It was Kara’s first morning at the mission house. When she woke up, she felt for her slippers. Then hugging her doll, Rei, she left the bedroom in her pajamas. She crossed the living room and went straight to the mini-library.

Kara was yawning as she stood before the tall book shelf. Together with Rei, she scanned the shelf from left to right, and up and down. Rei seemed a bit sleepy.

The books in the mini-library were curious about Kara. Some of them climbed down from the shelves when they saw her enter. Others poked their spines out the shelf-gaps to see her better. “Who could she be?” they murmured to each other.

Kara slumped down onto a chair and stroked Rei’s thick red hair. She then buried her face on the table. Rei felt sorry for her. Both of them hardly noticed the hurrying book steps. A red booklet climbing down from the fourth level of the shelf could not help asking, “Is she crying?”

Frowning, Rei shook her head. “No she’s not crying. But she wants to go back.”

“Where?”

“To the South,” Rei answered.

“Hmmm. And what is her name?”

“Kara.”

At this time, two other books, one slightly long and thin, the other fat and wide, clambered down the shelf and walked towards Kara.

“Hello, Kara. Good to meet you,” they said.

Kara stared at them for a while. Then she smiled. She remembered that she had seen the wide book before. “Ah,” she finally recalled that her mother owned one similar to it. Her mother sometimes copied some pictures there for Kara to color. Kara hugged the book – Visitor, it’s called. “Hey Vister!” she said. Vister simply smiled.

Kara then opened the other book and realized it contained poems.

“Hello!” the book said, “I’m Thinker.”

Just then, Ms. Dans entered the library. All the books scuttled back to the shelf. Vister and Thinker could not make it back to the shelf as fast as they came, so Ms. Dans picked them up from the floor as they were on their way. Ms. Dans is caretaker of the mission house.

Kara stood up looking a little startled. She hasn’t fully gotten over meeting this lady with black, curly hair. She thought Ms Dans had the blackest skin and the whitest teeth in the whole world.

Ms Dans said as she fixed the books in their places, “Oh, you’re up so early. Did you sleep well?”