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Of all the things Nasanafu loves to do, he loves to read most of all. So, of course, he lives in a bookstore. In fact, Nasanafu is a Bookstore Gremlin. Now, Bookstore Gremlins can be very friendly, but they often keep to themselves--with their little noses in books all the time!

Nasanafu isn't very big at all, so the bookstore is plenty big for him. He stands no more than half a foot tall, with a plump, little body and short, little legs. His ears come to a point away from the sides of his long, thin face. His hair is ever so curly brown. He wears a green felt cap, a matching green vest, a white shirt and brown trousers. I have no idea where he gets his clothes. He must have made them himself!

Nasanafu's favorite place to sit and read is high atop a bookshelf, in a corner where nobody will disturb him.

Now, that isn't to say that he doesn't like people. Actually, he finds the customers to be quite fascinating. He always laughs at Mrs. Johnson's funny hats. He loves to watch Mr. Callaway's children race about the shelves, as their father tells them over and over again to stop.

Of course, they never do!

And, Nasanafu can never wait to see what kind of silly button Abigail Childen will be wearing next. She comes in every Friday to pick up a copy of her favorite magazine. Her last button said, "Book Nut. Please feed every few hours."

So you see, for a Bookstore Gremlin who usually just reads quietly, he actually takes the time to watch the customers while they shop.

If you happen to hear noises in the store, when you're sure that there is no one else there, then that must be Nasanafu. He doesn't live there merely to help out, but from time to time he likes to help just a bit.

One quiet afternoon, the manager Laida, was accidentally locked in the back room. The door had jammed and she couldn't open it!

Well, she was the only one in the store at the time. The front door was unlocked for customers to come in, but there she was, stuck in the back room.

"No problem," Laida told herself. "I'll just go out the backdoor, hurry around the building, and enter through the front door."

Unfortunately, Laida had left her keys up front near the register. The backdoor key was there, too!

Oh no! What was Laida going to do? She was trapped in the back room!

Luckily, Nasanafu was there, reading a book as usual. He heard Laida having trouble opening the door to the back room. Before hopping down from his shelf to investigate, he put his bookmark in his book, so as not to lose his spot. Then, he carefully set his book aside. Nasanafu always took very good care of the books he read.

When he arrived at the back room door, he heard Laida say something about leaving her keys up front.

I should help her, thought Nasanafu. She's a very, nice lady.

Nasanafu found Laida's keys on the front desk where she had set them down. He scooped them up, then went to the back room to figure out how to get them to her.

Unfortunately, it would take Nasanafu all day to walk around the outside of the large store. He had very, little legs that wouldn't go all that fast. So, he had to find a way to get into the back room without leaving the store.

"Maybe I could go through the ceiling," said Nasanafu to himself. "Yes, that's a good idea. I'll sneak through the ceiling panels."

Without much trouble, Nasanafu climbed to the top of the highest bookshelf. The panels of the ceiling were light enough for him to lift up, and he was small enough to fit up there. As long as he was careful not to step on the panels, he would be just fine.

Once Nasanafu had made his way over to the ceiling above the back room, all he had to do was climb down and leave the keys for Laida. But how could he do that without making lots of noise?

There was only one way.

Nasanafu could do his disappearing-reappearing trick. Unfortunately, he could only do this once or twice a year because it made him so very tired He once had to sleep for three days to get better!

But he had to do it. Laida needed his help. While she was stuck in the back room, some bad person could rob the store of money. Or even worse, they could take all the precious books!

Nasanafu closed his eyes, concentrated on the desk below, and snapped his fingers twice.

Pop!

A little puff of blue smoke was all that was left where Nasanafu had stood. He disappeared from the ceiling.

Pop!

He reappeared on the desk below. Luckily, he was still invisible. He didn't want anyone to see him, so he wouldn't be driven out of his happy bookstore home. Laida was busy trying to get the back door open.

Carefully and quietly, Nasanafu slipped Laida's keys under the newspaper on the desk. It was just enough so that Laida would think she'd forgotten about leaving her keys there.

A minute later, Laida searched the desk again and found her keys. She was quite happy, but she was sure she had left her keys on the desk up front. She was sure of it. Luckily, there were no customers in the store and no one had taken anything.

"I wonder what little Bookstore Gremlin brought my keys to me?" Laida asked out loud. She was smiling a big smile and looking all about her as she walked to the front. She had always suspected that there was some friendly, little beastie living in the bookstore. Now, she was sure of it.

"Thank you, little friend," she called out. "You can stay here and read books for as long as you want."

And that's just what Nasanafu was going to do--right after a nap! His disappearing-reappearing trick made him very sleepy. He found a warm, quiet place out of the way where he could sleep. And Laida made an extra key for the back door right away!