An almost true story – Part 3

A year later, my first children’s book is published. The premiere reading is so successful that I decide to give in my notice to my boss the same evening. How often have I imagined this moment in the most dazzling colours!

After I have shaken countless hands and looked into even more bright children’s eyes, I enjoy a quiet moment to myself. To make sure that all this is not just a wonderful dream, I quickly turn to the last page of my book.

The graphic designer has done a great job and realised my ideas in every detail. I look lovingly at the illustration of Princess Anna, who unlike all the other princesses does not wear a little crown but a dark red headband. She stands holding hands with Timothy in front of the fountain and gazes blissfully at the white peacocks beating their wheels vainly. Involuntarily, I run my fingers over the figures my head has conceived and my hands have brought to life.

What Anna doesn’t know is that I have given her a home. But she has given me much more. For at last I can live the life I have always longed for. I now work for myself, at my own pace and imagine new worlds every day.

Nothing is better than roaming these worlds together with the characters and letting them experience adventures. Sometimes I am surprised by the stories the characters whisper to me.

However, there is one thing that is even more beautiful: every time a child comes to me and wants me to read my own stories to him or her, I am deeply touched. I love to see how they share in the thrills, suffer vicariously and how relieved they are when their heroes have overcome all the hurdles at the end. Their inevitable question, “What happens next?” is both an honour and an incentive for me.

In any case, this story concludes with: “Anna, Timothy (and I) have finally arrived. And if they haven’t died… the next adventure awaits them.”