Warren & Dragon Volcano Deluxe

by Ariel Bernstein

  Dragon grabs the ball as it bounces under Michael’s hand and runs around the side of the house with it.

  “I just made the basketball disappear,” I say, and chuckle. Michael looks down.

  “How’d you do that?” he asks with his mouth open.

  Just then, Michael’s mom Paula calls out to us. “The brownies are ready! Come join us, Ellie and Warren! They’re nice and fresh.”

  Ellie smiles at Paula before whipping her head back toward me and Michael. “That’s it!” she exclaims. “We’ll have a bake sale.”

  “Sheesh! That’s what I’ve been saying,” Dragon says, and throws his paws up in the air.

  “I don’t think a bake sale is a good idea,” I tell Ellie.

  Ellie puts her hands on her hips. “It’s a perfect idea,” she argues. “Everyone loves sweet stuff. And all we’ll need, besides the food, is a bunch of tables.”

  “It does sound simple enough,” Michael agrees.

  “But this whole thing was all my idea,” I sputter. “I was the one who thought of earning money in the first place. And I say we go with a magic show.”

  “Okay, let’s put it to a vote,” Ellie announces. “All in favor of earning money by organizing a bake sale, raise your hand.” Ellie and Michael raise their hands. Dragon raises his paw.

  “Two to one. It’s settled. We’re doing the bake sale,” Ellie says happily. “We’re going to have the best bake sale fundraiser the town of Eddington has ever seen.” Ellie suddenly looks into the distance with a weird smile on her face. “I’ll probably get extra credit from my teacher. And Principal Fenly will talk about us during the morning announcements. Maybe we’ll make it into the newspaper. And then someone will write a book about us and make it into a movie and . . .”

  “Hey! This is for the kids in the hospital, remember?” I say, waving my hand in front of Ellie’s face.

  “I thought it was really about buying the volcano building set,” Dragon says, pulling at my sleeve. I try to ignore him.

  Ellie blinks a few times. She then looks at me sheepishly. “Of course. It’s definitely all about the kids in the hospital. I was just thinking that a morning announcement and newspaper article could help advertise the bake sale.”

  “And the magic show,” I say. Ellie raises her eyebrow at me but I’m not budging. I know I’ll need a distraction for Dragon to keep him away from the bake sale. Plus, maybe if I make enough money from the magic show, people won’t notice me taking some for my volcano building kit charity. I’ll make money for that and the kids in the hospital. It’ll be a win-win situation.

  “How are we going to get in the newspaper?” Michael asks. “We’re just kids.”

  “Brian Lee got in the paper when he had a lemonade stand to raise money for Eddington’s food bank,” Ellie says. “He said a lot of people came to the lemonade stand because they read about it. I bet Mom and Dad can help me call the paper and ask if they’ll write about our bake sale.”

  “I’ve always wanted to be in the paper,” Dragon says dreamily. “I hope I can get a manicure for my claws in time if they’re going to take photos.”

  “We have to figure out when to actually have the bake sale,” Ellie points out. “What about next Saturday?”

  “That’s soon!” Michael exclaims.

  “Yeah, but it’s starting to get colder,” Ellie replies. “If we wait too long, no one will want to volunteer for something outdoors.”

  I realize that Michael, Ellie, and I are all wearing sweatshirts. Dragon doesn’t need a sweatshirt because he’s always warm.

  “Next Saturday is good,” I say. I’m pretty sure I don’t have anything to do on the weekend until Avik’s birthday party on Sunday.

  Ellie scrunches her face up. “That’ll only give us one week. And the paper comes out Wednesdays . . . But we can do this!” Ellie hits a fist into her other hand. “Michael,” she says, pointing at him, “will you please ask Principal Fenly if we can use the school parking lot for the bake sale?”

  “And for the magic show,” I add.

  Ellie harrumphs.

  “Sure,” Michael replies.

  “Great. I’ll contact the paper,” Ellie announces. “Then we should tell our parents and ask them if they’ll help us with baking. And, Michael, you and I should call kids from school to see if they’ll bring treats. I’ll also make posters to put up around town.”

