| |
HUDGEON
TALES
By Eleanor Goodman
BOOK I
CHAPTER 5
Time passed and as Lily Rose
grew, her magical powers also grew. One morning, while Mr. Joe
worked on a new bed, JJ went to give the growing hudgeon breakfast. He
couldn’t find her anywhere!
Just as he was beginning to get
worried, JJ heard a tiny giggle coming from high up near the
ceiling. He looked up to see the hudgeon perched on the
curtain rod.
“How did you climb up there?” he asked.
“Didn’t climb. Flew.” she responded.
“You flew? How did you do that?”
“Don’t know… just did it.”
“Well, come on down and eat some breakfast.”
“I ate already.”
“But there wasn’t any mess in the kitchen.”
“I know. I cleaned it up.” Lily Rose said proudly. “Have
you noticed anything different around here?” she asked.
Jimmy Jake looked around him.
“WOW!” The entire room sparkled like a Christmas tree. Everything
glittered… the walls, the ceiling, the furniture. Even the air
itself wore a fine mist of gleaming color. “This is better than
Christmas! You’ve enchanted the whole room!”
“I did, and you’d better not ask how I did it, because I just did,
and that’s that.”
“Well come on down anyway and eat another breakfast. You must be
hungry after all that hard work.”
“Wasn’t hard work. It was great, good fun for a hudgeon.” And
she floated gracefully to the floor, purring contentedly.
After eating, JJ and Lily Rose
settled down to their little, morning ritual of lessons. As
Jimmy Jake read to her, Lily Rose suddenly said, “I want
to learn how to do that.”
“Do what? Read? Can’t your magic help you?”
“Doesn’t seem to. You’ll have to teach me.”
“That’s hard work. People go to school to learn how to read.”
“Well then, I’ll go to school.”
“You can’t go to school. School is for kids, not hudgeons.”
“You can put me in your pocket and nobody will know I’m there.”
They argued for awhile and, as usual, Lily Rose
won. Mr. Joe once explained to JJ, “She always wins because she
is so sure of what she wants.”
The next morning, JJ found her
looking in the mirror, trying on one outfit after another.
“Hurry up! I’ll be late! It doesn’t make any
difference what you wear. No one’s gonna see you anyway.”
“Guess I’ll wear jeans and a tee-shirt so I’ll be just like
the other kids.”
JJ snorted, then lifted her and carefully put her in the pocket
of his button-down shirt. “You’ll be able to
hear what the teacher is saying and maybe see a bit through the
material. It’s pretty thin. But whatever you
do, don’t let anyone see you!” JJ put a jacket
on over the shirt—just to make sure she wasn’t seen
if she poked her head out.
“Hope it’s not too hot today,” came Lily Rose’s muffled
voice.
When they got to school, some
of the kids wanted to know why JJ was so dressed up and he mumbled
something about going to a meeting with Mr. Joe after school.
The day seemed to last forever. JJ
was nervous, but nothing bad happened. Lily Rose didn’t
poke her head out or make a sound.
When they got home, she was very
excited. “I could hear everything and see right through
the pocket,” she announced proudly.
“Go get the book,” she ordered.
JJ got her favorite book, the one with stories about elves and
fairies.
She opened it eagerly, expecting to read the stories.
“I can’t read it!” she yelled.
JJ tried hard not to laugh. “Today was your first
day at school. It took me two years to learn how to read. Look
here though, I bet you know some of these words.”
She picked out a few simple words—the, and, a, dog, cat.
“Don’t worry, after a few days you’ll know all the letters,
and then I can coach you at home,” JJ added soothingly. “You’re
a quick learner; it won’t take very long.”
So one day followed the next
in an uneventful sort of way. The hudgeon made steady progress
and was able to read some of JJ’s easy books.
Then, one day on the school playground,
as JJ bent down to pick up a ball, Lily Rose fell out of his
pocket just as Jeb Michael, the school bully, was tying his shoelace. Lily
froze absolutely still.
“Ah ha… what have we here? A doll? You
bring a doll to school?” He held the hudgeon up high. Look
teacher, look everybody, look at the doll Jimmy Jake brought
to school!”
“You give that back to me!” JJ jumped up and grabbed the
other boy’s hand and at that exact moment, jst as their hands touched,
Jeb Michael suddenly went flying through the air across the playground then
landed with a painful yelp.
Lily was in JJ’s hand and he quickly put her back in his
pocket.
All the kids gathered around JJ, awestruck, thinking that he
had done it, that he had thrown the much bigger, heavier and
stronger boy.
“How did you do that?” they all wanted to know.
JJ shrugged. “I dunno. I just did it.”
There was no more teasing or bullying from then on, not from
Jeb Michael or anyone else. JJ had won everybody’s
respect, and only he and Lily Rose knew the truth of the matter.
>> Click here
to continue to next chapter >> |
|
