Peter Goes To The Library ...

"Whew! I'm all wet. It's raining cats and dogs out there."
"Great! Can you get one for me?"
"One of what, Kimmy?"
"A cat or a dog."

"Where will I get a cat or a dog in this kind of weather?"
"Did you not just say that it is raining cats and dogs?"
"I did, but that's only an expression."

"What is an expression dad?"
"An expression is a statement that adults use to describe a situation."
"Do you know any other expression?"

"No, but I could tell you a story."
"Does it begin with Once Upon A Time?"
"Yes it does."
"OK, I'll get my blanket and meet you by the fireplace."

"Once Upon A Time ... there was a little boy named Peter."
"Ohh! This is my favorite story, go ahead dad."

Peter lives with his family in a small cozy farmhouse in Central Ontario. He has three friends; Tom the cat, Freddie the frog and Jack the rabbit. They love doing things together and sometimes get into lots of trouble.

Tom is spoiled rotten; he is allowed to spend most of his time sleeping in front of the fireplace until the gang is ready to play. Today started with bright sunshine but the rain came down suddenly and it is now too wet for them to play in the backyard.

After breakfast, Freddie said, "Since it is so wet outside, we should go to the library today." Peter's dad was very pleased with the idea and offered to drive them there.

When they arrived at the library, Johnny was sitting at a small table in the far corner of the room. He was well known for teasing the kids at school and was always playing mean tricks on Peter. With a quick huddle, Peter and his friends agreed to stay away from Johnny.

Jack the rabbit was the first to find a book; it was a collection of short stories. He wanted to read about the Hare and the Tortoise. Freddie the frog found the next one; it was a colorful book with beautiful pictures.

The picture on the cover was that of a pond with a cute girl frog basking on a large lily pad. Jack and Freddie took their books to a table across the room from Johnny.

Tom the cat was somewhat undecided until he remembered the recent magic show at school. He went to Nicole, the librarian, for help to find a good magic book. They found three books and Tom took them to the table where Jack and Freddie were sitting.

As he sat down, Freddie's eyes popped out of his head when he saw Peter coming towards them with a large pile of books. Peter was almost at the table when he tripped on the mat and his books about trains and planes went flying in every direction.

Nicole rushed over to help but found that Peter was only slightly bruised on one knee. She sighed with relief and Peter vowed never to carry so many books again. Across the room, Johnny laughed loudly while Peter's friends picked up the books and placed them on the table.

After a short while, Peter and his friends settled down to read. Freddie was admiring the cute girl frog on his book cover when he started daydreaming about being in that pond with her. It felt so real to him that he actually jumped and fell off his chair.

Johnny laughed out loudly again and Nicole had to remind him that silence is still the golden rule in the library. Jack was reading the story about the Hare and the Tortoise while Peter was quietly reading about trains and planes. Tom was busy looking through his magic books.

Suddenly, Tom slammed his fist on the desk and said, "Yes! I found it! I found it! According to this book, it is very easy to make things disappear. Here is the spell to make a pen disappear ...

Look at the pen, think of the magician on the cover of the book and say Ala-ca-zoo, Ala-ca-zee, then sneeze twice and say Ala-ca-zoo, Ala-ca-zair, please make this pen disappear."

Peter looked up slowly and asked, "Is that it? Will it work?"

"Yes! That's it!" said Tom. "This spell will make things disappear and the spell on page 47 will make them reappear. But wait! Listen to this note from the magician! This spell was created to make things disappear. Please do not use it to make people disappear."

"Hmmm! That's a great idea!" said Peter. "What! What is a great idea?" asked Tom.

Smiling, Peter said, "We could use this spell to make, you know who, disappear."

"No! No!" said Jack. "We can't do that! The magician clearly said, do not use it to make people disappear!"

"Sshh!" said Peter. "We don't want everyone to know! And, if it works, we'll just use the spell on page 47 to make him reappear."

