“Are you sure this is the place?”
I pointed to Zah’s backwards signature.
Nobody was around, so we jumped the fence and descended the litter-strewn stairs.
The door cracked open.
“Yes?”
“We’re tourists looking for the Hope Diamond.”
“The Smithsonian is in Washington.”
“But Della wore the diamond.”
“In the rough… neighborhood.”
“Mr. Rodger’s sent us.”
“Come in.”
Yes, the code was silly, but both sides needed to be careful. A slip would be death.
The hall was cluttered like the stairs, but a door opened to a bright room.
I stood and stared at all of the real books.
***
word count = 100
Friday Fictioneers is hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. This week’s prompt is here and uses a photo by @ Roger Bultot. If you want to join or see other stories, go to the inlinkz linkup.
Trent's World (the Blog) 
Perfection! And … may all the banning of books by those who prefer history not be taught and people remain ignorant of science and blinds to good literature, not lead to your story becoming fact …
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I do hope this stays fiction! Thanks.
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Amen!
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I love this, nice misdirection and I didn’t see that ending coming.
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Thanks, glad you liked this little story. Hopefully I won’t have to go to a speakeasy to get a good book any time soon ;)
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Codes and bright atmosphere. We went down a similar route. Nice!
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Yes we did. A slightly different experience on the other side of the speakeasy entrance…
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Slowly my library is being sold, now perhaps I know where the books are ending up.
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Perhaps someone is hanging on to all of those paper books we are selling, giving away and (gasp) tossing (yeah, nobody wants my paperback computer books from the 80s and 90s) and eventually those people will be the only ones in the world left with real, paper books…
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I wouldn’t be surprised if this comes to fruition. Even my mom got rid of most of her real books when I got her a Kindle.
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It is possible we will go all electronic. I was an early adopter of the Kindle and read few paper books for almost a decade, but now I am back to 100% paper, so I would risk going to this library ;)
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Love it!
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Thanks!
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A hidden library… good one. Sadly, it may come to that someday. Hope you have a great week, Trent.
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As things move to 280 character texts, possibly… Thanks, I hope you have a great week :)
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It was a nice surprise! Loved the story.
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Thanks!
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I’m with Tannille, a lot of effort to get in…that library might have more surprises perhaps. Nicely done :-)
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It is a lot of effort, but I am taking this as a time when there are no more paper books, so any book is a surprise. Thanks.
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Yes, and very well written of a time no one wants to come. Long live books!
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OOh I love a library, but we only have two in worcester now, several municipal ones shut and we’re left with a couple of biggies. I think we still get a mobile library visiting the village, but it could be a work off fiction…
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Oh oh, with libraries diminishing like that, pretty soon you may have to search one out like the one in this story. My village has a small but very active library. It is part of a state system, so huge number of books available, even if the library is small. It is just across the street from my house, which is nice.
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Sounds heaven
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Yes :)
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I think they did acoustic gigs at one point in the Worcester library, now it’s probably a warm bank such is the nature of things
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Oh, I LOVE this! My happy place :)
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Thanks! I think a place with books is the happy place for quite a few of us Friday Fictioneers :)
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True. I love the header Danny James uses–that wonderful library. At least, I THINK it’s his :)
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Yes, it is a great library in that photo. I think you are right, Danny James, but not 100% sure.
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I found it–yes, it’s Danny James :)
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Mr. Rogers knows where to send us. Books, books, and more books. And rain. And coffee. But what an entrance! :-)
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Mr. Rodgers does know. If nothing else, that entrance will keep the merely curious out and let only the real book lovers pass in. And hope there is good coffee back there…
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Very clever of him. :-)
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I wonder what’s in those books? That’s a lot of effort to access a library.
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They could be banned books, or possibly (my original thought) just books after everything is reduced to an electronic 280 characters only read on phones. Yep, a lot of effort.
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Banned books sounds like fun. It has that breaking the law element. 😀
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Yes
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Be hard to remember the codes. Fun read!
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It all makes sense in a free-association way, so hopefully harder to break than to remember. Thanks!
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So sneaky & fun.
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Thanks :)
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I wondered if anyone would use the grafitti in their story. The day will come. This is a vision of the future.
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I hope it isn’t a vision of the future, but when people seem to not be able to pay attention for more than 280 characters, well…
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I do believe our brains are being rewired by electronica. Thankfully older brains aren’t as pliable to change. I do fear for the young people :(
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I do think in many ways they are being rewired. A good example is that people are losing sense of direction because they so rely on GPS. Yep, I’m old and my brain isn’t as pliable as it once was… (I hope for the better ;) )
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Dear Trent,
I love the codes and the treasure. Well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thanks, Rochelle. The greatest treasure!
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Love the codes. You can really feel his awe at all the books.
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Thanks. Making the code was fun.
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That was fantastic!
It also struck a chord, because I had a real life experience of this kind some years ago in a basement bookstore with “forbidden” books…
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Thanks!
I have been in dungeon like bookstores, but they were just selling antiques. Back in my college days, I did see a few traveling “revolutionary” bookstores that were in tents. Nothing too illegal (bomb making might have been legal back then ;) ).
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I like the secrecy of this and how literature culture has gone underground. In a digital age this is honestly possible.
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Thanks. May not happen soon, but some day paper may be gone.
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Great story! It reminds me of Farenheit 451.
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Thanks! I’m sure Ray B. influenced me somewhere.
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Ouch. A precious treasure trove indeed.
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One of the greatest treasures. Of course my house isn’t cluttered, it is full of these bound treasures ;)
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Now that is a real treasure to find. Let’s hope they never become that rare!
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A treasure indeed. I hope it doesn’t get to that point,but if it does, well, looking around my house I’d either be the first against the wall or the one with the secret library…
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<3!
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Thanks :)
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Good one.
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Thanks, Sadje.
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You’re welcome
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