Twelve Upon a Time…

by Edward Galluzzi

  It was the eve of Valentine’s Day now and Kayla lay in bed thinking happily of the mystery and adventure of the past 6 days. She smiled as she recalled the surprises she discovered: a tiny doll wearing a big red heart; a rose encased in a glass snowball; a heart-shaped chocolate chip cookie; a golden wrist bracelet; and now two passes to the local movie theater.

  Kayla felt very special for the attention shown her by her secret admirer. She wondered, “Will I ever find out who is giving me these surprises?” Kayla was lost in her thoughts and drifted off to sleep.

  It was February 14th: Valentine’s Day. Kayla wondered if the days of past were simply a dream; a big, wonderful dream. She jumped from her bed, dressed quickly and ran outside with yet another brief “Hi” to her mother. Kayla ran toward the sundial not really caring what time it was; yet, this is where the last adventure would begin. She also hoped that this is where the mystery would be solved.

  Kayla approached the sundial bubbling with excitement and a little anxious. What if there was nothing there? What if she never finds out who has surprised her all week long? What if...

  It was time to meet the “what ifs” head on. Kayla looked around the sundial upon which the morning sun was shining bright. At its base she found the final clue. Kayla nervously opened the message and read with some concern:

  Today is Valentine’s Day

  And this is what I have to say:

  Go back in the direction you started

  Under the bed from which you parted!

  Kayla was somewhat bewildered as to how her secret admirer got into her bedroom. Unknown to her, Kayla’s mother, Debby, became aware of what Sean was doing and talked to him about it. She also talked to Sean’s father, Brian. They thanked Sean for treating Kayla special and agreed to letting him hide the last surprise in her bedroom.

  Kayla ran back into the house greeting her mother “Hi” once again as she warped by. Up the stairs she ran just as she ran down the stairs a moment before. Kayla turned sharply into her room and slid to the floor. She stopped right to the side of her bed. Kayla did not have to raise her covers because, as usual, her bed was not yet made.

  Kayla saw a little box near one of the legs of her bed. She stretched her arm as far as it would reach and grabbed the box with the tips of her fingers. Once in her grasp, Kayla stood up and hopped on her bed. This box was neatly wrapped with a ribbon and a bow. Kayla gently unwrapped the box to reveal a golden locket on a chain. There was no note, which saddened Kayla. Now she will never know who went through all that effort and left her so many wonderful gifts and memories.

  Kayla then noticed an inscription on the locket: “Friends Forever.” She opened the locket to find school pictures of Sean and herself. Kayla was so happy that she began crying. She ran downstairs to tell her mother wiping her joyous tears from her face. As she walked into the kitchen, Sean and his father Brian were seated at the table with his mother. They all shouted, “Happy Valentine’s Day!”

  Kayla stood there frozen for a moment in time not knowing what to say. Sean stood from the table and she ran over to him. They greeted each other with a hug and Kayla exclaimed, “Sean, you’re the best!” Sean, fighting back his own tears, quietly said to Kayla, “Happy Valentine’s Day my special friend.”

  March: Goggy and His Pot of Gold

  It was a mild spring this March, a very mild spring indeed. Spring is the season that brings everything fresh and new: it is the start of everything wonderful. Everything comes alive in the spring and things that were dormant awaken.

  Nathan, Michael and Zachary looked to many rainbows that painted the skies with their bright colors. They often played in rain showers when rainbows usually appeared. Zachary, Michael and Nathan sometimes made their own rainbows with the water hose during summer play.

  What Nathan, Zachary and Michael did not know was that they were about to begin a magical adventure—an adventure based in legend of long, long ago in a far way land.

  Our story begins in a country far, far away in the land of Iarland and the town of Glockey Nora. And no… I don’t know how things are in Glockey Nora; so don’t ask! Anyway, legend has it that all leprechauns come from Iarland. A leprechaun mind you, not trolls! And the patron saint of all leprechauns was St. Glarneyfemdias. He was born in Glockey Nora a long time ago and green was his favorite color.

