Boxed Set: Egg and the Hameggattic Sisterhood: [The 12 book 1st adventure + the series prequel]

by Robert Iannone

  “I asked Ham if I could come over on Saturday.” For a sweet girl, she was acting very brave.

  Egg didn’t like it. She didn’t like that Melody had called her best friend Ham – that was a name that only she had a right to use. And she didn’t like the idea about joining them on Saturday.

  “We’re having a very important meeting on Saturday and I’m very sorry but you are not invited.” She said this in a very mean way.

  “Oh.”

  Both Melody and Sylvia were totally embarrassed. Angela and Presley were giggling. And Egg was looking very superior.

  In the rear view mirror, Mrs. Graystone was watching the whole thing. And she was not happy.

  For the rest of the trip, Melody sat quietly and nothing Sylvia could say would make her talk or even smile. And every time that Egg and the other two would laugh or giggled, the more withdrawn Melody became. It was very sad to watch . . . . and it made Sylvia very mad.

  *****

  On Friday evening, Egg got a surprise visit. She was in her bedroom when someone knocked on her door.

  “Come in.”

  “Hello, my darling, how are you feeling?”

  “Grammy” and she ran over and gave her a big hug. “I didn’t know you were coming over.”

  “Well, I just wanted to stop by and make sure you still knew who I was,” teased the older woman.

  Playing along, Egg stepped back and studied her grandmother “Let me see . . . pretty face, nice hair, no wrinkles, so you must be very young. Intelligent eyes, so you must be very smart. Hmmm . . . I think we must be related. You’re my older sister, right?” And they both laughed.

  Turning more serious, her grandmother said, “Come sit by me on the bed. I want to discuss something with you.”

  ‘Uh-oh’ thought Egg ‘here comes one of her lessons. Wonder what I did wrong this time?’

  “I heard you went on a field trip this week. How was it?”

  “Very nice. But that’s not what you wanted to talk about, is it?”

  “It isn’t?”

  “No, Grammy. You want to talk to me about Melody . . . right?”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because we wouldn’t let her come to the tea party tomorrow.”

  “Why wouldn’t you?”

  “Grammy, we just don’t like her.”

  “Who is 'we'?”

  “Me, and Angela, and Presley and Ham.”

  “It didn’t seem to your mother that Sylvia felt the same way.”

  “Okay, maybe not Ham.”

  “Is Melody a terrible person?”

  “No, she’s not terrible. She’s just different from the four of us.”

  “How well do you know her? Have you ever invited her to your house or gone to hers?”

  “No.”

  “So, you really don’t know what she’s like. You’re just guessing. Maybe you should give her a fair chance.”

  “Oh, Grammy, why? That doesn’t seem fair to me. Why should I have to give her a chance? If I don’t like somebody . . . well, then I don’t like them.”

  “There is time enough in life for that kind of thinking. But, my love, at your age you should embrace everyone who wants to be a friend. There is nothing more important than friends and family.”

  “Grammy, I just don’t think I can . . . at least this time.”

  “Sweetheart, this past weekend, when you lost your memory, how did you feel?”

  Egg was momentarily taken back by the switch in the conversation. She knew her grandmother expected a serious answer, so she thought about it for a few seconds. “Umm . . . lonely.”

  “Why lonely?”

  “Because I didn’t know if I had a family or any friends. It was just me and that was scary.”

  “Does Melody have any friends?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Is there any difference between how she must feel and the way you felt a few days ago?”

  That thought felt like another bonk on the head to Egg. The feeling of having no friends had been terrible. Just the thought of it made her want to cry. And, in that moment, she knew what she had to do.

  “Thank you Grammy” and she gave her grandmother another gigantic hug. “I can fix this mistake, now.”

  *****

  At the tea party the next day, Ham and Egg told the girls about the Hameggattic Sisterhood and showed them the attic room where they would meet. Everyone was very excited and they all wanted to join.

  “So, raise your right hand and repeat after me “We are the Sisters of Mystery and will protect each other from danger and keep each other’s secrets for as long as the sun shines and the stars twinkle.”

