Emily Cook Post #5

I remember when I was in elementary school and we had library time every week, the librarian would tell us how fables came about whenever she read one to us. She said that a long time ago parents would tell their kids stories and when they grew up they would tell their kids, etc. It went on and on until someone wrote it down for everyone to read. Stories are for kids to be comforted when they are scared, for when they are tucked into bad at night, or to keep them occupied. Stories are for teenagers so they can learn, so they can get new ideas, or so they can always get their way. Stories are for adults so they can can get away from reality for a little while, so they can express themselves through words, or so they can be entertained. Stories are for everyone.

Lakshmi lives in a horrible world. She is being prostituted for sex and she has no way to distract herself. She has to live in a place where people get beaten for the slightest misbehavior. She can't get away from it. Until she forgets about David Beckham Boy and meets Harish, and the English-word storybooks he brought along with him. She learns words at first, "sit, walk, book, bowl, good... (165)" Then she gets into the books. "But I do know, from this storybook, that this America is a strange place. Everyone there is as rich as a a king. The birds there are as big as men. They eat a sweet treat made from snow. And the children play the kicking game with the black-and-white ball, like the one on TV. This is the David Beckham game, Harish says. (174)" Through all her after-school lessons with Harish she can get away from the place that she lives. She uses it as a flashlight. It helps her guide her way to freedom. She uses her battered English learned from the storybooks to communicate to the American that tries to help her. She saves herself and all her friends from the "Happiness House."