  Now, Glockey Nora is particularly green around the time of St. Patrick’s Day. Also, many things came from Glockey Nora... The cheering song of the skylark bird... The breeze that brushes over the hills and dales... The hanging branches of the tall, weeping willows... And the gentle babbling of the pristine flowing brooks...

  Glockey Nora, however, was most famous for its legends. The most famous legend was that “you will never grow sick or poor if you look to the rainbow.”

  Zachary, Michael and Nathan’s eyes grew real big. The legend says if you can find the end of the rainbow, you will be near a pot of gold buried by a leprechaun! He will show the location of his crock of gold to anyone who catches him so says the legend.

  Being thoughtful and curious, Nathan, Zachary and Michael decided one day to test the legend for themselves. As St. Patrick’s Day neared, they prayed that a rain shower would bring its colorful rainbow. If there was a crock of gold at the end of it and they could find the leprechaun who buried it, they indeed would never grow old or poor!

  Michael, Nathan and Zachary waited and watched each day for the sky to cloud and rain to fall. One day, while watching for a rain shower, Nathan asked Zachary, “Even if it does rain and even if we do see a rainbow, how will we find the end of the rainbow? How do we catch a leprechaun?” Michael looked on wondering the same thing to himself. Zachary thought for a moment and said, “Well, we will use dad’s binoculars to find the end of the rainbow. We’ll put our backpacks on our backs...” Michael interrupts and breaks out in song: “Valerie... Valerah...” Nathan shook his head and interrupted his brother, “Get real, Michael.” Zachary continued, “We’ll put our school backpacks on and fill them with food and other stuff.”

  Zachary then crawled behind the couch and brought out something green and awful strange looking. He said to Michael and Nathan, “Then we will use this to find the leprechaun!” Nathan and Michael looked surprised and amazed at what Zachary brought out from behind the couch. Zachary said, “This gizmo is a leprechaun finder. You point it toward the end of a rainbow and push this.” Zachary pushed a button and the gizmo zinged, zanged, sniffed, burped and shuddered. The gizmo then squelched:

  Leprechaun Green,

  Leprechaun Gold;

  You don’t have me

  At the end of a Rainbow!

  The boys laughed and Zachary returned the gizmo behind the couch.

  They again began watching out the window and noticed the sky turning gray and clouds beginning to form. Could rain be far away?

  The clouds grew darker and opened-up. Lightening cracked and the roar of thunder was heard. A gentle rain began falling and the trees glistened a bright green.

  Michael, Nathan and Zachary were excited as they hoped that a rainbow might appear in the sky. They hurriedly got their dad’s binoculars and stuffed their backpacks with food and drinks that their mom shopped for that day.

  Zachary got the leprechaun gizmo behind the couch. They told their parents they were going out to play in the rain and ran into the backyard. Nathan, Zachary and Michael put on their shoes and got their umbrellas that were hung in the garage. They stood back-to-back-to-back as they scanned the skies for a rainbow. It seemed like they waited for the longest time and then waited some more. They looked and waited and waited and looked.

  The rain continued to fall gently from the sky. Zachary, Michael and Nathan could smell the rain and the freshness it brought to the earth.

  They continued to look and wait and wait and look wondering if they would have to put their umbrellas back on their hooks.

  Michael, Nathan and Zachary looked and waited for the longest, longest time. Just
when they were about to give up, they spotted a faint rainbow in the sky. They became excited and jumped up and down as the rainbow became brighter and brighter. The looking and waiting was finally over! Zachary used the binoculars to search for the end of the rainbow. He looked toward his brothers and pointed in a direction to the right side of their house.

  Zachary pointed and said excitedly, “There Nathan! There Michael! There is the end of the rainbow. We have to walk in that direction.” They walked in the direction of the rainbow—hopefully, the end of the rainbow.

