“I bet it was that malicious Jeffrey Matthews trying to scare us with the toy phone!” Nikki whispered.
“I can’t handle this anymore,” hissed Brad. “I’m burning it!”
“No, what if it just makes things worse? After all, the phone is so magical that even after I threw it through the window of my old house, it appeared in the back seat of the vehicle next to Katie.”
“What could be worse than getting awakened in the middle of the night by calls from dead relatives? Or some evil entity pretending that your daughter is now dead and is also a spirit on the phone.”
“We’ll get rid of it the right way tomorrow at the yard sale and everything will be okay. It will be someone else’s burden.”
Brad grabbed his sleeping daughter out of her bed. “Katie’s sleeping with us until then. I don’t trust the haunted toy phone and I sure don’t want her talking on it. What if someone evil called her and said something that scared her?”
“Say no more,” Nikki agreed and they headed to their own bedroom with Katie.
“Mommy, why do we have to get rid of my toy phone?” asked Katie sleepily.
“Because it’s not working properly. We will buy you a play cell phone.”
“Can it be a Hello Kitty play cell phone?”
“Yes, it can be a Hello Kitty one.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Princess. Go to sleep.”
“In your bed with you?”
“Yes,” Brad said.
“Yay,” Katie said and snuggled down between them.
Brad fell asleep with his arm over Katie’s back.
*
It was already after noon and the toy phone still hadn’t sold at their yard sale. Nikki was starting to get worried that it might not sell. Then a little old lady got out of her car and walked over to the phone. “How much for the phone?”
“A quarter,” Brad yelled from across the yard.
The old lady handed Brad a quarter and left. Brad ran over to his wife.
“Did you see that?” he said in a very cheery voice. “It sold.”
Nikki was so happy that she burst out into laughter.
“I think we should just put the rest of the stuff back in the garage and let’s celebrate.”
Brad agreed and they cleaned up the yard sale leftovers before heading out to dinner.
They had a fantastic fancy dinner with the money they had made off the yard sale. When they returned home, they let Katie play out in the back yard as they held hands on the patio and watched the sunset.
“Everything is over now,” said Nikki. “Really over.”
“For us, it is. I imagine that your new half-brother is going to have his yard and house torn up for quite some time.”
“I’ll call him tomorrow and check on him, see how things are going. I imagine he will be able to sell our old house for a lot of money, now that the River Killer is involved. And his parents’ house for that matter. He was behind on the mortgage, but he should get offers on it from people who are interested in that sort of infamous history.”
“I didn’t think of that, but you are probably right, Nikki. I hope this horrible thing will turn into some big real estate deal or a book deal for him or something.”
“It should be highly fictionalized to avoid the complete truth,” Nikki said.
“Good thought. I truly wish him well. After all, he saved you and Tara.”
Nikki nodded. “He was, indeed, a brave young boy. She and I wouldn’t even be here if he wasn’t there for me when we needed him.”
Brad raised his wine glass to his wife and said, “To us, my love, and to Katie. And to Jimmy.”
She raised her glass to his.
The doorbell rang and Brad jumped up to answer the door. It was Tara.
“Hi!” Brad said in surprise.
Tara followed him out to the patio where Nikki was watching Katie.
“Hey, Tara,” said Nikki. “What are you doing here, girl?”
“Hello, everyone. I brought something cute for Katie.”
Katie ran over to her aunt. “Aunt Tara, you brought me something?”
“Hi, sweetie. I sure did. Today, Auntie Tara bought you a present at a yard sale. Now you can get rid of your other one that doesn’t work right,” she said with a wink to Nikki.
Tara opened her big Louis Vuitton bag and pulled out the old toy telephone.
The End
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MRS. HONEY PICKLE
by
Lindsey Stiles
Mrs. Honey Pickle
Published by Lindsey Stiles
Copyright © 2012 by Lindsey Stiles
All rights reserved.
Ebook Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Mrs. Honey Pickle
Wish One:
“I wish I never had a little brother.”
