The Prince and the Pauper

The golden, morning sun drops, blanketed through the window and lit up the small library, glowing like an old fashioned kerosene lamp at dusk. The metallic words along the spines of each dusty, ancient book glistened bright yellow. A crystal, dangling in front of the clear glass, swung side-to-side with the gentle breeze creeping through the slightly ajar window. With every swing of the crystal, a brief flash of one hundred miniature rainbows dotted the golden room.

 I stretched my arms above my head, and the story I had been reading tumbled down onto the floor. I’d fallen asleep half way through a page the night before. I quickly retrieved the book, and as I attempted to straighten the crumpled pages, I struggled to recall what the last chapter I had read was. Figuring I could skip parts I remembered, I slid my bookmark into chapter thirteen. I glanced over at the fire place, and saw the old embers fading away, while one small piece of wood was engulfed by a small, flickering fire.

I ran my fingers through my short, scruffy, dark hair. Tired eyes gazed back at me, from my window reflection. Their green blended with the wild grasses behind my mirror image. I could spot the wild flowers peering out from the long grass, adding colour to the otherwise plain scenery. I lay back down in the crimson window seat, letting sleep pull me down.

Outside, I could hear the birds twitter their ‘good morning’ tune to the rest of the world, while the kookaburra’s laughter echoed across the land. The crisp scent of eucalyptus wandered through the window, reminding me of every adventure I’d had in those woods. As the birds became silent, I could hear the distant creek bubble through the rocks, and one memory surfaced of a day that changed my life.

***

“Kaden, Come on! I want to show you something!” Alex called from a small boulder at the centre of the river.

Carefully, I bounced from one rock to the next until I reach him. Below he pointed to a collection of eggs floating on the surface of the water, surrounded by a dam of rocks. They looked like jelly, but also like bubbles. I reached down to touch them, curious about what they felt like.

“Hey! Don’t touch them,” he swatted my hand away, “You might hurt them.”

“What are they?” I asked. I hadn’t ever seen eggs like this before.

“Frogs. I wouldn’t know what type though.” Alex lent down and picked up a red gum leaf, floating along the water.

“How do you know that?” I raised an eye brow at him.

“Books. I love to read,” he explained, “Everything. Everything from fiction to fact.”

I didn’t particularly like to read, I thought it was boring. So I asked, “Why?”

“Why not? There is so much to learn from reading, so many places to go and so much to see.” Clumsily, the leaf fell from his hand back into the stream.

“Why don’t you just go there and see it for real.” It seemed much more exciting to do that, than read a book.

Abruptly, crimson flooded Alex’s cheeks, and he looked away. What did I say? I didn’t mean to embarrass him, I just thought it was the obvious thing to do. Did he feel stupid for not thinking of it?

“I-I’m sorry.” I offered.

“No, no! It’s not your fault, it’s just that…”

“What?”

“Well, my family doesn’t have as much money as you do. So we can’t afford to go to the places I read in books.” This explanation only made him more ashamed and shy. Quietly, he hopped from the rock onto another.