  Along their journey, Zachary, Nathan and Michael passed places they saw many times before. They passed their neighbors and started walking on a busy street. Then they passed stores where they shopped and playgrounds where they hopped.

  As Nathan, Michael and Zachary walked, they began passing stores and buildings they had not seen before. They kept on walking, each taking a turn viewing the rainbow through the binoculars. It was important that they find the end of the rainbow before it vanished from the sky and before the fall of darkness (“Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!”).

  Nathan, Zachary and Michael…

  WALKED,

  WALKED,

  WALKED.

  Then Michael, Zachary and Nathan

  RESTED,

  RESTED,

  RESTED.

  They walked some more and rested some more. Finally, Michael was looking at the rainbow through his father’s binoculars and screamed march:goggy and his pot of gold with great and silly joy: “There it is! There it is! There’s the end of the rainbow!”

  Well, Zachary and Nathan had walked so much that they thought their brother was just kidding. So Zachary took the binoculars from Michael (and almost took his neck with it) and peeked for himself. And to Zachary’s amazement and delight, there it was. It really was the end of the rainbow. They finally got there!

  Zachary, Nathan and Michael were so excited that they broke out in song:

  “Look, Look,

  Up to the Rainbow;

  Follow It Over the

  Hill and Stream.

  Look, Look,

  Up to the Rainbow;

  Follow the Leprechaun

  And You’ll Find His Dream.”

  Zachary, Nathan and Michael moved quickly now as dusk was beginning to set. They reached the end of the rainbow, but they still had to find and catch the leprechaun if they were to lay claim on his crock of gold.

  So Zachary asked Michael to reach in his backpack for the leprechaun tracking gizmo. As Michael reached into the backpack with his right hand, he began singing as before, “Valerie... Valerah...” Nathan just shook his head and said nothing; however, he thought to himself, “My brother has a one track mind!”

  Michael handed the green gizmo over to Zachary. He pointed exactly to the end of the rainbow and pushed the button. The gizmo zinged, zanged, sniffed, burped and shuddered. Then it zinged and zanged again. Next, the leprechaun fetching gizmo squelched:

  Leprechaun green,

  Leprechaun old;

  There is a little short one,

  Yonder by the mushroom of gold!

  Wasting no time, Nathan took a big net out of his backpack. This surprised Zachary because he did not know that his brother thought of it. It was the net that their parents used to cover their garden from the birds and other varmints. Now, they certainly had a way to catch the leprechaun.

  Zachary, Michael and Nathan had a way to catch the leprechaun, but just how fast can leprechauns run? They did not know the answer to that question, but they were soon to find out. Nathan, Zachary and Michael thought about trying to sneak-up on the leprechaun, but the leprechaun began running. They looked briefly at each other and then did the same.

  They ran and ran and ran. And after stopping to take some deep breaths, they ran some more. Zachary, Michael and Nathan ran over yon hill and yon dale. They sometimes fell down yon dale and helped each other up yon hill. They got tired and then “yawned” some more! Each time that Nathan, Michael and Zachary came close to the leprechaun, he pulled away and smiled impishly.

  Leprechauns, however, being real short have to run faster than human beans to stay ahead of them. As the leprechaun ran, Zachary, Michael and Nathan noticed that he was becoming very tired. They were now gaining on him. Michael, Nathan and Zachary kept running and running. They were breathing hard and their lungs ached, but they were determined to catch the leprechaun and his dream! So they kept running and running. Soon they were close behind him.

  The leprechaun could no longer keep his pace. He was breathing so hard that his green skin was turning pale yellow. He was dropping pieces of gold as he ran, not to mention his green shoes, green socks, green shorts and green underwear (I told you not to mention that!). The leprechaun seemed to be at the end of his rope, er, at least his clothes!

