It Is Said (Mathias Bootmaker and the Keepers of the Sandbox) Read Online Free PDF

he wore were not just costume. They served a purpose. This version of Valentino was without sight.
    “Why don’t you know who you are?” the child suddenly asked.
    Mathias quickly pulled his hand away.
    “Have you lost yourself in a story?” the sightless boy asked just as quickly.
    “I don’t understand,” Mathias said as he stood back up.
    “Everyone has a story and we are the players in them. Sometimes another’s story starts to become our own, and we can get lost in the tale.”
    The rabbit quickly scratched out a note and put it in the child’s hand. Without looking at it Valentino chewed and swallowed the leaf.
    “I know it’s a rare occurrence, Louie,” he said as he patted the rabbit on his head. “I do believe though, that it is occurring right before us.”
    “You are not making any sense,” Mathias said.
    “We are imagination. We are all about the story. You must know this to be true,” Valentino insisted. “You were instrumental in making all of this possible. This is your home Mathias Bootmaker.”
    “This is nothing but another dream,” he responded.
    “All these people you see are the players of daydreams, sleepdreams and nightmares. That, is a true story. But this is no dream.”
    “How do I know that?” Mathias asked.
    “There’s something I want to show you,” Valentino said. “Albert, if you would, sir?”
    The sightless child started to walk away. Albert began to follow. Valentino was walking in a circle and the donkey was turning with him. Mathias could now see that Albert was pulling a flat rolling cart. The cart was loaded with books. Stacks and stacks of books. When the two completed a half circle they stopped, and Louie leapt to the top of the mountain.
    The rabbit watched Mathias keenly as he stepped closer to the cart. He jumped down to a lower stack as Mathias came to the side of the two wheeled library. When Mathias began to run his hand over the spines of all those books Louie started thumping his foot loudly on the surface of the one he was standing upon. Mathias pulled his hand away at the warning.
    An elder hand took his and placed it back on the wall of literature.
    Valentino had changed again.  
    The elder woman before him was not very tall but had a very strong presence. Her skin was olive toned and wrinkled with wisdom. A simple, long, flower patterned dress covered her round little body.
    “When a mind wanders, that is where we’ll be,” she said with a soothing accent that Mathias couldn’t quite place. “All the people, places and things you see in your mind’s eye come from Sandbox Harbor. We provide the backgrounds, the moods, the settings, and the performers for what you imagine.”
    “How is that possible?” Mathias asked.
    “The books make what we do possible. Well, the books, and a little bit of spark, and a great deal of magic,” she said through another big Valentino laugh.
    “These are our guides. The stories we become part of. There are epics, romances and adventures. Some stories contain mystery and horror. Some are light and comical. Most are deeply moving. All of them are well written.”
    “Are all the great authors represented here?” Mathias asked.
    “You could say that,” she said with a smile. “These are the stories of people, Mathias, all the people that exist anywhere and everywhere. These are the stories of their actual lives.”
    Mathias looked up to the pile. It seemed to shrink and grow. He could now see some books were vanishing and being replaced with others. Then the same book would appear somewhere else in the pile. The books were being checked out and returned as needed.
    Louie hopped into view. He was writing a note. When he was done he turned it to face Mathias.
    “True story,” he read aloud to Louie.
    The rabbit nodded and ate the note.
    “Are you telling me that a person’s life is contained in one book?” he asked the elder. “Are you saying everything has already been written, from beginning to