Little King December

Book excerpt: December II, the little pot-bellied king, is about three inches tall and so fat that he can't button up his tiny red velvet coat with its magnificent ermine trim. He lives in a tiny room in a hole in the wall, its shelves piled high with countless colourful boxes, full of his dreams. In King December II's world, you are born big, knowing everything you will ever know - how to close a business deal, how to write a computer programme … And every day you get a little bit smaller and you forget a little bit more, so that at the end of your life you are tiny, and you spend your days forgetting things and chasing shadows in the garden. Childhood comes at the end of your life … but is that a good thing? Well, you'll have to ask the little king. You can ask him anything. You can lie with him on the balcony and look up at the stars and talk about immortality. And when you're with him you see things your eyes won't normally see…