Mrs. Honey Pickle had been a fairy godmother for as long as she could remember. Throughout her long career, she had helped more than one million children with their problems by granting them their special wish. Mrs. Honey Pickle loved her job, and loved all the little children who she had helped along the way.
Mrs. Honey Pickle lived alone with her small dog, Buzzy, in a small house up in the sky just in a magical suburb of the galaxy, located just off the planet Mars. Even though she lived by herself, she was never really alone. She had her magic computer that let her see and hear all of the children in the world who needed a wish granted. And, she had Buzzy, of course, who was the best talking dog in the neighborhood, and he was her best friend, too. There were so many wishing children out there that sometimes, it was hard for her to decide on one. Mrs. Honey Pickle would discuss the problems and wishes of the children with Buzzy and they would come to a conclusion on which one to choose for a one-wish adventure. Today, Holly Anne Peterson caught their attention. Holly Anne was a fifth grader at Mount King Elementary. She had long auburn hair, big green eyes, and the most beautiful smile. Holly Anne was well-liked by the other children in her class and was an honor student. Her only problem in life was her little brother, Bobby.
Bobby was eight years old and in third grade; he lived to make Holly Anne’s life miserable. Whether it was pulling the heads off of all of her dolls or throwing live spiders in her hair, Bobby was always busy thinking up ways to bully sweet Holly Anne.
Having a rambunctious brother herself, one who she didn’t see too often, Mrs. Honey Pickle saw Holly Anne’s busy little brother to be quite an ongoing problem. In fact, Mrs. Honey Pickle had a lot of sympathy for Holly Anne, because her own brother had also wrecked a lot of her dolls while she was growing up, and had once left a frog in her bed, pranking her that it was really a prince. She fell for it, too. So, she and Buzzy talked it over and they decided that they would grant a wish to Holly Anne. Although they knew what her wish would be, they had to let Holly Anne speak for herself. After all, those were the rules of the fairy godmother wishes.
“Okay, Buzzy, you ready to go?” Mrs. Honey Pickle asked. “Woof, woof,” said Buzzy and he jumped into Mrs. Honey Pickle’s spaceship and headed to Earth to help Holly Anne.
They arrived in the back yard of the Peterson’s house. Mrs. Honey Pickle wasn’t a very good driver and crashed into the small tree house that hung in the back yard. She was great at space ship takeoffs. Landings were where she was always in trouble. Holly Anne ran out the back door to see what all of the commotion was about in the tree house. “Who are you?” Holly Anne shouted. “And what happened to the tree house?”
Mrs. Honey Pickle and Buzzy stepped out of the spaceship to introduce themselves. “Sorry about the tree house.”
“Is everyone okay?” Holly Anne asked, frowning at the smashed tree house.
“Oh yes! We’re fine. This happens all the time. Hello, Holly Anne, I am Mrs. Honey Pickle and this is my dog, Buzzy.”
“How do you know my name?”
“You see, Holly Anne, I am your fairy godmother and I’m here to grant you a wish.”
“My fairy godmother?” Holly Anne asked puzzled. “I thought those were only in fairy tales?”
“Oh no, we are everywhere now.”
“How do I know you are telling me the truth?”
“Well, because I am your fairy godmother.”
“So, you have fairy powers?” Holly Anne asked.
“Why, yes, I do,” Mrs. Honey Pickle said with a smile.
“Then prove it,” Holly Anne said again. Mrs. Honey Pickle was shocked that little Holly Anne didn’t believe her.
“Okay,” Mrs. Honey Pickle said, crossing her arms across her chest. “What would you like me to do?”
Holly Anne looked down at Buzzy and said, “Turn him green.” Buzzy looked at Mrs. Honey Pickle as if he was pleading with her not to do. Buzzy even put his tail between his legs.
“Will it hurt him?” Holly Anne asked, having second thoughts.
“Oh no. He just doesn’t like the color green. He says it doesn’t go with his eyes.”
“Oh. Well, if you make him green, can you change him back?”
“Sure! Well, okay, here we go.” Mrs. Honey Pickle grabbed her magic wand from the hook on her gown and pointed it at Buzzy, said a little chant, and voilà, Buzzy was green.
