Heidi Heckelbeck Makes a Wish

by Wanda Coven

  Heidi’s face brightened. “Hey! That WOULD make me feel better,” she said. “But what?”

  “Well, you could offer to help clean Lucy’s outfit,” suggested her aunt.

  “And maybe fix Bruce’s glasses!” Heidi chimed in.

  She clanked her plate on the table. The cats leaped to the floor.

  “I’ve got to get going!” she said as she realized she might be able to fix the mess she had made. Then she kissed her aunt on the cheek and sailed out the door.

  Aunt Trudy chuckled and shook her head.

  Heidi picked a daisy still damp with dew on the way into the house. Then she measured two teaspoons of powdered sugar, plucked three more lemon gumdrops from the side of the old gingerbread house, and zoomed to her room. She gently shut the door behind her. Then she emptied the old potion into the wastebasket and added the fresh ingredients.

  Heidi read the directions extra carefully. This time she noticed that the spell came with a warning.

  Remember to be careful what you wish for.

  Perfect, she said to herself. Because these wishes are important!

  She slipped on her Witches of Westwick medallion and stirred the ingredients. Then, with one hand on her medallion and the other over the hat, she chanted the spell.

  “I wish I may, I wish I might, wish this wish so big and bright.”

  Heidi squeezed her eyes shut and made her first wish. “I wish Lucy’s outfit would be sparkling clean!”

  She waited a moment for the magic to work. Then she chanted the spell again and made her second wish. “I wish Bruce’s glasses would be as good as new!”

  After that, Heidi ran to the phone. She called Lucy first. Mrs. Lancaster put Lucy on the line.

  “Hi, Lucy,” Heidi said. “How are your muddy clothes?”

  “They’re out on the clothesline. My mom put lemon juice on the mud stains and hung them in the sun.”

  “I bet they are clean now. Can you please go check?” Heidi urged.

  “Okay. Be right back,” said Lucy, setting down the phone.

  Heidi smiled to herself. Boy, is Lucy going to be surprised when she finds her outfit is as good as new! She heard Lucy pick up the phone.

  “So, are they back to normal?” blurted Heidi excitedly.

  “No, still stained,” Lucy said.

  Heidi stared at the phone in disbelief.

  “Are you still there, Heidi?” Lucy asked.

  “Yup, I’m still here,” said Heidi glumly. “I’m sorry about your outfit.”

  “Me too,” said Lucy. “But thanks for calling.”

  Heidi called Bruce next. He pulled out his glasses from the wastebasket. “Still broken,” he said.

  Heidi got off the phone and walked slowly back to her room. Is it me? she wondered. Or is it the spell that’s not working? Heidi picked up her Book of Spells to see where she had gone wrong this time.

  Then she noticed something very strange. As she reread the spell, the words began to disappear from the page. Heidi blinked and looked again. The words continued to vanish, one by one, right before her eyes! Heidi gasped.

  “What’s happening?” she cried.

  Soon the whole book was blank. Heidi snapped the book shut.

  This is SERIOUS! she said to herself. I need to get to Aunt Trudy right away!

  Heidi dashed to Aunt Trudy’s and pounded on the door until her aunt opened it. “Good heavens, Heidi! What’s the matter?” she asked.

  Heidi threw her arms around her aunt and began to cry.

  “Hush, hush, dear,” Aunt Trudy said gently. “Everything’s going to be all right.” She walked Heidi inside, and they sat on the couch together. Aunt Trudy offered Heidi a tissue. Heidi plucked one from the box.

  “Something awful is happening to me,” she wailed. “And I don’t know what it is!”

  “Talk to me,” Aunt Trudy said.

  Heidi dabbed her eyes with the tissue. “It all started when my wishing spell didn’t work,” she said, sniffling. “I tried to fix everything with other wishing spells, but those didn’t work either. And THEN, when I checked the Book of Spells to see where I went wrong, the words on the page DISAPPEARED.”

  Aunt Trudy tapped her finger on her cheek thoughtfully.

  “Hmm,” she said. “We need to retrace exactly what you did.”

  Heidi nodded.

  “Now, did you make any substitutions in your spell?” her aunt questioned.

  Heidi thought for a moment.

  “Well, I did make my own flower dew,” she remembered. “Yes, I used a daisy from Mom’s garden and sprinkled it with tap water.”

  Aunt Trudy raised her eyebrows. “Oops-a-daisy,” she said. “That’s a problem. You can substitute rainwater for dew, but not tap water.”

  “Oh, so THAT’S why my wish for sunny skies didn’t work,” said Heidi. “But it still doesn’t explain why I’ve lost my powers.”

  Aunt Trudy crossed her arms and looked deep in thought.

  “Hmm. Everyday Wish spells have a warning, don’t they?” asked her aunt. “It’s in the fine print under the spell.”

  Heidi nodded. “Yes. It says to be careful what you wish for. And I was!”

  “You’re probably right,” said her aunt. “But let’s review everything you did that day to see if we can find more clues.”

  So Heidi told Aunt Trudy everything: She told her about the trip to the botanical gardens and her bad mood at school. She told her about getting soaked on the way home from the bus stop. She even mentioned her argument with Henry. “Then I went to my room, wrung the rainwater out of my hair, and jumped in the shower.”

  Aunt Trudy sat thoughtfully as she listened to Heidi review the day.

  “Were you anywhere near your potion when you wrung out your hair?” she asked.

  Heidi thought for a moment.

  “I was sitting at my desk,” she remembered. “The straw hat with the potion was on my desk in front of me.”

  Aunt Trudy smiled. “Aha! Now we’re getting somewhere,” she said. “Think back. Did you make any wishes while you were at your desk?”

  Heidi shook her head. “I don’t think so,” she said.