  Then they stood in a circle and locked pinkies. Egg with Presley. Presley with Angela. Angela with Sylvia. Sylvia with Melody. Melody with Egg. And the Hameggattic Sisterhood now had five members.

  Chapter 3 – Balloony Bye-Bye

  The moon was like a giant birthday balloon except it wasn’t a happy color; it was an angry orange. As creepy as that was, what was truly frightening was the shape that passed in front of it.

  There was no mistaking the hideous face of K’aos and the zombie dragon that he rode upon. All that saw them felt a wave of cold terror course through their heart. If evil had a shape . . . this was it. No man, woman or child was safe . . . there was no place to run, no place to hide.

  In all the land, no one had ever stood up to man and his mostly-dead beast and lived. No one . . . except Dazzle and her faithful dragon Storm. So the people called for their champion and the word went out. And before long, in the sky above the town there appeared the young woman and her companion.

  They landed on a nearby hill and Dazzle drew her crystal sword . . .

  . . . and held it high so the moonbeams could shimmer and dance off its faceted surface.

  But before she could issue a challenge, Storm said “Dazzle, put the sword away. You know you can’t fight him.”

  Dazzle turned to look at her friend. “I know. I can’t do combat with the man that I love” and with a profoundly sad expression on her lovely face she put the sword back in its scabbard.

  Storm put one of his great wings around the girl and began to buzzzzzzzzzz.

  ‘I wonder why he keeps making that strange sound’ thought Egg. ‘It’s very un-dragon like. Maybe he has a stomach ache.’

  But the buzzzzzzzzzz wouldn’t stop and finally Egg opened her eyes. “Rats” she said as she reached out to turn off the stupid alarm clock. “I just hate that sound,” complaining to no one in particular.

  She wanted to go back to sleep to see what Dazzle and Storm would do but it was no use. So she sat up in bed, hugged her knees to her chest and tried to remember all the details of the dream. ‘Hmmm . . . there was a funny colored moon, a dragon that didn’t know that he was dead, a bad guy with an very ugly face . . .’ but the rest of it was beginning to fade away like so much smoke from a chimney. No matter how hard she concentrated, it was no use. However, in the moment before it was all gone she remembered one more detail. “Oh wait. Storm called her Dazzle.” In the last dream, she didn’t have a name; she was just a warrior princess. “I like the name Dazzle” again talking to no one in particular. “It certainly sounds a lot more interesting than Egg.”

  She forced herself to get out of bed. After washing up, she put on her jeans and a sweatshirt that Brad had given her. On the front was emblazoned a cat in a hat eerily like the one she had saved months before. Since that was the first good deed that Flying Girl ever did, she felt compelled to wear it.

  She knew why her sister’s boyfriend gave it to her. It was Egg’s reward for not snitching to her mother that Ashley and he were always kissing. ‘Yuk’ she thought. ‘Make that double Yuk’. Oh well, all she could do was hope that her sister would outgrow this childish behavior.

  It was only eight o’clock and since it was Sunday, the rest of the family was probably still sleeping. She would have to fend for herself for breakfast. When she
got to the kitchen, however, she saw one of the yellow sticky notes attached to the refrigerator. It seem like she was always seeing yellow sticky notes on the refrigerator. She pulled it down and read it . . .

  Now that she read the note, she remembered her mom had told her about this last night. But she didn’t know that Ashley was feeling bad. Maybe she should go to her room and see if she needed anything.

  She grabbed a bagel and went back upstairs. As she stood in front of her sister’s door, she hesitated. It didn’t make much sense to wake her up to see if she needed anything. If she did need something, she wouldn’t have been asleep. So she backed away very quietly and went back to her room.

  Closing the door behind her, she quickly finished the bagel then made a mad dash to her closet. She had two hours all to herself. Two whole hours to go flying.