Holly Anne looked stunned. “Wow,” she said, “I didn’t think you could actually do it.”
Mrs. Honey Pickle gave a proud smile, blew off her wand like it was a smoking pistol and hooked it back on her gown. “I’m going to have to get a holster for this thing. So, Holly Anne, do you believe me now?”
“Yes, I do. That was cool, Mrs. Honey Pickle. How did you do that?”
“Years and years of magic practice, my dear.”
“And can you put the tree house back the way it was?” Holly Anne asked. “Please? My dad built that for me before Bobby was born and I go up there sometimes to be alone.”
“What a sweet girl. Of course I can fix it.” Mrs. Honey Pickle waved her wand and the tree house was brand new.
“Wow, that’s even better than it was! Thanks! My dad is going to be amazed.”
“You’re welcome, Holly Anne. I broke it so it was up to me to fix it.”
“Now what do we do? Do you want to play with me?” Holly Anne asked. “I have a Chinese jump rope and Twister and Uno cards. I have Clue and jacks and a Hoppity-Hop. I have dolls, too.”
“That all sounds fun. But not today, sweetie. Today, I am here to grant you a wish.”
“A wish?” Holly Anne asked surprised. “Really?”
“Yes, Holly Anne. You can have any wish you want.”
Holly Anne started at Mrs. Honey Pickle and said, “Are you going to change your dog back?”
Mrs. Honey Pickle laughed, “Why yes, Buzzy, I’m sorry my love.”
She removed her wand once more, pointed it at Buzzy and he went back to his normal color.
“Woof, woof!” said Buzzy, thanking her for changing him back.
“Was that my wish?” Holly Anne asked.
“Oh my, no. Your wish is for you!” Mrs. Honey Pickle walked toward Holly Anne and motioned for her to have a seat on the patio bench. The two sat down.
“Now, Holly Anne, what do you want your wish to be?”
Before she could answer, Bobby burst through the back yard gate, dragging Holly Anne’s broken bike with him.
“What happened to my new bike?” she yelled. “Dad just put that together yesterday!”
“I was using it on the jumps at the park and I fell and it broke on the ramp.”
“Bobby, you freak, everything is always ruined because of you! I don’t care if you ruin your stuff, but why do you always take my things and break them!”
“Because I can,” Bobby replied.
Holly Anne started to cry.
Bobby laid down the bike and said, “Girls are so dramatic.”
Holly Anne got off the bench and ran up to his face. She said, “You’re wrecking my life! I wish I never even had a brother!” she yelled.
After she spoke the words, Bobby disappeared into thin air.
“That was it?” she asked Mrs. Honey Pickle.
“Yes, that easy,” Mrs. Honey Pickle answered.
“You didn’t hurt him, did you?”
“No! No! I wouldn’t do that.”
“So where is he?”
“He doesn’t exist,” said the fairy godmother.
Holly Anne began to sing and dance around the backyard, as Buzzy chased her and barked.
Mrs. Honey Pickle was pleased with herself, she loved this part of the wishes, when the kids were happy, but she knew all too well that it would change.
“Come on Buzzy we have to go,” said Mrs. Honey Pickle.
Buzzy gave Holly Anne a few licks and followed Mrs. Honey Pickle to the space ship.
“Thank you so much, Mrs. Honey Pickle. It was good of you to come and grant a wish for me.”
“You’re welcome, my dear. Now if you have any problems, you just look to the sky and say my name three times, and Buzzy and I shall return.”
“Trust me, I will have no more problems, now that Bobby is gone. He was trouble from the day he got here. My grandma even got him a baby t-shirt that said ‘My Middle Name is Trouble’ and it’s been crazy around here, ever since!”
Mrs. Honey Pickle laughed.
“I’m not kidding. Every time he did something bad, my parents would laugh like it was cute. I didn’t know what to do. You saved my life!
Mrs. Honey Pickle hugged her and waved goodbye to Holly Anne as she and Buzzy were off in the space ship, zooming past the moon and then Venus on the flight plan that was just past Mars.
“Wow,” Holly Anne thought, “could this be true, could Bobby really be gone?”