  “I’ll taste test after the baked goods are made,” Dragon offers.

  Ellie looks at me warily. “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m gonna make some magic,” I say.

  4

  Distractions

  It turns out that making magic is hard when there are distractions. Dragon and I are supposed to be practicing how to escape from being tied up inside a locked cardboard box, when we hear my dad return from the supermarket with Ellie.

  “We got all the ingredients to make the s’mores cookies for the bake sale!” we hear Ellie whoop as they enter the house.

  Dragon’s ears perk up, and before I know it, he’s escaped not only the locked cardboard box, but our practice session as well.

  I push the knotted bedsheets and rope to the side of my room and head downstairs to the kitchen. Dragon is peering into the grocery bags next to my mom.

  “You guys got enough flour, eggs, chocolate chips, and mini marshmallows to make hundreds of cookies!” Mom says, nodding her head as though she’s impressed. “We can bake and freeze some now and then make the rest the day before the bake sale.”

  “I don’t think it’s going to be enough,” Dragon says, and scrunches his face up like he’s worried. He starts to count on his claws. “After I taste test a few hundred cookies, how many will be left over for the actual bake sale?”

  “This is great!” Ellie says. “Michael said his moms will make a ton of brownies. Now I just have to call friends from school to see if anyone can come and help.”

  Ellie brings out our school directory and starts to scan the list of names.

  “Do you think Alison Cohen will want to help?” she asks me. Alison is a girl in my class at school.

  “Probably,” I say, thinking that Alison is pretty nice. “I’ll call her,” I say, and reach for the phone. I’ve called Alison before and it only ended with her hanging up on me twice, so I think it went pretty well.

  “Hello?” Alison answers.

  “Hi, Alison,” I say. “It’s Warren. We’re going to have a bake sale and a magic show next Saturday at one o’clock in the school parking lot to raise money to buy toys for kids in the hospital.” I glance at Ellie. She nods her head like I’m doing okay so far. “It was my idea.”

  “Wow!” Alison exclaims. “Raising money to get toys for kids in the hospital is really nice. You thought of it?”

  “YES!” I shout. I did not mean to shout. “Why is everyone surprised I thought of it?”

  “You didn’t think of it,” Dragon says.

  “Um, no reason,” Alison replies.

  “If you want to help, you can either bring food for the bake sale, or . . . ” I pause for dramatic effect. “. . . get sawed in half at the magic show.”

  Ellie and my mom slap their hands against their foreheads at the same time.

  I hear Alison sigh over the phone.

  “So will you come?” I ask.

  “I can bring cupcakes for the bake sale,” Alison says.

  “And get sawed in half?”

  I hear a click.

  “Well?” Ellie says.

  “She only hung up on me once,” I say. “I think I’m getting better at phone calls.”

  Ellie won’t let me call anyone else.

  “Who am I going to saw in half?” I say out loud. My mom looks away as she fits the egg cartons into the fridge. Ellie pretends she doesn’t hear me while she dials another student
.

  Dragon looks up from counting the bags of chocolate chips. “I’m too muscular to saw in half,” he says, and flexes his arms. I don’t notice any muscles.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I see my dad walking by in the hallway.

  “Dad!” I shout as I run over to him. He stops walking and glances down at me. “Can I practice sawing you in half for the magic show?”

  “Uh,” he stammers, “I have to help with the baking.” Dad rushes to the kitchen.

  If no one helps me practice, I won’t have a good enough show to earn money for the toy charity and the volcano building kit. I need help. I need a miracle.

  I hear someone knock at our front door.

  “My hands are covered in cookie dough,” I hear my mom shout. “Warren, you need to answer the door.”

  “I need a lot of things,” I grumble as I open the door. Surprisingly, I just might get one of them.

  5

  Kaleb to the Rescue

  Michael is standing outside with a boy who looks a little older than us. He’s taller than me and doesn’t wear glasses like Michael does.

  “Warren, this is my cousin Kaleb,” Michael says.