  Zachary, Nathan and Michael saw their chance. As the leprechaun slowed his pace, they came closer and closer. Soon they were upon the leprechaun. He stopped suddenly in his tracks, out of breath from the chase and looking pale green. Zachary, Nathan and Michael stopped too and began spreading their net. Zachary then said to his brothers, “On the count of three, throw the net on the leprechaun.” Michael and Nathan nodded and Zachary began counting, “One... Two... Two and a half (just kidding)... Three! Zachary’s breath went out of him as he yelled “three” and they threw their net in the direction of the leprechaun. The net went flying out of their hands and floated right over the head of the leprechaun.

  Nathan, Michael and Zachary jumped up and down excitedly. They clapped their hands and stomped their feet. “We got ‘em! march:goggy and his pot of gold We got ‘em!” they cried.

  Zachary, Nathan and Michael could hardly believe their eyes. They traveled so far and so long before they finally caught their leprechaun.

  Nathan, Zachary and Michael walked cautiously toward the leprechaun. Since they never met a leprechaun before, they really did not know what to expect. They were not even sure what to say, so they said what they always do when they met someone new:

  “HI!”

  Now leprechauns do not often meet humans either. He peered through the net and looked over Zachary, Michael and Nathan again and again. After a long pause, the leprechaun said, “Be gosh and be glory, you three humans are awful big!”

  They told the leprechaun that they did not want to harm him. They told their story of Iarland, Glockey Nora, the legend of leprechauns and their pot of gold.

  The leprechaun told Zachary, Michael and Nathan that the legend was indeed true. He asked them to let him go and he would show them his crock of gold. So Michael, Nathan and Zachary grabbed each side of the net and released the leprechaun.

  The leprechaun introduced himself. “Good evening to ye, my name is Goggy.” Michael, Nathan and Zachary said “Hi” and told Goggy their names and how they traveled beyond yon hill and yon dale. Goggy mumbled, “My, what strange names ye humans have” and gave out a little giggle. He continued, “Well, you can see the pot of gold because I’m sitting on it. Tis a lovely sight now, tisn’t it now?”

  The eyes of Michael, Nathan and Zachary grew big as the sparkle of gold glittered nearby. They were so excited that they could hardly calm themselves; but they tried to calm themselves anyway.

  Nathan, Zachary and Michael asked for Goggy’s crock of gold since they caught him. By legend, the pot of gold was rightly theirs. Goggy said: “Ye indeed have rights to me crock of gold, but I must tell ye what will happen if ye take me gold.”

  What Goggy had just said broke the excitement experienced by Zachary, Nathan and Michael just moments ago. They grew serious, almost scared, as they stood frozen in front of him. They turned toward each other, but said nothing. Their eyes said what was in their minds.

  Zachary, Michael and Nathan turned back to Goggy and listened to him. He continued, “We leprechauns hide and bury our pots of gold because of the magical powers they give to us. Ye see, if we lose the gold and our magical powers, we leprechauns start growin
g and slowly turn human.”

  Nathan, Zachary and Michael turned toward each other once more and said nothing. They turned toward Goggy once again as he spoke: “So, ye certainly have the right to me pot of gold.”

  Goggy stopped talking suddenly and sniffed a little. He then said, “But I would no longer be able to live here at the end of the rainbow and I will turn into a human bean!”

  Nathan, Michael and Zachary looked at each other for a moment and quickly knew what they had to do. They never have hurt anybody or anybody’s feelings on purpose and they were not going to start now. They turned back toward Goggy and Nathan said somewhat disappointedly, “We won’t take your pot of gold.”

  Goggy seemed awful relieved and wanted to express his appreciation to them. So he threw them some pieces of gold that they caught in their net.

  Zachary, Michael and Nathan turned toward each other and shrugged their shoulders as if to say, “Is that all there is?” It was getting dark now and they were not looking forward to their long journey home. Goggy saw the look of sadness on their faces and sensed that something was not right.

  Goggy turned toward Zachary, Michael and Nathan and asked, “Is there something else I can do for ye?” Michael said, “Well, we are a long, long way from home and are awful tired.”

  Nathan added, “We’re also not too fond of the dark!” Michael continued, “Do you think you can reach into that magic pot of gold and send us home?”