  She took down the little chest and pulled out the flying suit. Off went the cat and the pants and on went the magical outfit. She was about to close the chest when the jewelry caught her eye. ‘Hmmm’ she thought ‘why don’t we try on the . . .’ she looked at each in turn, trying to decide. First the necklace . . .

  then the bracelet . . .

  . . . and finally the ring.

  She now knew that the necklace gave her the ability to understand or speak any language. It already came in very handy when she rescued those two Italian skiers.

  The bracelet was in the shape of a two-headed snake or sea serpent . . . and it kind of scared her. But the ring was beautiful. She picked it up, admired it for a few seconds, and then slipped it on her left hand. It was too big, of course, but she knew it would magically adjust to fit her. And sure enough, it began to shrink.

  She put the chest under her bed then walked to the balcony. But before she opened the doors, she stopped. Ashley was sick and she felt bad that she hadn’t at least checked to see if she was alright.

  So she went back out her door, down the hall and stood in front of her sister’s bedroom once again. She put her hand on the knob and turned it slowly. But it was locked. “Drat” she said softly.

  She just couldn’t leave without checking, but with the door locked what could she do? ‘Too bad I wasn’t the size of a little spider and could crawl under the door.”

  Then the strangest thing happened . . . the door started to get bigger, and bigger and bigger. It was so big she couldn’t reach the doorknob anymore. And it still kept getting bigger, and bigger and bigger.

  She should have been terrified or at the very least, a little frightened . . . but she wasn’t. Ever since she got the flying suit, it seemed like something strange was always happening. So, she calmly looked around to see if anything else was getting bigger. And, sure enough, everything was. In fact, the hallway now looked like it went on and on forever.

  'Curiouser and curiouser! This is what Alice must have felt like.’ Thinking about the potion that made her favorite storybook character grow smaller and smaller made her realize it was she who was shrinking and not the world getting bigger. And it was no surprise at all that she was now the size of a spider and could indeed walk under the door. On the other side, everything was so large that she couldn’t even see the top of her sister’s bed, let alone her sister.

  Assuming . . . or at least hoping . . . that the ring had a reverse, she whispered ‘I wish I was back to my normal size’. To her relief, but not surprise, the world began to shrink. Seconds later, she was back to normal and so was everything else.

  ‘Well, that certainly was pretty amazing’ she thought. ‘I can’t imagine why anyone would need that kind of magic when you can fly.’ But since it had just come in handy, she was grateful.

  She quickly checked on her sister who was sleeping peacefully. There had been no need to worry, but still she felt better for having been concerned. Ashley would have done the same for her . . . except for the shrinking thing.

  So she made herself small, crawled out and returned to normal size. Walking as fast as she could without making noise, she hurried to her room and out the balcony door and up into the sky.

  She had no place in particular to go, but flying was flying and it was as wonderful as always. As she flew, she began to think about what had just happened. And she realized that if the jewelry could shrink to fit her, then why couldn’t it make people shrink too? It kind of made sense. But, she didn’t know why anyone would want to change size. Wait till she told Grammy.

  She put away the thought and began to enjoy the sights. As she flew low over the town, she kept an eye out for someone in need of help. After all, doing good deeds was what Flying Girl was all about.

  It was another pretty quiet morning – hardly any cars on the street and nobody walking. ‘Oh, that’s not true’ she said to herself. She spotted a small boy walking with his mother. The boy was holding a helium balloon and he and his mom were pointing at it and laughing. Egg flew lower and hovered just above some trees to get a better look.

  As she watched, she smiled at the little boy’s laughter. The balloon had writing on it and she was able to make it out . . .

  How sweet, she thought. It was his birthday. Then the boy cried out . . . a gust of wind had blown the balloon out of his hand. As it rose skyward, the boy yelled “Balloony . . . balloony . . . balloony. Mommy, balloony bye-bye.”

  “Oh, sweetheart, it’s okay, we’ll get another one. Alright?”

  The boy didn’t seem to understand. He just repeated “Balloony bye-bye.”

  Egg smiled . . . not at the lost balloon . . . but at the fact that another good deed was about to bring a smile to a little boy’s face. She zipped after the balloon and caught it in a flash.