  “Hi,” I say to Kaleb, and motion for both of them to come in.

  “Hey!” Kaleb replies with a big grin.

  “Kaleb will be in the hospital for his tonsils when we have the charity event this weekend,” Michael says. “But he said he wanted to help out beforehand.”

  A clanging sound comes from the kitchen. Michael, Kaleb, and I pause to listen.

  “Bill!” my mom shouts. “Be careful!”

  “That wasn’t my fault!” Dad yells.

  “It wasn’t me,” I hear Ellie say.

  I see Dragon scurry through the kitchen doorway carrying mini chocolate chips in his paws.

  “It wasn’t my fault,” he quickly tells me before he heads down the hall.

  Suddenly there’s a crashing sound from the kitchen.

  “Okay, that was my fault,” I hear my dad say.

  “We can definitely use help around here,” I tell Kaleb. “There’s going to be a bake sale and a magic show.”

  “I’ll help with the magic show!” Kaleb says suddenly. “I love magic,” he explains. “And I’m not so great with baking.”

  Michael snorts. “Like that time you burned the toast because you—” Kaleb stops him by waving his hands in front of Michael’s face. I laugh because Kaleb and Michael remind me of myself and Ellie. “Okay.” Michael relents. “I’m going to find Ellie.”

  “She’s in the kitchen,” I tell Michael. “Come on, Kaleb,” I say, and he follows me to my room.

  Kaleb walks over to the cardboard box and picks it up. “Is this for the magic show?” he asks.

  “For the disappearing act,” I tell him.

  “That sounds complicated,” Kaleb says, and rubs his chin. “You probably want to do something simple but fun.”

  “I’m also planning to saw someone in half,” I say.

  Kaleb laughs. “That’s funny,” he says like I made a joke. I laugh back although I’m not sure what joke I just made.

  “I’ll tell you what’s funny!” Dragon says as he barges in through the door. There are no more mini chocolate chips in his paws, but there are smudges of chocolate around his snout. “It’s funny to think that six measly bags of chocolate chips are enough for the bake sale.”

  I look away from Dragon when Kaleb pulls out a pack of cards from his back pocket. “I brought these when Michael said you’re working on a magic show,” Kaleb explains.

  He spreads out the cards on my carpet and sits down. I see that the cards are all turned on the patterns side so you can’t see what cards they are underneath.

  “Pick a card, any card,” Kaleb says dramatically as he waves his hands over the cards.

  “Oooh! That one!” Dragon says and hops up and down a little when he points to a card. “And that one too! Also, that one.”

  “I’m just supposed to pick one, right?” I ask, looking at Dragon pointedly.

  “Yep, just one,” Kaleb replies. “But don’t tell me which card you pick. Just look at it quickly so you remember it, and then put it at the top, right here.”

  Dragon leans over my shoulder to see as I pick out a red queen of hearts and place it pattern side up at the top of the pile. Kaleb pushes the cards together and shuffles them a few times.

  “When’s the magic going to happen?” Dragon whispers to me. “Are the cards going to burst into flames? Does he turn the cards into lava that shoots up into the air?”

  Kaleb stops shuffling and pulls out a card from the pile. He places it in front of me and turns it over. It’s the queen of hearts.

  I’m impressed, but I see Dragon roll his eyes.

  “That’s it?” Dragon says. “You didn’t even saw the card in half. Warren, no one’s going to pay a lot of money to see a little card trick.”

  I’m worried Dragon has a point. I need to raise enough money to give some to the charity and pay for the volcano building set. What if card tricks aren’t interesting enough?

  “How’d you do the trick?” I ask Kaleb.

  “Magic.” Kaleb smiles and wiggles his eyebrows. “I can show you how I did it and a few more tricks. I love magic.” He suddenly frowns. “I wish I could do them at your magic show with you, but I’ll be in the hospital.”

