The Librarian (Book One: Little Boy Lost) by Eric Hobbs Page A

Tinman! Somehow the kids from his class had become part of his book!
       “Tell me, son. You want to see something cool?”

CHAPTER FORTY

    THE MUNCHKIN MAIDEN dragged a heavy log through the mud before struggling to place it on the chopping block. Once there, she gripped her axe, lifted it into the air and brought it down on the log. She closed her eyes as the blade struck only to open them a few seconds later and realize she’d barely made a dent.  
       “Ma’am?” a voice called from behind.
       Startled, the maiden swung around to find three children standing near the old woman’s well. There was a monster with them, a terrifying man made of metal who was holding an axe and had his eyes locked on the maiden.
       “Get away! Please!” She stumbled over her feet. “Help! Someone! Please!” The maiden turned, running for the house, desperately hoping the old woman would allow her inside.
       “Please!” The Tinman said in a high voice. “Don’t go!”
       It was all the maiden needed. Her screams came to a halt and she slowed to a stop, turning to study the four   strangers with cautious interest.
       “Nick?” she asked, hesitant but curious. “Is that... is it really...” She couldn’t bring herself to finish but was stepping toward them, her eyes fixed on the Tinman’s metal face.
       “Ma’am,” Taylor began. “We—“ She cut herself short. The munchkin maiden wasn’t listening. Instead, she was stepping closer to the Tinman, captivated by the man she feared just moments before. She put a hand to the Tinman’s cheek. He pulled away.
       “Is it you?” She asked. “Is it really you?”
       While reluctant, it was clear the Tinman wouldn’t escape without giving her the validation she needed. He turned to face her, finally giving in.
       And when their eyes met—
       “Oh my!” She wrapped her arms around the Tinman and kissed his metal lip then moved her mouth from one side of his face to the next, peppering him with little baby kisses one right after the other. “Oh, My Love! My Love! I knew you’d come! I just knew it!”
        Wesley looked over at Taylor then let his gaze drop to her hand. He wanted to take it again, to feel her warm palm in his. He hadn’t taken the time to appreciate it the first time around – that brief moment when Taylor Williams was his girl and it was his job to protect her and to give her special moments like this.
       The maiden was squealing with excitement, but the Tinman pulled away, tears streaming down his face. He struggled to wipe them away and began to panic when he couldn’t clear them with his metal hands.
       “What’s wrong?” the maiden asked.
       “He’s crying,” Taylor explained.
       “But they’re tears of joy,” the maiden said. “I don’t know if I’ll ever stop crying them.”
       “But he’ll rust.”
       The Tinman tried to respond but his jaw wouldn’t move. Nothing came out but a hollow, “HMMMPH!” His jaw had rusted shut.
       Wesley took the oil can from Locke, and the Tinman fell to one knee, allowing Wesley to grease the hinge in his jaw. He opened his mouth, testing it. Open. Closed. Open again. It creaked with each movement until the oil worked its way into the necessary joints.
       “I shouldn’t have come,” he said, turning his heavy head away and hiding his face with a metal hand.
       “Nonsense,” the maiden said, going down on both knees beside him. “You promised to return no matter what, and you did. What else matters?”
       He pointed to the cottage. “But the old woman—“
       “We’ll go far away. We’ll never come back.”
       The hope in her voice touched Wesley on a level he didn’t fully understand. Everything had gone wrong in her life. Someone had – quite literally – penned an unhappy ending for the maiden, and yet here she was, convinced she could make it better, convinced no one had more control over her life than she