The Experience of Being Alive

Chapter Thirteen

While Binny appreciated Katniss' apology from the previous night, she woke up determined to make some changes in the way she conducted herself. Letting Katniss get her in trouble was the thing that bothered Binny the least about the last few days.

While Binny had been wowed by all the cool things that you could do in the Stacks, somewhere in the pit of her stomach they felt like they had been designed to distract.

The Stacks were like a picture where Binny could only see the edges. Michel's unhappiness. Katniss' disaffected attitude. The Keepers' ban on creative acts in the Stacks. And of course, what happened to characters in the Stacks when people in the real world stopped reading their books, all painted this picture that Binny couldn't quite understand.

Mostly though, Binny just had a feeling. All this freedom. All this possibility. Binny was able to visit in any book, every book, and experience everything. But it all felt so shallow – so two-dimensional, so pointless? Something wasn't right. And Binny needed someone she could trust. Someone she could talk to.

Effectively, Binny saw her parents pretty much every day. But in here, in the Stacks, she never saw them. Katniss had said it would be impossible to find them. But every time she wanted to find a book, the Stacks provided. Why was finding people any different than finding a book?

Binny had to admit. She wanted to talk to her parents. She wanted to see how they felt. They would be just as new to the Stacks as she was. Certainly they would have an opinion, perspective. At the very least they would listen.

But if Binny couldn't just hope to see them, how would she find them? Perhaps a special request? Something told Binny that was out of the question. Places? Yes. People? Not so much. Binny thought as she dressed, and walked to work with the girls.

And then, with just a couple of minutes before it was time for Binny to pop back into her book, the outline of an idea formed. While Binny couldn't special request a person, she could special request a place. And what if Binny requested a place where one of her parents would likely be?

Binny's mother might not be the right candidate. She was always so busy working, Binny had no real idea what fictional place she might want to visit. But her father, he was another matter. Somewhere superhero related of course. But that presented other problems. Superheroes were found in comic books and movies, not necessarily in books.

"Hey, quick question," Binny asked Hermione and Arya.

"Hurry, I'm about to go in," Hermione said.

"So, this place, the Stacks, all of us come from books, right?"

Hermione looked impatient.

"So do comic books count?" Binny asked.

Hermione's expression went from impatient to disgusted. "Comic books?"

"I've seen some good ones with me in them." Arya said.

"So they count?" Binny said excitedly.

"They certainly do not," Hermione harrumphed.

"We can read them here, but they don't count. Maybe there's some other place where they go, but the characters from comics don't come here." Arya said.

"Oh." Binny sighed.

"What could you possibly want with the cardboard cutout characters from those anyway?" The questions was clearly rhetorical as after Hermione said it, she promptly popped into The Half-Blood Prince.

"Don't mind her. I like comic books. I don't think there's anything wrong with them. I for one would love to spend some time in Frank Miller's Gotham. I'm pretty sure I could be the new Robin. But unless that version gets a novelization, I don't think it's in the cards." Arya popped into her book as well.