守書人

Santanu did not have much in this world. He owned a few items of clothing， a pair of cheap-looking trainers， a few pens， and a book. An obsolete book.

People didnt own books anymore. The year was 2042 and for the children at Santanus school， a book seemed as ancient as a suit of armour or a castle. Everyone had the latest phones and electronic tablets. They owned ibooks， laptops and computers. Santanu did not have any of these things because his family was poor. People didnt call him because he didnt have a phone. Nobody emailed him because he didnt have a computer. His friends thought that he was weird and often teased him for being so out of touch.

But his book was his solace. It was a very old book. When he opened it， a funny smell wafted up from the pages. It smelled old and damp.

What the book was about was a mystery to Santanu. He mainly used it as a notebook， writing story ideas in the margins， or his friends phone numbers and email addresses. Just in case he ever needed them one day.

His best friend Crystal was also very poor. But even she had a mobile phone. She liked Santanus book and often wrote stories in it with him. She had nowhere else to keep all of her passwords so she wrote them in Santanus book.

One sunny day， the children in the playground were louder than usual， talking all at once with slightly panicked looks on their faces. They had their phones in their hands and all of them were trying to text or call， but it seemed like it wasnt working.

The headmaster， Mr. Williams， looked nervous as he told the children what had happened.

“Now I know you have all been very worried，” he said，“but we must remain calm. There seems to have been an electrical problem. The Internet has crashed and it is going to be tricky for all of us， but we must stay calm and work out what we are going to do.”

In 2042 almost everything was operated by the Internet. Nothing was tangible. You could not touch information like in Santanus book. Everything relied on the Internet： light switches， televisions， mobile phones and computers. And now nothing worked！

The children grew noisy and unsettled. They were scared. Nothing like this had ever happened before. How would they communicate？ What would they do with their free time？ What did anybody do before television and computer games and email？

The bell rang and the children were herded into their classrooms， still restless and afraid. The whiteboards didnt work. The computers didnt work. The teachers tried to make the children practice their handwriting skills instead but they were all terrible at writing. Nobody used pens anymore！

The days drifted from one to another. Nobody knew when the computers would come back on. The children didnt know what to do with themselves. They wandered out into the streets but they did not know where their friends lived because they only ever talked to them over the phone or online.

Eventually word got around the school that Santanu had an encyclopedia of information in his little book： names and addresses and phone numbers. One day， an older boy called Kai followed Santanu home and demanded to know his friends address which Santanu had meticulously noted on the inside cover of his book. Santanu agreed to give the boy the address， that is， if he could go with him and play. That is how it started. That is how Santanu met lots of friends and made up new games for them all. He enjoyed playing face to face. He enjoyed the real world instead of computers.

One day， the children were all playing in a deserted part of town when it started raining. They all ran for shelter beside the door to a big orange brick building. One by one they piled against the door to protect themselves from the rain， until there was a terrible creaking sound and the door caved inwards so that the children all fell inside， one on top of the other in a huge bundle.

Santanu was the first to get to his feet. He rubbed his eyes and looked around. “Books！ Look at all these books！”he cried. “What is this place？”

“I dont know，” replied his friend Crystal. “Its like an old house.”

There was a large desk in the centre of the room and above the desk there was a sign. It said “Returns and Issuing Desk” . Above that there was an even bigger sign hanging from the ceiling. It said “Public Library”.

None of the children knew what the word “l(fā)ibrary”meant but it didnt matter. Santanu could not believe his eyes. He wandered down the aisles touching the spines of all the books. It was like a forbidden palace， a secret place only the children knew about.

As the weeks passed， more and more children arrived at the library after school. They would read to each other or read quietly to themselves curled up under blankets. They would play chase and hide and seek and make up stories of their own.

Santanu liked to roam the aisles reading just a few sentences from each book. He read bits of A History of the World in 100 Objects， A Brief History of Time， 20000 Leagues Under the Sea， and even Thomas The Tank Engine. Anything he could get his hands on.

One Saturday， when Santanu arrived at the library late in the morning， he noticed how silent it was. There were no children anywhere. Santanu wondered if they had all been caught by a grown-up and thrown out. Then Crystal emerged meekly from behind the “travel”section.

“Theyve fixed the problem，” she said. “The computers and Internet are all working again. Everybody has gone home.”

She asked Santanu for her passwords and then， rather sheepishly， she walked out of the door leaving Santanu alone with all the books.

The young boy stared at the rows of shelves all lined with books. He thought about all of the stories inside the books and felt sad that nobody would ever take the time to read them. But then he smiled to himself， took a book from the nearest shelf and curled up under a blanket in his favorite corner of the library. The book was called The Hobbit and Santanu was sure it would be a great read.

