A Fairy Tale Book Sale

Once upon a time there lived a young lady in a town not unlike the one I live in now.  The town was lovely; there were people of all ages, shapes, and sizes living in it, and everyone was very friendly.  The town had a large school that many of the townspeople attended.  They went there to learn all about the wide world around them.  They studied everything from science, math, and English to religion, dance, and marriage and family.  The townspeople were very peculiar.  Some of them would wear socks with their sandals.  Others would wear leggings and miniskirts together.  Still others would tease their hair to make their heads look twice as big as they were.  Many of the townspeople would walk or drive on the streets without paying attention to anything around them.  And once a week, most of the townspeople would go to church and then stay inside for the rest of the day.

The young lady who lived in this town was not originally from there.  She had been living there for several years so that she could go to the town’s school.  After years of living with these peculiar people, she still did not understand why they were the way they were.  But she enjoyed the town anyway.  It was nice for her not to have to worry about her friends in the town doing bad things like her friends back home would do.  She liked that in spite of their differences, they had the same religious beliefs.  It was refreshing to her to not have to explain herself every time she refused to go out and party on a Sunday, or when she refused to drink alcohol. 

The young lady missed not only her old friends and family but the things she used to all the time, for her new town had a very different idea of what it meant to have fun.  They didn’t have half the things she was used to having around, and it was a struggle for her to adapt.  Eventually, she learned to make the most of the experience, and was even able to have fun!  But none of that has anything to do with this story.  I just wanted to tell you about it.  Now I will share with you the real story about this young lady in this new town.

One day, she arose early in the morning to get to school.  She had to hurry and figure out what she was going to show to her professors for the meeting they had planned, and she was nervous.  Luckily she was able to throw something together, but it turned out she didn’t even need it!  Her relief was short-lived, for she was nervous to meet with another teacher right after.  But three knocks on his door meant that he wasn’t even there!  Heaving a sigh of relief, she walked home, privately thanking her Heavenly Father for His tender mercies.

Then the young lady took a trip to the town’s library.  She was hoping to get some new books to read, for you see, she needed a break from the difficult schoolwork.  When she got to the library, to her utter delight they were having a book sale!  That’s right.  The library was selling a bunch of its books!  The young lady quickly went upstairs to check things out, and to her surprise the library’s ballroom was filled with tables and boxes of books: books for babies, books for children, books for adults, books for everyone!  Filled with delight, she combed the room, looking for anything salvageable.  Before she knew it, two hours had passed and she had at least fifteen books in hand.  What a wonderful way to spend time, she thought.  She paid for the books, ran a few other errands, and then went home to gloat over her find.  Her roommates quickly left to go to the book sale themselves.

Soon after that, her friend called her up so that they could go to the temple.  The temple was a very special place in their town, and the young lady quickly agreed to go.  But of course, every other person in the town seemed to want to go to the temple at the same time, so they ended up being there for a long time.  In spite of that, they had the best time.  The young lady wanted to stay there always, but that was impossible, so she had to leave.

When she got home, the young lady realized that while she lived in this weird little town full of peculiar people, she had had a great day anyway.  The Lord had blessed her for her meetings, she was able to get a lot of books from the library sale, and she even got to spend a few hours in the Lord’s house.  Thanking him again for His goodness and grace, she made herself a delicious dinner of fusilli alfredo with chicken and settled down to finish off the day with a television episode of Boy Meets World…and she lived happily ever after.