Holly Anne rushed into the house and ran up the stairs to see if Bobby’s room was there.
She opened the door and found in Bobby’s room, the home gym that her mother had always wanted. The room was crammed with exercise equipment and a big mirror on the wall, even with a ballet barre.
“Wow, Mom got a wish, too! By accident!”
Holly Anne laughed in happiness and skipped back down the stairs.
This is amazing, she thought, I am now an only child again, my wildest dream. No more little brother getting in my things, breaking my dolls, or crashing my bike.
Life would now be amazing. She saw her mother’s car pull up, she couldn’t wait to start her life as any only child.
Holly Anne ran to the car to meet her mother, and was surprised to find a baby in a car seat in the back.
Holly Anne didn’t recognize the baby, “Mom who’s the baby?”
“Holly Anne, don’t be silly. That’s your baby sister, Wendy.”
“Baby sister, Wendy?” Holly Anne repeated. “But, but, that bedroom has exercise equipment. Where do you keep the baby?”
“She shares your room, silly. You know that.”
“Really?” Holly Anne asked, her world collapsing.
“Yes,” her mother said, “now get Wendy out of her car seat and help me cook dinner.”
“Cook dinner? It’s Bobby’s turn tonight. He’s supposed to microwave the pizza.”
“Who is Bobby? Holly Anne, you are acting really strangely today.”
Holly Anne picked up Wendy and followed her mother in the house. For such a little baby, she was heavy!
Her mother began to prepare dinner and asked Holly Anne to watch her sister.
“This can’t be too bad,” Holly Anne thought. “She is a baby and a girl, too. What could she possibly do to me?”
She toted her little sister up the stairs and headed to her room.
“Now, Wendy you sit here while I do my homework. You’ll be my living doll, a sweet baby sister.”
Holly Anne placed the baby on the floor and grabbed her homework from her backpack.
She sat down nex
t to Wendy and started working on her homework.
Wendy was playing with a hair clip that she found on the floor, and then put it in her mouth.
“Ew, Wendy, don’t put that in your mouth. Don’t put anything from the floor into your mouth!” Holly Anne removed the hair clip from the baby’s mouth and put it on her desk. Holly Anne grabbed an old teddy bear that she had when she was younger from her closet.
“Now, Wendy you sit here and be a good little baby while I do my math problems.” She held up her index fingers. “Look, I’ll teach you math. See my fingers? I have one on each hand. So how many is that?”
Wendy gave Holly Anne the cutest little smile, which made Holly Anne’s heart melt.
She’s so sweet, Holly Anne thought. Wendy was a million times better than Bobby, even if they did have to share a room.
Holly Anne worked very hard on her homework, she strived to get the best grades in her fifth-grade class. Every now and then, she would glance over to see how Wendy was.
Wendy loved the teddy bear and seemed to be having a good time.
Holly Anne heard the telephone ring in the next room. “You stay right here, Wendy, while I get the phone.”
Holly Anne raced to get the phone, dropping her homework that she had worked so hard on, to the floor. However, she didn’t notice and continued to run to the phone.
When she came back from answering the phone, she noticed that Wendy had something in her hand.
“What do you have, Wendy?” she said in a baby talk voice.
Holly Anne moved closer to the baby and realized that Wendy had her homework and was eating it.
“No!” she screamed. “The baby ate my homework!”
Wendy began to giggle, thinking Holly Anne was playing.
Holly Anne removed what was left of her homework from the child’s hand.
“All that hard work and now I have to start over. Wendy, don’t eat paper. You’ll get sick!”
“Goo,” said Wendy with a playful smile and Holly Anne could see that something was in her mouth.
She held out her hand. “Don’t swallow that stuff! Spit it out!”
Wendy spit out the gross stuff in her hand. She screamed because it was so icky and threw it in the wastebasket, then ran to the bathroom to wash her hands.
Holly Anne came back and frowned at her as she began to open up her math book to start her homework over again. “Wendy, that homework was really hard. It was long division. Do you know how much writing that is?”
Relentless: Three Novels Page 14
