200 years from now, my descendant will try to uncover the mysteries of the past by digging in my backyard. She will dig and dig until she becomes bored and tired. As thoughts of quitting sneak in her mind she hits something. A locked chest is uncovered. She finds a way to break the lock and look inside. It is something she had only seen in museums, old movies, and digital text books. Unlike the ones she has seen, it looks completely unused. It is a book. She picks it up and reads: East of Eden on the cover. As she flips through the pages in wonder, a note falls from the novel.
The note reads:
Dear Descendant,
I am your ancient ancestor. As you have seen I have left a great gift for you in this chest that is slowly fading from my society. It is kind of surprising to think such a rare gift only cost $30, in fact it could have been cheaper, but I wanted you to have the more classic hardcover version. I walked all the way to Borders just to buy the masterpiece East of Eden. In my time, traditional books are dying, and if the trend continues I don’t imagine you have seen a book before, not a real one. I wanted to leave this surprise for you.
Now I think I should clarify: books are not dying because people are not reading, but because of technology. We read news reports from computer screens and cell phones; many books can be found and read online (including some text books), amateur writers upload stories to be read online, and there are electronic books that download novels. The traditional hardcover books are fading away. I hope you can save this novel as a treasure. If you are not the only family with a book, in a few more decades you will be.
You may be wondering why I chose to save East of Eden of all books. I chose it because I believe it is a masterpiece. I read it in high school my senior year. At first its length deterred me, but the beautiful writing style motivated me to read until the end. This powerful story has many life lessons on that survive through time. Between every line is a new idea. Throughout the book characters are struggling with the good and evil within themselves. Everyone should read this novel at one point in his or her life. You may or may not have read a copy of this novel, but a digital book can’t hold a candle to the crisp sound of pages turning is an original novel.
Keep it safe,Your ancient ancestor
The girl sat staring at the note, then the pristine novel. After a few seconds she put it back in the chest so she could carry it home and show her family. Only rich families own novels. Even the books in the museum were not in such fair condition. This gift has immense value indeed.
