BAMBERT LEADS a very lonely and sad life, but he sees no alternative. He lives alone in the attic at the top of the house and hardly ever goes out. He does not want to face the stares and comments from the people he would meet if he went downstairs into the outside world. He knows they would pity him or laugh at him, and he does not want that. He must live detached from other people and make the best of it.
Bambert is a very short man who cannot walk without a stick. He does not think of himself as deformed, but he knows that is how other people see him. They would know nothing about the constant pain in his hips and the difficulties he has getting around. They would just see an adult with a child's body. Bambert does not want to be regarded as a freak by anyone.
Bambert has adapted the world to suit himself, with customised furniture, an electric airlift to carry him up to the top of his attic where he can look out of the window, while food and drink arrive regularly in another special lift.
This is Bambert's world where few outsiders know he exists.
Ideas are important to Bambert; his library has more than 1,000 books and he has read them all. He rarely reads a newspaper, because of the violence in the world.
But Bambert has a special gift that keeps his life together. He is the writer of 11 magical stories. The stories just came to him and he wrote them down in his 'Book of Wishes'. No one has ever read one of Bambert's stories.
These stories are like friends, keeping him company when he is feeling down. But there is something missing from them and Bambert resorts to take desperate measures to add this ingredient.