Fred

Word Count: 699

“I should really study,” Karli said reluctantly, staring at her backpack in dismay.

Her friend shrugged. “If you think you have to.”
“I have a test tomorrow,” she continued as if Rebecca hadn’t spoken. “I really should study.”
“So study! I have to go home anyway. You have fun with your book.”

“Ha ha. That book is the most boring thing I’ve ever read. I don’t want to read it.”

“Then don’t,” Rebecca said in frustration. “Listen, you just have it out with your conscience, all right? It’s no skin off my nose whether you study or not.”

“You’re a great friend, Rebecca,” Karli said dryly.

Rebecca let herself out and Karli dug through her backpack. Her geography book stared at her with something akin to hatred. She tossed it on the table and reluctantly opened it up. “Hey, you!” a voice said.

Karli turned around. “Are you home, Lisa?”

“I’m right here in front of you, kid.”

She faced forward. “I don’t see anybody…are you a ghost?”

“Might as well be. I probably died a long time ago but didn’t know it.”

Karli stood up and started shaking. “Whoever’s playing the joke, it’s not funny,” she warned in a quivering voice.

“This ain’t no joke, sweetheart,” the voice chuckled. “Just look down and tell me what you see.”

“The floor.”

“Honestly. What do they teach kids these days? You might actually learn something if you read me.”

“What? I don’t understand.”

“I guessed as much. Listen, I’m that geography book you’ve been throwing around all the time. You throw me in your backpack in the morning and throw me on the floor at night. But you never even once crack the cover. I thought I’d faint when you opened me.”

Karli started backing up. “This has got to be a dream. I must be dreaming.”

“I wish you were. It’d sure make my life a lot easier. Just sit down, kid, I don’t bite.”
“Can you see me?”

“Only when I’m open.”

She stepped over to the side and closed the book with a thump. “Ah, what’d you go and do that for? I think I tore a page. You kids sure are violent these days.”

“So you can’t see me now?”

“I can.”

“You lied!”

The book chuckled. “Sorry, you just handed it to me. Now, do you want to learn something or not?”

“Well, I have to do good on my test or I’m going to fail…” she trailed off miserably.

“Well. You have to do well on your test or you’re going to fail. Proper grammar, sweetheart.”

“I wish you wouldn’t call me that.”

“What should I call you then?”

“Karli.”

“That’s not the name you wrote in here when you got the book. Let’s see…Amelia Watson?”

“I go by Karli,” she said stiffly. “Now, are you going to teach me something or not?”

“I can’t teach with you standing all the way over there. Come sit down and we’ll talk this over.”

Karli sat down and opened up the geography book. “Let me think…your test is over the chapter on Europe, right?”

“Yes.”

“Europe’s a marvelous place. Ever been there?”

“No.”

“Me either,” the book sighed. “I guess we’d better start with the physical geography.”

They studied together all afternoon. “Um…Iberian Peninsula?” she replied to a question.

“Right. That’s the one with Spain and Portugal on it. Think you’ll remember all this stuff?”

“I sure hope so. Can you help me take the test?”

“That’d be cheating, Karli.”

“I know. Surely a little cheating now and again never hurt anyone…”

The book laughed. “That’s what they all say. It only hurts the person who doesn’t do as well because they did things the right way.”

Karli sighed. “Oh well. I think I’ll do all right, now. Say, you never told me your name.”

“I didn’t?” the book asked in surprise.

“No. What’s your name?”

“Well, uh, er…”

“You can tell me. I told you my name,” Karli accused.

“I guess you might as well know…I’m Fred.”

Karli looked down at the cover of the book which read Regional Geography. “Fred,” she tested aloud. “I guess you really can’t tell a book by its cover.”