Backyard Magic

Backyard Magic

By J.C.

        The plastic Whiffle ball smacked off my brother George’s plastic bat and sailed through the air before hitting its mark my knee. “Ow!” I wailed, clutching my knee. “That hurt!” My best friend Hope hurried over. “Ella! Are you okay?” she asked me. I murmured I was fine. “Let me just go get some ice.” I limped into the house and into the garage, where we keep the big ice packs. I found one and pressed it to my knee. There, that was better. I replaced it and that was when I noticed a door in the side of the garage. I went over to it and opened it and went out. As I did, I felt a little buzz. I decided it was probably my imagination. I went around back and gasped. It seemed like everyone’s dream had come true! Hope had fairy wings! My brother was a baseball champion! And me, my dream had always been to have a magic wand. I reached in my pocket, I had one! What was going on? I ran over to Hope. “Hope, what’s going on!” She looked at me like I was crazy. “What do you mean Ella?” Then she frowned. “Can you make me have green wings?” I did, confused. How did this happen? How could I get back to the real world? This was fun, sure, but could I really live here for ever? I decided I might as well make the best of it and pulled out my wand. “Make me a sandwich.” A sandwich appeared and I ate it. All afternoon I played with my new magic. Hope flew me around and I watched my brother hit home runs the biggest ball players would’ve been proud of. But by the end of the day I was bored. There was no work anymore. If I wanted to paint a picture, I just made myself have talent. It was fun but it felt like I didn’t need to do anything, and sometimes doing it was part of the fun. To make a cake I just waved the wand instead of buying the ingredients and baking it. It was clear: I wanted to go back. But I couldn’t figure out how. That was something even the wand couldn’t do. Then I had a thought. What if I went back through the garage door? Full of hope I ran to it and tried to open it. But it was locked. Locked! I pulled out my wand and said “Unlock.” But even then the door wouldn’t open. I was doomed! But then I told myself to stop panicking and I ran back inside through the backdoor. I ran to the garage and into it, and then I unlocked the door. I ran back outside quick as lightning and over the garage door. I opened it  yes, it was open and ran into the house, my heart beating.
     I walked carefully out the back door and nearly screamed with relief. Everything was normal, exactly how I’d left it when I went inside to get ice. I rushed over and started dancing. During it I fell and twisted my ankle. I reached for my wand and remembered I didn’t have one anymore. Well, that was okay. I stood up, limping and grinning wildly. Sometimes it was better to actually work for things.