A Spoonful of Magic

by Lynne Roberts

  Chapter 9. Paperchase

  ‘The spoon didn’t work at all for Yecart,’ Tracey complained to Ryan the next day.

  ‘Maybe it doesn’t work when it’s a reflection,’ suggested Ryan. ‘Did you try tapping it on the mirror when Yecart made a wish?’

  ‘We tried everything,’ sighed Tracey. ‘Nothing worked. I don’t think I’ll bother with it again. It’s more trouble than it’s worth.’

  ‘Yeah.’ Ryan nodded in agreement.

  The rest of the week followed its usual pattern of school, orchestra practise, cricket practise and more homework than Ryan would have believed possible, let alone necessary. Saturday was wet and dismal and Mrs Hughes offered to take Tracey and Ryan shopping.

  ‘Can we go to the electronics shop?’ Ryan asked eagerly. ‘I need to get some more wire and another battery for the Geiger counter.’

  ‘Not today, Ryan. I have to get Tracey some new shoes and you need a shirt and trousers as well.’

  ‘Oh, clothes,’ Ryan muttered in disgust. ‘Count me out. I’ll see if I can go to Andy’s instead.’

  As if on cue the phone rang and Tracey leapt to answer it. ‘It’s for you. It’s Andy,’ she said, handing the receiver to Ryan. It took Ryan a minute or two to work out what Andy was saying, he was so excited.

  ‘What? Slow down, I can’t understand you.’

  ‘I said Joanne must have given you another spoon and kept the magic one. She has Mindy over and another friend, Alicia, as well. They want to use the spoon.’

  ‘Tell them not to,’ Ryan yelped. ‘Tracey is furious that it didn’t work for Yecart and she thinks we used it all up. She’ll kill me if I don’t get it back.’ He turned away as he spoke so that Tracey couldn’t hear him.

  ‘They won’t listen to me,’ said Andy. ‘I grabbed it off Joanne but she’s threatening to cause a huge stink when Mum comes back from the hairdresser’s so you’d better get over here quick.’

  ‘I can’t go shopping with you. I have to go to Andy’s,’ Ryan informed his mother. Mrs Hughes sighed and agreed to drop him round in the car on her way to the shops. As he dashed from the car to the shelter of the verandah, getting wetter than he would have believed possible in such a short distance, a voice from the porch of the house next door piped, ‘Hello Ryan.’

  ‘Oh, hi Stephanie,’ he mumbled.

  ‘Are you going to do magic?’ she asked with interest. ‘Joanne said you had a magic spoon now, instead of a magic pen.’

  ‘Shh,’ Ryan looked around wildly. ‘It’s a secret. I’m er, um, just going to play with Andy,’ he muttered.

  ‘Oh goody. I like secrets. Can I play too?’

  ‘No,’ said Ryan in horror, but he was too late. Stephanie squeezed determinedly though a gap in the fence and trotted towards him.

  ‘You’re a bit wet,’ she said critically. ‘You should have worn a jacket.’

  As this was the last thing his mother had said to him, it did not improve Ryan’s temper.

  ‘Go home,’ he said roughly.

  ‘I want to play,’ said Stephanie pitifully and a large tear rolled down her cheek. Ryan felt helpless. ‘Come on then,’ he said in resignation.

  Stephanie chuckled in delight as she shed her wet boots. ‘I brought my puppy slippers,’ she confided, ‘so I don’t get my feet cold. Mummy bought them for me last week.’

  Ryan duly admired the slippers as he opened the front door. Andy’s place was strangely quiet. ‘Mum’s gone to have her hair done and Dad’s working today,’ Andy told Ryan, as with a resigned sigh at the sight of Stephanie he led the way to the living room.

  Joanne, Mindy and a fair-haired girl were sitting in a row on the couch whispering together. They stopped whispering when the boys entered the room and sat glaring at them. Ryan would have laughed at their identical expressions if he hadn’t been so annoyed with Joanne.

  ‘We want the spoon back,’ said Joanne bluntly.

  ‘But it belongs to Tracey,’ Ryan explained patiently. ‘She only gave it to me to have one wish and you and Mindy have already each had one that you weren’t supposed to.’

  ‘I promised Alicia she could have a turn,’ said Joanne furiously, stamping her foot on the carpet. ‘She was going to make a really important wish, weren’t you?’

  She turned to the fair-haired girl who nodded solemnly and fixed her gaze on Ryan. He began to feel a little uncomfortable.

