Lost in a Good Book- A Child's Tale

Rebecca was kneeling beside a lower row of books. Her eyes scanned the shelves for something good, something worthy. What she found was a book labeled "Where's Waldo?" Taking it out curiously, she looked at the man on the front of the book; he had a red and white striped shirt just like her, except his was long sleeved. He also had on a backpack, but while hers was pink, his was brown. Rebecca carried the book to the corner to see if they had anything else in common.

As the book opened, Rebecca heard a loud and resounding :: POP :: and the sensation of being pulled around her middle from the inside. She was thrust into a crowded room full of people. It was like being at a mall, except everyone kept repeating one phrase again and again "Where's Waldo?" and then they bumped into one another like robots.

At first Rebecca spoke with a woman carrying a baby, "Who is Waldo?"

The woman frowned at her, and moved away. Rebecca continued through the mall, trying not to be frightened by the strange people and their weird chant. She ran into a soldier dressed in chain mail, and a gypsy with a crystal ball. No one else thought his or her outfits odd. Rebecca wished she could find someone sensible. Instead she just kept running into people.

Rebecca was busy studying a man with a four-foot ice cream cone when someone shouted: "THERE'S WALDO!!!" there was a stampede as people rushed in her direction. She started to bolt out of their way, but a little boy came to a stop a foot away from her.

"That's not Waldo, that's a girl," he sounded disgusted, and everyone else gave her the same impression as they turned and wandered away. He studied her for a while before speaking again, "Nice costume, I bet you get that a lot."

"UmÂ… not really," Rebecca said shuffling her red sneaker adorned feet. Since the boy seemed moderately interested in something other than finding Waldo, she decided to talk to him awhile. "Who is Waldo?"

"He's WALDO!" the boy said with exasperation. "Everyone knows about Waldo."

Somewhere in the distance someone shouted: "THERE'S WALDO!!" again, and the boy vanished into the crowd. Rebecca turned and ran the other direction. She didn't get the fixation with finding Waldo. She noticed a man in a red striped shirt slinking along a wall. He looked like he wanted to avoid the crowds as well. Rebecca hurried over to him, and reached out to touch his arm.

"You found me!" he said. "You win!"

Rebecca didn't have time to feel elated; she was being sucked back to the real world with that nauseating feeling again. She slammed the Where's Waldo book, she wouldn't fall for that trick again. Sure, it looked cute and fun on the outside, but on the inside it was a disaster!