and Minerva is over there, like this. I love how almost every thought seems to drift back to her. He has really fallen for her big time, mesa thinks!
I loved this chapter. It sets a nice scene for the beginning of the action ahead, the trip back into the park, and back into the magical world. I can't wait to get started on his real adventure. I love this. <3
~Darth Timmyjake
by Team Rocket.
Hi, I'm back. *noms dinner* yes I had to get food. Must stay brain-nourished on Review Day.
Wait. . . . Ronin? He's gonna be in this chapter!!! *Dances*
You need a comma after "low"
Well that was fast xDDD
Umm that ending was kind of awkward. It didn't really feel like a chapter ending. I suggest you changing it to something more resolved.
Now, as for this chapter, the beginning was confusing. At first I thought that it was the fair, and then you made a comment that made me think it WASN'T the fair, but then it DID end up being the fair Maybe you could try to make it clearer?
That'a about all I have to say for this chapter. I'd love to see what Ronin will be like at dinner (he just cracks me up) and to finally meet Morrow!!!!!
~Messenger
Apparently the site was really enthusiastic about this particular review. So much so that it posted it thrice!
oh my. I was wondering why I got three likes so fast! hehehe It didn't give me more points. Don't know why that happened.
Hi, I'm back. *noms dinner* yes I had to get food. Must stay brain-nourished on Review Day.
Wait. . . . Ronin? He's gonna be in this chapter!!! *Dances*
You need a comma after "low"
Well that was fast xDDD
Umm that ending was kind of awkward. It didn't really feel like a chapter ending. I suggest you changing it to something more resolved.
Now, as for this chapter, the beginning was confusing. At first I thought that it was the fair, and then you made a comment that made me think it WASN'T the fair, but then it DID end up being the fair Maybe you could try to make it clearer?
That'a about all I have to say for this chapter. I'd love to see what Ronin will be like at dinner (he just cracks me up) and to finally meet Morrow!!!!!
~Messenger
Guess who's back!!!!!!!! MEEEE!!!!!!
Oh, and before I get into the story itself, I', not too keen about your change for the chapter title. I liked the bold. Especially since you have more then one in a post. The bold was more definite. Just my personal preference.
I don't know why, but this section just really read strangely. The dialogue felt weird. Like you were trying to make it seem more wisdomish but it sounded awkward. I can't really place my finger on why, but it did.
I feel that you should add something here about Christian's feeling for being on solid ground again. If he felt so sick flying, then he would probably be jumping on the ground as soon as he could.
I'm going to go now and review the next chapter later. Happy Review Day!!!
~Messenger
The chapters titles are in bold...or they're showing up that way for me, so I'm not sure what's going on with that for you. But anyway, I WAS HOPING TO SEE YOU BACK. <3
They are showing up in a slightly larger font. The older chapters don't have that text though . . . it could just be my laptop. anyway, yes I am back. I waited for Review Day so I could have something to chain-review
I am not leaving till this story is over!
YAY.
Yay! I overtook Messenger!
Anyways! Also Christian managed to find his friends, yay!
Heya Blue!
So this was an interesting chapter! There was a flight and I kind of liked Neva more here too, seeing as he apologized. And he was gracious to Naro in the end, so I guess there is good about him. Though he is pretty lazy
I thought there could've been a bit more with Conrad, although Christian did care for him. I don't know, it kind of felt like he popped in, saw his injuries, fixed him, asked for information and took off. Yes there is no Imelda but wouldn't he want to try and piece what happened from Conrad's point of view? How did he manage to escape with Imelda's wagon and split his leg again. I'll assume he rode the horse and walked or something, but it would be nice to know.
Good old Ronin to the rescue. I am looking forwards to meeting this Morrow; we've heard so much about him. He sounds like a bit of a loner too, and I'm looking forwards to finding out why! Maybe Morrow will tell us what intercepted the fairies portal.
The flight with Neva could be done in a bit more detail too. I understand Christian was frightened (I know I would be) but when he peeked couldn't we get a bit more. This is a totally different world that we don't know anything about apart from what he has experienced so far. It would be nice to see a few things on scenery or questionable creatures from in the air. And the wind, and the clouds and the atmosphere! It would be nice to have a little bit more detail
Okay, I will look at the next chapter if I can later on tonight.
Deanie x
@Messenger better watch out with you on your way to review more chapters! I feel like this should be an official race for which I give out a prize at the end, but I guess to be fair we should let him know first, huh?
He is so going to win >.> He reviews like 40 chapters in a day when he tries lol. But yeah, would be fun! No prize though
It's fine. I'll run out of chapters soon and then I'll have to go and do something else. Or maybe I'll feel able to leave when my team finally takes the lead...
Specifics
1. The turn from fair people to refugees is a very powerful image and yes, that's the first comment I have to make. I really enjoyed the exchange with Neva and I think that all went very smoothly!
2. Wait, why hasn't someone already given medicine to Conrad? Certainly they've been helping him eat and things and taking care of him and if they're all sharing then I find it hard to believe that they haven't seen to his wound before now, but a boy comes along and says, hey, can I have these items and they give them to him? The only reason I can think of for them to not have given them to Conrad is if they were trying to hoard them for themselves, in which case they wouldn't give them up now.
Overall
Wow, I really have nothing to say this time, huh? This was a good chapter. Nice descriptions as usual and an easy flow. I think the only part I took offence to was the implication that they had neglected a man's wound for a week when they seem like such kindly people. Other than that, everything is working beautifully.
I feel that the trip through the forest was a nice sideline, but where's the urgency? Where's the sense of 'oh my goodness, I only have until sunrise to make it to the direst and Naya said it will take weeks, I don't have weeks!' I mean, Neva comes through in the end, but I'm missing the hysterics that Christian should be in before he offers to fly him there. I think that's a really key part to building the tension because instead it just feels like a fun piece of side-tracking and now hey, we're even in time for dinner!
This boy needs an adventurer's urgency. Half the fun of quest stories is watching the hero fret about not getting places on time, when we know that of course he will.
Heather xx
I forgot to comment on how.. odd Neva's appearance is. All the blue. It reminds me of Caesar Flickerman from The Hunger Games. >_> Which makes him look cool, but he's actually not cool- weeeell, he did help Christian out, after all. And I have a feeling he'll be back.. maybe?
I still am dying to know what, or who, interrupted Christian's transportation to the Sunforest, hmmmmm *blames Goblin* *will henceforth blame Goblin for everything*
Finally, Conrad! Oh, my love <3 I have missed him so. I'm sad that Imelda is, presumably, dead, and poor Conrad has been on his own for... how long now? It feels like it's just been a few days, but maybe time flows by slower there or maybe I'm not good at paying attention to details >_> but anyways, I'm glad Christian is there to help Conrad and and-
YOU PROMISED ME A GAY COUPLE. I see nothing. Not even ONE SMIDGEN of a hint towards any gayness here. *squints angrily* I'ma rage-quit this story.
This is getting good <3 I am dying to meet this benevolent Morrow, yush. Bring him forth already. ;D
OH MY GOSH CALM DOWN THE GAY COUPLE IS ON ITS WAY
And you will know them as soon as both of them are onpage together, just trust me.