Ricky sighed for the hundredth time in ten minutes. He was just so bored!
Of all the places for his Mom to take him, she just had to pick the library.
"I'm so sorry Richard," she had said as she dropped him off. "I have an audition for a role - and the library is close by and you'll be safe here. Maybe you can do your homework while you wait? I promise to be back as quickly as I can."
Ricky had tried to do his homework, but even that was boring. And he didn't even know why Mom wanted him to be in the library. Couldn't he have gone to Charlie's house? They would have played spies, and spies were the coolest! They were so much cooler than books!
Ricky sighed again. Maybe he should do his homework. Even if it was boring, it was something to do. And Miss Carol was already so disappointed him for not doing his homework as often as he should have.
"You know, that's the fourth time you sighed in as many minutes."
Ricky looked up to see who was talking to him. It was a tall man with dark hair and a beard. He had blue eyes. He was wearing the same library jacket as the librarian at the front desk, so Rick thought that the man worked at the library too.
"You sigh when you're bored," said Ricky. "And I'm bored."
The man's eyes twinkled. "I find it surprising that you are bored in a library. There's so much to discover here."
Ricky rolled his eyes. "All that's here are books. And books are boring! Nothing fun happens with books!"
But instead of scolding him, the man only smiled. "Then what is fun, if not books?"
"Spies! And secret agents! And superheroes! All of those things are fun!" said Ricky.
The man's eyes were twinkling even more now.
"Do you want to hear a secret?" he asked, leaning closer to Ricky.
Ricky perked up. He loved secrets! Maybe the man was a spy, and he would tell some very important secrets.
"The library has books about secret agents and spies," said the man.
Ricky was a little disappointed. He had hope that the secret was something exciting, like the man was a spy himself and not about books! But still, if there were books about spies, maybe books weren't so bad after all. And not to mention that spies weren't supposed to tell other people that they are spies.
"What kind of spies?" Ricky asked.
"How about I show you?" the man asked. "Come with me."
Rocky followed the man down the shelves. The stopped at a certain place. "Here," said the man. He pointed to a long row of books. "All of these books are about James Bond."
"Isn't James Bond movies?" asked Ricky in confusion. He had sneaked into the theatre to see one of them a while ago.
"Yes there are movies, but they were books first," said the man. He picked one and pulled it out. "Here's my favourite. Casino Royal."
"Can you please read it to me mister?" asked Ricky.
The man chuckled. "Alright, I shall. And you should call me Mr Hunt."
His mother came looking for him about an hour later. "Richard, I'm back," she said, giving him a hug. "I hope you weren't too bored here."
"I wasn't," said Ricky. "I met a librarian and he told me about these spy books! I want to read them Mom! Can we take them home?"
Mom smiled at him. "Of course we can Richard. I have a membership; we can take these to the counter to check them out. Can see the books you have?"
Ricky handed her the three books. All of them were about James Bond.
Ricky could barely contain his excitement as Mom borrowed all the books. He hoped that he could meet the man again one day and thank him for introducing him to James Bond.