  On the street, the little boy started to giggle while his mom stared in disbelief. “Mommy, balloony . . . balloony.” And he reached his little hand out.

  Egg landed very softly in front of the boy and handed him back his precious balloon. “Here you go. And have a very happy birthday.” She blew him a kiss and started to fly away.

  “But . . . who are you?” yelled the boy’s mother.

  “Call me Flying Girl.”

  The young mom shook her head still not believing what she was seeing. Nonetheless, she said to her son, “Say thank you to Flying Girl.”

  The little boy looked up and giggled “Balloony, balloony.”

  That was thanks enough.

  Chapter 4 – Alice in Wonderland

  Sunday, March 22: Dear Diary – Today I rescued a balloon. It wasn’t just any old balloon, but a Happy Birthday Balloony. A little boy lost it and started to cry. Luckily, I was close by and was able to grab it before it flew too far away. When I gave it back to him, he smiled and giggled. I know I say this every time – but I just love being Flying Girl. I can’t imagine what I will do when this all comes to an end in six years and five months.

  She reread her entry and smiled at the memory then frowned at the last sentence. Only . . . ummm, she had better use a calculator . . . 12 months times 6 years plus 5 months equals…77. That didn’t seem so bad; seventy-seven months actually sounded like a long time. She felt a little better.

  Then she closed her diary and put it back in her desk. Next to her flying suit and magical jewelry, her diary was her most important possession. If she didn’t think so before, she certainly did now. Without it, she might never have found her lost mind. Hmmm . . . maybe the boys were right, and that thought made her giggle.

  It was getting late and of course, she had school tomorrow. She went downstairs and kissed her mom and dad goodnight. Ashley was on the phone as usual and deep in conversation with “you know who.” So she snuck up on her sister, whacked her on the butt and ran away before Ashley could do the same to her. It was kind of a tradition between them. “Night, sis. I owe you one.”

  “Ha, you owe me a billion . . . and I don’t mean whacks.” Egg, of course, was referring to the kissing secret. She ran upstairs, jumped into bed and turned off the light.

  As she snuggled into the soft comforter and big fluffy pillows, she remem
bered the dream she had last night. Maybe if she thought real hard, she could make Dazzle and Storm finish their story. She was sure they were about to defeat some really evil man. But she just couldn’t recall all the details.

  Sleep came to her very quickly as it normally did. And just as she hoped, her dream came back . . .

  . . . but it was very hard to make out. Her mind tried to bring the image into focus but it was no use. Slowly, very slowly it began to fade away . . .

  . . . and then it was gone. And even though she was asleep, she scrunched up her face into a big pout.

  But before long, she began to dream about something else, something just as satisfying. She dreamt about the flying suit and the magical jewelry.

  She wondered who had created such wonderful things. But more importantly, she wondered why they were created. The suit allowed her to fly, the necklace let her speak and understand any language, and the ring let her change size. She didn’t know what the two-headed snake bracelet did, but she was sure it would be something equally as fantastic.

  And why did the magical jewelry only work for her and not her Grammy or any other person? And how did her family get the suit in the first place? And once she learned all the magic, what was she really supposed to do with it? Saving a Birthday Balloony was nice, but there must be some bigger reason for all of this.

  For a nine-year-old girl, she was asking herself some very grown-up questions. But, unfortunately, there was no one in her dreams to answer them. At least . . . not yet. Not for a while.

  *****

  At lunch the next day, the five Hameggattic Sisters were sitting in the cafeteria eating their lunches and talking. In fact, all five were talking at the same time, which was what they usually did. Apparently, they had a lot to say and no time to listen. And girls thought boys were goofy!

  The conversation . . . I mean conversations . . . were about all sorts of terribly interesting things. They had to discuss two television shows, a movie, Melody’s new dress, and the latest song by the best band in the whole universe -Fandango Sally. The band had five teen girl members and the best sound anywhere. The Sisterhood was breathless in anticipation of the band’s visit this summer. It was absolutely agreed that they would all attend.