by Samuel
It was a cold winter night and our character, Henry, had just arrived in New York City to continue out his dreams of becoming a book writer, “New year, new dreams!” Henry said as the snow started to fall on his jacket. Henry didn’t know much about New York City, but there was one thought in his mind that kept him going, “if there was one place that would carry my dream, it would be here” Henry thought. Henry had just arrived in his new place on airbnb, not bad for a place that was only 150 bucks a night, “ahh, home sweet home!” Henry said, as he was lookin’ around the place, he opened his suitcase to look for something, then he stopped.
He held up his hands and brought a book that said “The Oil In The Icebergs, by Henry Aaron”, a book made by him. “One day you will be published, and that day is coming very soon, and then we will never have to live poor ever again!” Henry thought, he smiled, then he put the book on the shelf. He set the alarm clock for tomorrow and went to bed. It was morning, the alarm clock started ringing, Henry woke up and stopped the alarm clock and yawned “what a beautiful morning” Henry thought as he was looking out the window at the birds chirping, Henry got up, dressed up and went on his way to the Official Publisher Us or OPU for short.
“This is it!” Henry said as he went inside the building, it was equally noisy, it was mostly people yelling, crying and just begging for their book to be published. Henry knew that it would be a fight to get it published. There were multiple people that could publish his book, if the first one said no he would have to go to the next one and if that person says no then he has to go to the next person and so on and so forth. “Uh hello, are you one of the publisher people?” Henry said, it was a small room, just the desk, computer and the clock that would never stop clicking, “Yes, have a seat” the lady said, It was almost like she didn’t want to be there and that henry was the BIGGEST pain of her life, Henry thought she was rude but that really didn’t matter so he said “hey I’m here to publ-” “Whats your name and what is your book” Henry had just got interrupted but as much as Henry was about to turn into a ripe tomato, he had to play it off if he even had a chance of publishing his book, “My name is Henry Aaron and I am here to publish my book, The Oil In The Icebergs.” Henry reached in his bag and pulled out the book and placed it on the desk while giving a nasty stare at the lady almost to say I don’t like you “I can’t publish this” as she said without even looking up from her phone, “What!? You haven’t even read this mast-” Henry got cutoff “if you want another chance for your book to be published please visit the next publisher have a nice day” the lady said, at this point Henry turned even more red and was about to start yelling at the lady and punch her but there was nothing that he could do unfortunately so he went to the next publisher anddddd they said no and so did the next one and the next one and next one and then in a blink of an eye he went to the last publisher.
The room was big, nice and warm, welcoming even, the guy was sleeping and his computer was as dusty as a forgotten attic, “Uh hello?” Henry said, “What, oh hello!, sorry I haven’t seen a person in this office since the day I got hired, usually people stop trying to get their book published on the 3rd or 5th no! So what’s your name son?” the man said, “wow this man is wayyyy nicer than the other people” Henry thought, “uh my name’s Henry, Henry Aaron” Henry said, “cool, my name is Jack” Jack said, “so what book are you trying to publish?” jack said “I’m trying to publish my book, The Oil In The Icebergs” Henry said, Jack sat up from his recliner, put on his glasses, grabbed the book and started reading, Henry started fidgeting and sweating, then Jack said “I’ll continue reading it, I’m gonna have to send you home, if you have any questions please email me and I will email you if your book will be published” henry left the room.
As Henry was driving home many questions started to race through his mind, “will it get published?”, “will my hard work finally pay off?” but out of all of them one stuck out, “this is for the kids”. Henry arrived home, he looked tired and awake all at the same time, he set off his clock and dozed off to sleep. It was morning, Henry started brushing his teeth and getting ready as usually, Henry checked his phone and saw a notification, and his expression went from tired to excited in just one second, Henry opened the notification and it read, “dear Henry, this is Jack, I’ve read your book and honestly even though this is my first time reading someones book for my job, this was certainly the best one so far, it’s got awareness, story and it’s just beautiful, but before I’ll tell you what happens next I have to warn you, this book can be and will be very controversial and schools, states might even ban it but congrats Henry your book will be published and will begin to start selling copies later today or the next day.” Henry was shocked, He honestly couldn’t believe it! “But wait what does he mean that my book could get banned, It’s not like they can because of the 1st amendment and plus, this is what the american dream is all about!” Henry thought, Henry tried not to over think and just enjoyed the moment.
Weeks had gone by and it had become a New York City Best Seller, every book got sold out and everyone praised his book for standing up against oil companies doing bad to the icebergs and global warming, this was certainly an amazing time for Henry, his life had finally turned around, he could finally live the american dream everyone he knew was talking about, but there was one thought that Henry kept thinking about, the fact that his books could get banned, as Henry was thinking about this, a buzz on his phone alerted him, he got up and looked on his phone, it was a letter from Florida, New York City and Texas, and many schools all combined into one, and in that moment his phone felt like a brick. Henry was scared to even open the letter but he knew he had to, it read “Dear Henry, This is the OPU, we love your book but there has been many states and schools that have contacted us about your book that includes, Florida, New York City, Texas and many libraries and schools” Henry froze for a second couldn’t comprehend what was happening, “is my book gonna get banned? But those are where my most sales come from!” Henry didn’t want to read anymore but he knew he had too so he continued the letter, “so after close consideration and pressure from the states, schools and libraries, we have decided it was best to ban your book in the states listed due to your book teaching children to hate capitalism and oil companies leading them to take action, again we are very sorry for this happening.” Henry felt the panic starting to settle in his heart, Henry was confused “they can’t ban my book that goes against my 1st amendment, and what about the American dream!” Henry yelled, lots of thoughts were racing through his mind, his dreams were crushed and Henry was mad and there was one thing going through his mind “Freedom is a jail cell, there’s no escaping it, just only entering it.” Henry thought as his face turned more and more like a tomato and poof, just like that his revenue sales and the joy from the children and awareness was just gone in a blink of an eye “Jack was right” Henry thought.
A few days had gone by, he tried to fight it in court but he didn’t have the power to change what had happened, during trail Henry recalled the feeling of “his book hugging him goodbye” at this point there was nothing Henry could do and slowly after his books stopped getting sales as everyone either moved on to the next book or stopped buying his books because of all the backlash he had begun receiving, no more fan letters praising his books, now just angry fans and just confused people asking what happened.
After that he had to say goodbye to New York City and moved back to his home country England, he knew he couldn’t just pick up the pieces and start again, at the end of story he released that America isn’t all about freedom and the American Dream, it’s also about how hard it is to get back on your feet and that’s the path Henry wasn’t willing to take.
This piece is dedicated to the countless independent book writers and what they have to go through when or if their books get banned, life can be very unpredictable and America isn’t the only place where you can carry out your dream. And yes, the character was named after my best friend Henry and my best friend Jack.