  “I’m sorry,” I say. I realize I wish Kaleb could go to the charity event too. I feel bad he has to go to the hospital at all, and I start to wonder what it would be like if I had to go. Surgery might hurt. I wonder if Dragon would be able to stay with me during the surgery. I wonder if anyone would bring me marshmallows and cookies after the surgery. I wonder if you can’t eat marshmallows or cookies after surgery.

  Kaleb shrugs. “It’s okay. Let me show you another trick.”

  I spend the next couple of hours learning card tricks from Kaleb and practicing them. Dragon alternates between hanging out with us and traveling down to the kitchen. Whenever he returns, he has a new glob of chocolate somewhere on his face.

  I’m practicing a new trick Kaleb’s taught me when Dragon comes barreling into the bedroom with chocolate smeared over his forehead.

  “Do some magic and hide me!” he cries out, furiously looking around for a place to hide. He ends up diving under the bedcovers.

  Ellie and Michael run into my room soon after.

  “Have you been in here this whole time?” Ellie asks us suspiciously.

  “Yeah,” I say, and Kaleb nods. “Why?”

  “Half of the chocolate chips went missing,” Michael explains.

  “I told you they didn’t buy enough,” I hear Dragon whisper.

  “It wasn’t us,” Kaleb tells them.

  “Well, we have to go downstairs now anyway,” Michael adds.

  “What’s going on?” I ask.

  Ellie smiles triumphantly. “We’re going to be famous,” she says.

  6

  Famous

  Dragon peeks his head out from the bedcovers. “We’re going to be famous?” he says. “I’ve always wanted to be famous. Or infamous.”

  “A reporter from the newspaper came to interview us about the bake sale,” Ellie says.

  “And the magic show,” I add.

  “And the magic show,” Ellie concedes with an eye roll. She peers into a small mirror on my dresser to redo her ponytail. Ellie doesn’t notice as Dragon checks himself in the mirror behind her. He notices the chocolate smear and furiously tries to wipe it off.

  “Do I look okay?” Dragon asks me. “I would have gotten my weekly facial if I’d known I’d become famous today.”

  Dragon looks . . . like Dragon. I nod my head yes and Dragon smiles.

  We head down the stairs where my parents are talking with a man I guess is the newspape
r reporter. He’s carrying a medium-size black bag.

  My mom sees us and makes the introductions to the reporter, Mr. Harris. “Why don’t you kids and Mr. Harris have the interview in the living room?” she suggests, and leads the way. Mom, Kaleb, and Mr. Harris take a seat on the couch. Michael sits on the bean bag, and my dad brings in chairs from the kitchen for me, Ellie, and himself to sit on.

  From the black bag, Mr. Harris takes out a pen and a notepad. I’m expecting a tape recorder or something else, but he just starts jotting down some notes before talking.

  “So,” he begins, “how did you guys think up the idea of raising money in the first place?”

  To my surprise, everyone except for Mr. Harris looks straight at me.

  I clear my throat. I hadn’t expected to be the first one to talk to the reporter. “Well, first I thought of toys,” I tell Mr. Harris.

  “One toy,” Dragon corrects me. “One very special lava-ish toy.”

  I try not to roll my eyes at Dragon before I continue. “And then I thought of a charity.”

  “I actually thought of the charity idea,” Dragon interrupts. “That’s because, for some weird reason, no one pays dragons money for sitting around all day looking cute.” I can’t help myself. I have to roll my eyes.

  “And Ellie thought of a bake sale,” I say. Ellie smiles at me. “But I thought of the magic show.” Ellie stops smiling. She looks more worried than annoyed though, but turns to Mr. Harris to speak.

  “Michael and Kaleb have been helping us with both,” she says.

  Dragon walks over to Mr. Harris on the couch and hops on the seat next to him. “Excuse me, but Warren rudely forgot to introduce me,” he huffs, glaring at me. “My name is Dragon. I’m known for my cunning, my bravery, and my sportsmanlike conduct. Also, I’ve never once brushed my teeth, yet I’ve never had a cavity. Honestly, we’d need all day to go over all of my attributes. Hey, you’re not writing this down.” Dragon looks at me. “Why isn’t he writing any of this down?”