The Bench: Retrieval

Miss Jenny resumed her story, looking a bit dazed but otherwise unharmed from her strange episode. Most of the audience continued listening as if nothing had happened, including Zahara and Wanda, the blond girl who had been Walter only a few moments before. Perhaps thanks to his proximity to the source of the changes, Walter's transformation had accelerated in the library, and by the time Jenny's brief recall of her old life had passed Wand had fully become a very imaginative ten year old girl and close friend of Zahara and Stephie. Stephie, meanwhile, had noticed as Miss Jenny dropped the stone that the story was centered around. When the librarian made no move to retrieve it, Stephie decided to fetch the rock for her. After all, it was an important part of the story. Stephie wandered over to the bookshelf, and after a short while found and picked up the reddish rock. She returned to the group, but hesitated when she arrived. She didn't want to interrupt such a good story, and Miss Jenny was really on a roll now.