2 Number One Patron HELLO YASMIN MA says Book Uncle How's my Number One Patron I don't know about Number One but I'm sure I am Book Uncle's busiest patron as I mean to read one book every day Every single day forever I started last year right after I turned eight That already feels like a billion years ago because now I am past four hundred Books I mean I return yesterday's floppy paperback Book Uncle beams at me through glasses so fat they make his eyes extra big and extra smiley Did you like it he asks He really wants to know Of course I say I always do I always like the books he gives me He waves at the piles Take another take another Something different this time
He points to a thin book with a dark green cover I take a look It seems a little skinny I pick it up I open it And for the first time ever in all the time I've been getting books from Book Uncle I am not sure It looks too easy I say Short and sweet says Book Uncle Old Indian story You can read it three times in a day if you like I turn the book over and then over again I can read bigger books I say Book Uncle looks at me sideways He opens his mouth as if there is something he wants to say Then he closes it again as if he has changed his mind Finally when I think maybe he has forgotten I'm still there he says very softly Right book for the right person for the right day As you know well that is my motto He's right It is It's a good motto He has always given me the right book on the right day hasn't he I'll take it I tell him I waste no time As soon as I have stepped over the broken bits of pavement which I really wish the city would fix so I could walk and read without worrying about where to put my feet I start to read the book And I am sorry to say that I was right It is a story for little kids about a king of doves who gets himself and all
his followers stuck in a trap set by a hunter At first I'm disappointed but then I think I'll keep going Might as well find out what happens to those doves There they are caught in a net I turn turn turn the pages No escape no escape Try try try Still no escape Will they save themselves Hmm This may be a book for little kids but still it's giving me something to think about It drives me crazy when a book does that All the way up the stairs to 3A I worry about those doves I read the dove book once straight through after homework and dinner and I find out that the dove king and all his followers do get free I know I know I'm giving away the ending But here's the thing The point of a story is not the ending The point is What does it mean While I'm still wondering about that my father calls me to see something on TV
