Two Wishes for the Showbiz Kid

By Lugenia Lynn Lightle

Andrew is the middle child and nobody in his family seems to care about his dream of becoming an actor. One day, Andrew meets a man who grants him two wishes to use within a week. Andrew is skeptical but decides to give it a try when he goes to bed. His wish comes true and he wakes up to find himself an only child with new parents and a successful show business career. He suddenly has everything he had ever wanted and no longer has to compete for his parents’ attention.But he soon learns that being a child star isn’t as glamorous as he thought. He misses his mother’s cooking and even starts to miss his brothers. But he isn’t quite ready to go back home just yet. He finds that he has a new best friend and becomes interested in a girl. But when things don’t work out, he decides to use his last wish to go back to his old life. He wakes up in his old room with his mom sitting at his bedside as he recovers from a high fever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jul 14, 2014
• ISBN: 9781483532721

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Chapter 1 – The Middle Child

It was Saturday morning and Andrew was searching for his other tennis shoe.

Andrew Grump, breakfast is getting cold! yelled his mom, Joan, from the bottom of the stairs.

Be right there, shouted Andrew, holding one tennis shoe by the string and looking for the other one. He looked under the pile of toys in the corner of his closet. No luck. Maybe it was under the dirty clothes that he was supposed to have taken to the laundry room.

As usual, he was late for breakfast. No different than any other day, thought Joan as she sighed and went back to the kitchen. He was always late for one reason or another.

Andrew looked down at his feet. His big toe was sticking out of a hole in the sock on his right foot. Oh well, they would have to do and he would look for his tennis shoes later. He slipped on his black loafers and hurried downstairs to the kitchen.

His mom was pouring herself another cup of coffee and his dad, Morris, was sitting at the table with Andrew’s two brothers, Elliot and Cooper. Both boys were busy devouring their mom’s blueberry pancakes, which were Andrew’s favorite breakfast. He hoped there were some left.

Elliot was a year older than Andrew and Cooper was a year younger. Elliot was in the eighth grade, a straight-A student and a member of the Junior Scientists Club. Andrew thought Elliot was a little too bossy and stuck on himself.

Cooper was the baby of the family and never got blamed for anything, although he was all boy according to their mom because he was a pitcher for his baseball team.

After breakfast, the family was going to Elliot’s science fair. Elliot and his father shared a love of science, which made sense since Morris was a science teacher at the local high school. Cooper and his mom shared a love of baseball. In fact, she was an assistant coach for Cooper’s team.

Andrew was the dramatic one in the family. He attended acting classes after school and wanted to be a TV star. He also loved airplanes. If he couldn’t be a TV star when he grew up, he wanted to be an airline pilot.

But sometimes Andrew felt left out. Take now, for instance. His father and Elliot were discussing the science fair while his mother and Cooper talked about Cooper’s next game. Andrew’s parents never talked to him about acting.

Sometimes he felt he didn’t even belong in the family. He didn’t even look like them. They all had dark brown hair and blue eyes and perfect eyesight. Andrew had sandy blonde hair, green eyes and wore glasses. Andrew was short and thin. Cooper was tall for his age and weighed more than Andrew. Joan said not to worry, that Andrew just hadn’t reached his growth spurt yet. Elliot always teased Andrew, saying he was adopted and that his real parents were circus entertainers and weren’t able to take care of him.

Joan said not to pay any attention to Elliot and that Andrew looked like his Great Uncle Elmer on Morris’s side of the family. Andrew didn’t really believe he had an Uncle Elmer and that his mother was just trying to make him feel good. Maybe Elliot was right about him being adopted.

Good morning, said Joan, staring at Andrew’s odd choice of wardrobe – blue checked shorts and a red striped shirt, topped off by a black satin cape that flowed behind him as he walked. Written across the back of the cape in large white letters was The Showbiz Kid.

Morris checked his watch as Andrew sat down at the table. Good morning, Andrew, said Morris, trying not to laugh.

Morning, replied Andrew, squeezing by Elliot to get to his chair. For as long as he could remember, this was his chair. He liked it because he could look out the window at the sky, which gave him an excuse for not talking to his brothers.

More pancakes, mumbled Elliot through a mouthful of pancakes. He handed his plate to his mom, stifling a laugh at the same time. She tossed a couple pancakes on his plate and handed it back. Elliot couldn’t take it any longer. He swallowed hard then blurted out laughing. Who dressed you, a clown? he asked Andrew.

Joan motioned for Elliot to be quiet as she put three pancakes on Andrew’s plate and tried hard not to laugh herself. She usually picked out Andrew’s clothes but decided to let him do it on his own this morning. Now she wished she hadn’t as she stared at the patch of unruly hair standing straight up on his head.

Andrew crammed his mouth full of pancakes. Andrew, slow down, scolded Joan. You’ll get choked.

You didn’t yell at Elliot for eating fast, said Andrew.

Elliot’s older, said Joan.

Only a year, replied Andrew.

"Yes,