Wishing Well and Other Strange Stories

By Lynne Roberts

What do you wish for when you open a bottle and release a genie? That is what Nina has to decide. She is not even sure if he is a real genie, or even if he has magic powers at all. Maybe he is just teasing her, but there is only one way to find out, and that is to make a wish.
There are five fantasy stories in this book, all dealing with ordinary children who find themselves in extraordinary magical situations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lynne Roberts
• Release date: Feb 28, 2014
• ISBN: 9781927241219

Lynne Roberts

Lynne is a writer, musician, dance teacher and porcelain painter, among other things. She lives on an orchard in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand where she breeds donkeys and collects grandchildren. Lynne has written copious numbers of educational teaching resources from pre-school through to tertiary level. She writes story books and fantasy fiction for children and poetry for children and adults, always with a strong vein of humour. Lynne also writes musicals for which she composes the original music.

Book preview

Wishing Well and Other Strange Stories

By Lynne Roberts

Published by Liberty Publications at Smashwords

Copyright 2014 Lynne Roberts

ISBN 978-1-927241-21-9

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author

Contents

Wishing Well

The Third Lamp-post on the Left

Practice Makes Perfect

Under a Cloud

Occasional Table

Wishing Well

Nina pushed a coin in the slot of the drink vending machine. Her hand hovered by a button then fell back by her side.

'Come on, Nina. Make up your mind,' Finn urged her.

'There are too many to choose from,' Nina protested. 'I want to make sure I get the very best flavour.'

'It's only a fizzy drink, for heavens' sake,' her brother said, sighing in exasperation as Nina touched first one button, then another. 'You know Mum will complain if we're not back in the carpark at three o'clock and that only gives us ten minutes.’

'It doesn't take ten minutes to get to the carpark,' Nina answered indignantly. 'You only want to hurry so you can spend five minutes gazing at Sophie Banister in the sports shop.'

Finn went pink and shuffled his feet. 'No it's not,' he said insincerely. 'Anyway, I do have to go to the sports shop as it happens. I need a new tennis ball.'

'What happened to the last dozen?' Nina inquired innocently. 'You can't have lost them all since Wednesday. You're not that bad a player and you've only played one game since then. And if it comes to that, you can buy tennis balls at the supermarket on the way home.'

'I haven't lost them,' Finn muttered. 'But they aren't any good. I need better quality ones that bounce more. The supermarket doesn't sell that sort. Now grab your drink and come on. Otherwise you can buy one at the supermarket.'

'You know Mum hardly ever lets me buy fizzy drink,' Nina objected. 'Oh I can't decide. I'll close my eyes and take what I get, and if it turns out to be horrible it will be all your fault.'

She closed her eyes and pushed a button at random. There was a clunk and a violent yellow coloured bottle tumbled into the dispenser in front of her.

'Ooh, yuck. That looks awful.'

'Serves you right for taking so long,' Finn sniffed.' I'm off to the sports shop. See you back at the car.'

With that he turned and darted though the crowded shopping mall, leaving Nina clutching her bottle of yellow fizzy drink.

Thinking dark thoughts about impatient older brothers, Nina made her way past the shops. It was summer sale time, and racks of inviting T-shirts and sundresses hung outside all the clothing stores. Nina resolutely ignored them.

'I don't need anything new,' she told herself. 'And anyway, the gear that's left will only be the stuff everyone else rejected earlier in the summer.'

This heroic attitude carried her past the first six shops but in the seventh a vivid pink top caught her eye and she wasted several minutes holding it against herself as she tried to see her reflection in the store window. She had almost decided it was worth trying on when she saw the price tag.

'Ninety five dollars!' Nina gave a horrified gasp and hastily thrust the top back on the rack. She fought her way though the crowd of shoppers, all of whom seemed to be going in the opposite direction, and arrived breathlessly in the carpark to find her mother and Finn already waiting in the car.

'I did say three o'clock, Nina,' her mother said reproachfully, as she turned the key in the ignition.

'Sorry,' said Nina. 'It was so crowded it was hard to get through and Finn raced on ahead of me.'

Finn glared at her, knowing full well Nina was trying to get him into trouble. He was not supposed to leave his sister on her own in the shopping mall. Both Finn and Nina thought this was a stupid rule, but as their father explained when they complained to him about it, 'your mother is nervous since that young girl was abducted last year.'

'But that wasn't even in our town,' Nina had protested.

'It doesn't hurt to be careful,' her father had answered. 'There are some odd types about, you know. Besides, you and Finn always get on well together.'

Nina had to concede this was true. But lately Finn had become interested in girls, Sophie Banister in particular, and he wasn't keen on his kid sister tagging along with him.

'What's in that bottle? Did you buy it, Nina?' her mother asked in horror.

Nina sighed. 'No, I stole it,' she wanted to reply, but fixed a smile on her face and said, 'I was thirsty, Mum and anyway it's mainly fruit juice.'

'It looks full of sugar. It won't do your teeth any good at all.'

'Do you want me to throw it away?' Nina asked politely, as the car pulled in by the supermarket. She knew this would irritate her mother who hated any form of waste.

'Don't be so silly. You'd better drink it now you've bought it. But you'll have to stay outside. You can't come inside with food or drink.'

Nina made a face. The fizzy drink looked even more unappealing in the bright sunlight. She reluctantly turned the cap as her mother directed Finn to collect a trolley and bustled into the supermarket heading for the produce aisle. The cap was surprisingly stiff to turn. Nina gritted her teeth and made a final effort. There was a sharp crack of sound as the cap came off in her hand, and a wisp of vapour trickled out of the neck of the bottle. As Nina began to lift it to her lips, the vapour suddenly billowed into an evil smelling cloud of yellow gas. Nina dropped the bottle with a squawk of alarm.

'It's a bomb,' she wailed, looking around wildly for help.

'No it's not,' came a bored voice from within the cloud.

Nina peered through the smoke, coughing a little. A teenage boy stood in front of her with his arms crossed. He was skinny, with a sharp pointed chin and a long nose framed by a mop of untidy hair the colour of dirty string. He wore faded jeans that were tattered along the hem above chunky black boots. His mud-coloured T-shirt had some sort of writing on the front, which Nina couldn't quite read. A frayed canvas bag hung from one bony shoulder and the boy hitched this up as he looked down at Nina.

'Where did you come from?' Nina stammered.

'The bottle of course,' the boy answered calmly.

Nina stared, openmouthed, then came to her senses. 'Don't be silly,' she said. 'I'm not that stupid. Did you see the smoke stuff that came out of my bottle? I thought it was a bomb.'

She began to chatter nervously, feeling uncomfortable under the boy's rather mocking gaze.

'I told you, it isn't a bomb. I won't bore you with the technical side of it, seeing you are a girl, but it's what usually happens when you open a bottle and release a genie.'

Nina seethed. 'What do you mean, seeing I'm a girl? Girls have brains just as good as boys' any day of the week. And I don't believe you, anyway. You've just come from behind one of those cars and you're trying to wind me up.'

'Suit yourself,' the boy shrugged. 'Whatever you believe doesn't change the facts. Whether you want them or not, I have to honour my contract.' He yawned. 'I must inform you that you are entitled to three wishes.' He took a pack of chewing gum from his hip pocket and popped a piece into his mouth.

Nina took a step backwards. Maybe her Mum was right. There were some very odd people about and if she wasn't careful she might be abducted. She made up her mind quickly and ran for the supermarket entrance. Glancing back over her shoulder she sighed with relief to find no sign of the weird boy following her. As her heart-rate returned to normal she walked down past the cabbages and lettuces and turned into the next aisle. There was no sign of