桑坦努在這個世界上擁有的東西不多。他有幾件衣服、一雙廉價的運動鞋、幾支筆以及一本書。一本過時的舊書。

人們已經不再擁有書了。那是在2042年，對在桑坦努的學校讀書的孩子來說，書似乎是像盔甲和城堡一樣古老的東西。大家都擁有最新的手機和平板電腦。他們有電子書、筆記本和電腦。這些東西桑坦努一樣也沒有，因為他家里很窮。大家不會給他打電話因為他沒有手機，沒有人給他發(fā)郵件，因為他沒有電腦。他的朋友都覺得他這個人很怪，經常嘲笑他的落伍。

但是他的書能給他帶來慰藉。那是一本很舊的書。他一打開這本書，一股奇怪的味道便從紙上飄蕩開來。那是一股陳舊而潮濕的味道。

桑坦努看不懂書上的內容。他主要把它當作記事本使用，在頁面的空白處記下一些故事靈感，或是他朋友的電話號碼和郵箱地址，以備不時之需。

他最好的朋友克麗絲圖也很窮。但就連她也有一部手機。她喜歡桑坦努的書，經常和他一起在上面寫故事。她沒別的地方可以寫下密碼，所以她把全部密碼都記在了桑坦努的書上。

有一天，陽光燦爛，操場上的孩子們比平常喧鬧了些，他們全體略顯驚慌地說著話。他們手里拿著手機，正在試圖發(fā)短信或者打電話，但似乎都不行。

校長威廉斯先生神情緊張地告訴這些孩子發(fā)生了什么事。

“我知道你們現(xiàn)在都很擔心，”他說，“但我們必須保持鎮(zhèn)定。好像是電力方面出了些問題。網絡已經癱瘓了，接下來的狀況對我們所有人來說都是一個挑戰(zhàn)，但我們必須保持鎮(zhèn)定，找出應對的方法。

在2042年，幾乎所有的東西都是由網絡操控的。所有東西都是無形的。與桑坦努的書不同，所有的信息都是無法碰觸的。一切都依靠網絡：照明、電視、手機以及電腦。而現(xiàn)在，所有的一切都無法運轉！

孩子們變得愈加吵鬧不安。他們感到害怕。以前從未發(fā)生過這種事。他們要怎么交流？他們要在空閑時間做些什么？在沒有電視、電腦和電子郵件之前，人們都做些什么？

上課鈴響了，孩子們回到教室，他們依然覺得恐懼不安。黑板用不了。電腦用不了。于是，老師便讓學生練習寫字，但他們的字都寫得很差?，F(xiàn)在已經沒有人再使用筆了。

日子一天天地過去。沒人知道什么時候才用得了電腦。孩子們都不知道該做些什么。他們走到了大街上，但都不知道朋友們住在哪里，因為他們都只在電話和網上聊天。

最后，學校流傳起：桑坦努有一本小小的書，書里有著百科全書般的信息——姓名、地址和電話號碼。有一天，一個叫凱的大男孩跟著桑坦努回家，并問桑坦努要他朋友的地址，桑坦努把他朋友的地址小心翼翼地記在他書上的內封面里了。桑坦努同意把地址給那個男孩，只要男孩答應和桑坦努做朋友，和他一起玩。這便是一切的開端。桑坦努就這樣交了很多朋友，為他們想出了許多新游戲。他喜歡和人面對面地玩耍。他喜歡真實的世界而不是虛擬世界。

一天，孩子們正在鎮(zhèn)上一個荒廢的地方玩耍，天空突然開始下起雨來。他們跑到一座橘色的磚建大樓的門前避雨。為了不讓雨淋到，他們抵著大門一個挨著一個擠作一團，直到大門發(fā)出一聲巨響，向內坍塌，孩子們便都往里面栽了下去，一個壓著一個，摔成一堆。

桑坦努第一個站了起來。他揉揉眼睛，看向周圍?！皶?！快看，這些都是書！”他大喊道。“這是什么地方？”

“不知道，”他的朋友克麗絲圖回答道?！斑@看起來像是座老房子?！?/p>

房間中間有一張大桌子，桌子上有一個指示牌，上面寫著：“圖書借還處”。天花板上掛著一個更大的牌子，寫著：“公共圖書館”。

這些孩子都不知道“圖書館”是什么意思，但這無關緊要。桑坦努無法相信他的眼睛。他沿著過道走過去，撫摸著這些書的書脊。這里就像一個禁地，一個只有小孩子才知道的秘密基地。

時間一周周地過去，越來越多的孩子在放學后來到這個圖書館。他們會互相讀書給對方聽或者自己一個人裹著毯子安靜地閱讀。他們會玩抓鬼游戲、捉迷藏、以及自己想故事。

桑坦努喜歡穿梭在過道間，把每本書都讀上幾句話。他讀了一點兒《大英博物館世界簡史》、《時間簡史》、《海底兩萬里》，甚至是《小火車頭托馬斯》，凡是他的手夠得到的書他都拿來看看。

一個星期六上午，當桑坦努去到圖書館時，他發(fā)現(xiàn)這里一片寂靜。桑坦努想他們是不是都被大人抓到給趕了出去。然后，克麗絲圖從“旅游”閱覽區(qū)后面靜靜地走了出來。

“他們把問題解決了，”她說道，“電腦和網絡都重新運轉了。大家都回家了?！?/p>

她向桑坦努詢問她的密碼，然后怯怯地走出門外，把桑坦努和所有的書留在身后。

小男孩盯著書架上一排排的書。想到沒有人會再花時間看這些書里的故事，他為之感到傷心。但他很快便對自己笑了笑，從最近的書架取出一本書，裹著毯子在他最喜歡的角落里看了起來。這本書叫《霍比特人》，桑坦努肯定這本書會很精彩。