The Note in the Library Book

Hana opened a library book about boats, and a folded piece of paper slipped onto her knee. She almost put it back. Then she noticed the drawing: a boat with a crooked sail. Below it someone had written, “For the person who finds this. We never finished the harbour.”

Theo leaned across the table. “What harbour?” Hana unfolded the paper again. On the back was a small sketch of the library window, with boats along its bottom edge. There was no name and no date. “Perhaps it’s a treasure map,” Theo said. “To a windowsill?” asked Hana.

They took the note to Ms Bell. “I don’t recognise this,” she said, “but that window used to look quite different.” She brought out a folder of old library photographs. Theo turned the pages carefully while Hana held the note beside them. Then she stopped him. “There. Look at the sail.”

In the photograph, children stood beside a row of paper boats. One had the same crooked sail. A half-painted cardboard lighthouse stood at the end. Ms Bell read the caption. “A holiday project, years ago. Mr Carter ran it.” “Did they finish?” Theo asked. “The photograph doesn’t tell us,” she said.

Mr Carter came to the library on Thursday. Ms Bell had asked whether he remembered the boats. “Oh, that harbour,” he said, studying the note. “We ran out of time. I left this in the book we’d used for our drawings.” He smiled at Hana. “I wondered whether anyone would find it.”

“Could we finish it now?” Theo asked. Mr Carter looked towards the window. “The old boats are long gone.” “We could make new ones,” said Hana. Ms Bell found some card. Mr Carter drew a lighthouse on scrap paper, leaving a little space at the top. “The lamp goes there,” he said.

Over the next week, their harbour grew. Other children added boats, and Ms Bell helped hang the lighthouse above them. Hana gave her boat a deliberately crooked sail. “Still not straight?” Theo asked. “It belongs in this harbour,” she said, and set it beside his blue ferry.

When the display was ready, Mr Carter stood looking at it for a long time. “Worth waiting for,” he said. Hana slipped a new note into the photograph folder. It named everyone who had helped. Theo peered over her shoulder. “No treasure map?” “No,” she said. “This time, just the names.”