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A Visit to the Library
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Huckle's mom needed to find some books on gardening, so she decided to go to the library. Huckle was very excited about joining her
"May I take out some books too?" he asked.
"Sure, but remember when we are inside the library, you must behave and be very quiet," his mom instructed.
"No problem," said Huckle confidently.
The they drove to the library, and when they reached it and walked in, Huckle whispered, "See, I can be very quiet."
But as soon as he said that, he tripped over a step and landed on his knee.
"Ouch!" he yelled.
Everyone in the library turned to look at Huckle.
"Sorry," apologized Huckle. "I was so busy being quiet, I forgot to look where I was going. You may all go back to your reading."
Huckle's mom checked his knee, and when she saw he was okay, she told him to go to the children's section and to chose a few books to take home.
"Oh boy," thought Huckle. "This should be fun."
In the children's section, there were many books. There were books on dinosaurs, sports, animals, puppets, and stars. There were books with fairy tales, legends, silly stories, poems, and riddles. Huckle was so excitied to see all the different types of books and he started to pull them all off the shelves as fast as he could.
"Boy, I want this one, and this one, and these, and...no, not this one-I don't see any pictures, and this one."
Huckle piled up many, many books.
"Now how can I carry all of these home with me?"
He looked around for a box, but all he could find was a garbage can. The can was empty, so Huckle decided to use it to hold the books.
The children's librarian came over to where Huckle was, and was she ever mad when she saw Huckle putting books into her garbage can!
"What are you doing young man?" she asked angrily.
"Choosing books to take home with me. I hope you don't mind if I borrow your garbage can. I don't have any other way of carrying them all."
"Wow, that is a lot of books. You may not want to take them all out at once."
"Why not?"
"You should just take enough home to read for a few days. Later on you can return them and then come back for some of the other ones."
"They looked so good. I was ready to read them all!"
"Well, why don't we pick out a few for you."
The librarian helped Huckle pick out his five favorite books, and they put the rest of the books back on the shelves.
Huckle's mom arrive right when they were finishing.
She asked, "Have you found some books?"
"Yes, and we won't need the garbage can!"
Huckle's mom looked confused, but she just said, "Good. Let's go check them out at the front desk."
Huckle thanked the librarian for her help and walked with him mom to the front of the library. He handed his books to the man that was standing behind the big desk. The man scan the books. He had a special stamper he used to mark the receipt with the due dates. Huckle quickly put his hand out and got it stamped.
The man laughed, "I guess your mom will have to bring you back here on that day."
"You mean she will have to return me too? Where will I go?"
"I don't know. You look too big to slide through the return slot."
Huckle saw the slot on the side of the desk. He stuck his arm in it as far as it could go.
"Nope, I won't fit. Even if I push really hard. Only my arm fits. Nothing more...oh, oh."
"What is wrong?" asked the man.
"I'm stuck!"
Huckle tried to pull his arm out, but it would not budge.
"Oh, no," said his mom. "What are we going to do?"
The man tried to help Huckle pull, but his arm remained stuck.
"Maybe we should blow the hole open with some dynamite," Huckle suggested.
"Don't be silly," said the man.
"I guess not. That would make too much noise. How about getting some termites and letting them chew the wood around the hole?"
"Huckle, try twisting your arm," said his mom.
Huckle twisted his arm, and he found he was able to pull it out.
"Hurray!" shouted Huckle. "Now let's go home, so you can read me my books."
Silly Huckle was so excited that on his way out he grabbed the wrong books.
When they were home, Huckle's mom said, "What strange books you chose: Plumbing for Beginners, Faucets and Pipes, and The Handyman's Guide to Drains."
"Ugh! Those are not my books! I must have picked up the wrong ones. Now what are we going to do?"
"We can go back tomorrow."
But Huckle opened the books and was thrilled to find pictures.
"These will do for tonight," he smiled.
He has dreams about being very quiet while sliding through giant drains with garbage cans full of books and slots that kept trying to eat his arms. It was a fun night.
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