  ‘You shouldn’t have promised anything of the sort,’ said Andy bluntly. ‘You shouldn’t have had the spoon in the first place. You were supposed to give it back to Ryan.’ Joanne took a deep breath at this and showed ominous signs of someone who was about to throw a major wobbly.

  ‘Perhaps one more wish wouldn’t hurt,’ said Ryan hastily. ‘Tracey thinks it doesn’t work any more anyway.’ He was rewarded with instant smiles on the faces of the girls as Andy reluctantly passed the spoon to Joanne. ‘Be very careful what you wish for though,’ he warned. ‘The spoon seems to have a nasty sense of humour.’

  ‘I want a wish too,’ protested Stephanie. ‘I want to see the magic.’ As she showed signs of being as adept at screaming the place down as Joanne, Andy suggested that Joanne let her have a turn first.

  ‘But that’s such a waste,’ said Joanne in outrage. ‘She’s too little. She won’t have any idea what to wish for.’

  ‘Yes I will,’ insisted Stephanie. ‘I want to wish for my slippers to come alive and be real puppies.’

  The others all looked at her in dawning admiration.

  ‘That’s actually quite a good wish,’ said Andy at last.

  ‘They look really cute. It could be fun,’ admitted Joanne. ‘We’d all be able to play with them. Okay Stephanie, we’ll let you have a wish but it will only be for a while as then Alicia is having hers.’

  Stephanie was happy to accept this bargain and dutifully grasped the spoon and made her wish, tapping the spoon on the edge of the coffee table. There was a ‘pop’ and she screamed in surprise as she suddenly found herself standing in between two squirming puppies.

  ‘Oh, aren’t they adorable,’ breathed Mindy as the puppies ran round the living room with their little tails wagging furiously. All the children immediately began to call the puppies and a struggle developed as they all tried to pat them first.

  ‘Be careful,’ warned Andy, but he was too late to prevent a large ornamental brass lamp with a fringed shade from falling to the floor with a loud crash.

  ‘Oh dear,’ said Stephanie guiltily.

  ‘Never mind. The next wish will fix it up, I hope,’ said Ryan, with his fingers crossed for luck. The puppies ran round excitedly in circles. They chased their own tails and each other’s. They consented to be briefly cuddled but did a lot of licking of faces with soft pink and surprisingly wet tongues. One of the puppies discovered the cat bowl and sneezed and spluttered as he drank the milk, while the other made a spreading puddle in the middle of the carpet.

  ‘Oh dear,’ cried Joanne in dismay. I don’t think this is the right place to have puppies. Ryan was inclined to agree with her. He flopped down on the couch and gave a sudden yelp.

  ‘Watch out, get that puppy, quick.’

  One of the puppies had found the spoon on the floor and had retreated under the couch to worry it. All the children except Stephanie, who was blissfully holding the other puppy despite its loud protests, immediately dropped to the floor and tried to reach under the couch to grab the spoon.

  ‘Get out of the way. I nearly had it,’ said Andy irritably to Joanne, whose hair was flopping over his face.

  ‘Well you get your elbow out of my stomach,’ she retorted. ‘Here pup, pup. Here pup, pup.’

  ‘Don’t let it chew the spoon. It might damage it,’ called Ryan. It’s down this end now.

  ‘I’ll get it,’ said Mindy, but found her arms were too short to reach. The puppy by this time was enjoying the game hugely and wasn’t prepared to give up its possession without a fight. It growled menacingly as Alicia’s fingers touched t
he spoon and she leapt back hurriedly, colliding with Andy as he changed position.

  ‘Ouch. Look, there has to be a better way. Ryan, go and get some meat from the fridge, will you?’ he asked. ‘We’ll see if we can tempt it out with that.’

  Ryan ran to the fridge and grabbed the plate of steak, which was defrosting on the lowest shelf. ‘Here,’ he said breathlessly, thrusting it at Andy. Andy took the steak in his fingers and dangled it enticingly in front of the puppy. The other puppy immediately leapt out of Stephanie’s arms and tried to get the steak.

  ‘Ahh,’ screamed Andy as the puppy scrabbled at his hand and nipped his fingers.

  The other puppy dropped the spoon and joined the fray. With a gasp of relief Andy dropped the steak where the puppies immediately began fighting over it with a lot of snarling and snapping. He hooked the spoon out from under the couch and staggered away from the puppies.

  ‘Give that here,’ said Joanne, as she snatched the spoon. ‘I’ve had enough of these puppies. They are making the most appalling mess. We’re going to my room to make another wish.’