"But, but what if something goes wrong Peter? What will we do?"

"Nothing will go wrong Jack; just trust me!"

"OK Peter, you could do it but don't count on my help!"

Tom said, "Remember, we have to look at Johnny and think of the magician for it to work. We'll begin at the count of three ... 1, 2, 3."

While looking at Johnny and thinking of the magician, everyone except Jack said, "Ala-ca-zoo, Ala-ca-zee." Then, they sneezed and said, "Ala-ca-zoo, Ala-ca-zair, please make Johnny disappear!"

With a loud poof, Johnny disappeared and Peter declared, "Yes! This makes me feel so good." Peter, Tom and Freddie were very excited but poor Jack was shaking with fear. He said, "This is too much for me, I want to go home!"

Using his cell phone, Peter let his dad know that they were ready to go home. Meanwhile, Tom anxiously flipped through the book looking for the spell to make Johnny reappear.

He found page 40 and started counting aloud while flipping through the pages ... "41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 48, 49." Panic-stricken, Jack said, "48, what happened to 46 and 47?" Tom flipped backwards and nervously declared, "It is not here; pages 46 and 47 are missing! The spell to make him reappear is not in the book."

Jack's eyes filled with tears; he looked out the window and asked quietly, "What do we do now? Should we ask Nicole for help?" Peter replied in a hushed voice, "No, no, no! We can't do that. No one must know about this! The three of you should go out to meet dad while I try to find another copy of this book."

Tom and Freddie ran to the door and out to the waiting car; they climbed into the back seat. With tears streaming down his face, Jack followed slowly while quietly saying, "Ala-ca-boo, Ala-ca-bee, please make Johnny reappear!"

When Jack reached the car, he wiped away the tears from his face because he did not want Peter's dad to know about their predicament. He quietly joined Tom and Freddie in the back seat and continued trying different spells to see if one of them would make Johnny reappear.

Meanwhile, back in the library, Peter was frantically searching through the shelves. He even knocked over some books during the search. Finally, in quiet desperation, he went to Nicole and asked for help to find another copy of the magic book.

She used her computer to check the library's electronic catalogue for the title and said, "Sorry Peter, we only have one copy of this book but, if you wish, I could request a copy from another library. It will be here in two or three weeks!"

"Two or three weeks!" he exclaimed. "I need it right now!" Just then, he remembered his dad and the others waiting outside. Peter thanked Nicole for her help, hurriedly checked out the book and ran to the car. In an anxious tone, Tom and Freddie asked, "Did you find another copy of the book?"

But before Peter could respond, his dad asked, "What book? And why do you need another copy of it?" Peter though for a moment, then calmly held up the book and said, "We want an extra copy of this magic book to learn some tricks." In unison, Tom and Freddie said, "Yes, yes, we want to learn to do magic tricks."

Peter's dad knew for sure that something was wrong but he did not know what it was. Jack was still trying different spells when Tom quietly suggested that Peter ask his dad for help.

Peter did not like that idea at all; he responded by shaking his head and staring at Tom who was absent-mindedly fanning through the book when a folded page fell to the floor. Jack picked it up and shouted, "Page 47, this is page 47!"

With a great sigh of relief Peter grabbed the page and read the spell aloud, "Ala-ca-roo, Ala-ca-ree, Ala-ca-zoo, Ala-ca-zair, please make Johnny reappear!"

Peter's dad said, "Ala-ca-who? What is this all about? And, who is Johnny?"

Pointing out the window Jack shouted, "Stop! Stop the car dad! Johnny is on the train track and the train is coming!"

The car screeched to a stop; Peter's dad jumped out and rescued Johnny just before the train whizzed by them. Johnny remembers being in the library but could not explain his presence on the train tracks.

Jack was still terrified but he was glad that it was now over and said, "We certainly had our fair share of magic today."

"Today!" exclaimed Peter. "We had more than our fair share of magic for a lifetime."