  But then her eyes grew wide. “Wait a minute—I DID!” she recalled. “I wished . . . I wished I wasn’t a witch anymore! Oh no!”

  Aunt Trudy held her arms out wide. “And there you have it!” she said triumphantly.

  Heidi’s face fell. “But how can I undo my wish?” she asked sadly.

  Aunt Trudy patted Heidi’s leg. “There’s only one way to reverse a wish like that,” she said.

  Heidi looked at her aunt hopefully.

  “You must find three people who make a wish in your presence,” Aunt Trudy explained. “Then you have to grant each wish without magic.”

  “WITHOUT magic?” Heidi said in disbelief.

  “Oh yes, without magic,” her aunt repeated.

  Heidi flopped against the back of the couch. “More like oh no,” she moaned. “Without magic this is going to be IMPOSSIBLE!”

  B-r-r-r-r-r-ing!

  The bell rang for recess. Heidi shoved her math book into her desk. She had decided she would do whatever it took to get her powers back. And now was her chance. She bounded down the stairs to the playground and caught up to Lucy and Bruce.

  “Got any wishes?” she asked, using the straightforward approach.

  Lucy and Bruce wrinkled their brows.

  “I mean, if you could wish for anything in the world, what would it be?” asked Heidi.

  “Um, I’ve got one,” Lucy began. “I guess I’ve always wished I could have my own panda bear.”

  Heidi frowned. “That’s unrealistic,” she said.

  “I know,” said Lucy, “but it’s something I’ve always wished for.”

  Bruce pushed his new glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Well, I wish I had a supercomputer,” he said.

  Heidi tipped her head to one side. “Not sure I can help you with that one, either,” she said.
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br />   Bruce laughed. “I wasn’t expecting you to!” he said.

  Heidi turned to Laurel. “Do you have a wish?”

  Laurel scratched her head. “I wish I had a slide that went from my bedroom all the way down into my very own swimming pool.”

  Heidi jerked her head back. “You’re kidding—right?”

  Laurel shook her head. “Why would I ever joke about a thing like that?” she said.

  Then Melanie, who was listening in as usual, tapped Heidi on the shoulder. “You know what I’d wish for?” she said.

  Heidi could only imagine.

  “I’d wish for a brand-new beach cruiser bicycle, but since I already GOT that, I’d wish for a pet unicorn,” she said.

  Heidi rolled her eyes. “Oh, brother,” she said. “This is going to be harder than I thought.”

  Melanie scowled. “And what’s that supposed to mean?” she said.

  Heidi looked at Melanie’s puzzled face. “Oh, never mind,” she said. “You wouldn’t understand.” Then Heidi turned up her nose and walked away, which was usually what Melanie did. But today it was Heidi’s turn.

  Heidi leaped over the hopscotch course without one single hop. How am I supposed to grant wishes without magic? she wondered to herself. Then she heard someone shout something from the basketball court. She looked over. A basketball had gotten stuck between the hoop and the backboard.

  “I wish we could get our ball down!” shouted a fourth-grade girl named Carly Coleman. Carly banged on the basketball post with the palm of her hand.

  Heidi stopped in her tracks. A WISH! she said to herself.

  She scanned the playground for something that would reach the basketball hoop. There was a broom leaning against the side of the school building near the court. It belonged to Mr. Fortini, the janitor. He was raking leaves far off by the swings.

  He won’t miss his broom for a minute, Heidi thought. She sprinted across the blacktop and grabbed the broom. Then she raced back to the basketball hoop.

  “I can help!” Heidi said. She jabbed at the ball with the broom. It came free and fell to the ground. Hmm . . . maybe a witch really can do magic with a broom, she thought.

  Carly grabbed the ball. “Thanks!” she said.

  “Anytime,” Heidi said, and then she returned the broom to where she had found it. Mr. Fortini waved at Heidi. She waved back.

  One wish down, two to go, Heidi said to herself. She looked at the clock on top of the school building. There was only fifteen minutes of recess left. She would have to work fast.

  Heidi scouted the playground for more kids with wishes. She visited the swings and saw Henry trying to pump his legs. He hadn’t quite learned how to swing.

  “Will you give me a push?” he asked when he saw his sister.

  Heidi grabbed Henry’s swing from behind and gave him a push.

  “Wheeee!” Henry cried. “Again!”

  “Only if you say ‘I WISH you’d push me again!’ ” said Heidi. But Henry didn’t like being told what to do.

  “Again!” he cried.

  “Push me, too!” shouted Dudley, Henry’s best friend, who sat on the swing beside him.

  Heidi moved to Dudley’s swing and pushed him as hard as she could.

  “Again!” shouted Henry and Dudley.

  “Not now,” said Heidi. “I’m on a wishing mission.” She walked away and strolled around the monkey bars and the slide, but she didn’t find any wishers. Then Heidi noticed Stanley Stonewrecker sitting on a bench with his math book open. She wandered over and sat down beside him.

  “What’s up?” Heidi asked.

  Stanley let out a big sigh. “I’m working on math homework,” he said. “I wish someone could explain how to solve word problems. I stink at them.”

  Heidi scooched closer to Stanley. “I can help you!” she said.

  Stanley was surprised and looked up at Heidi. “Really? You’d do that?”

  “Definitely!” said Heidi. “Give me a problem.”

  Stanley pointed to the word problem he’d been working on and read it out loud. “ ‘Mia’s mom baked forty-one cookies. Scott’s dad baked thirty-eight cookies. Mia sampled three cookies. Scott sampled four cookies. How many cookies made it to the school party?’ ”

  Heidi studied the problem. “This is easy,” she said.

  “Not for me,” said Stanley. “Word problems get me all mixed up.”

  “If you write down each step, it’s easier,” Heidi said. “Let’s see your notebook.”

  Stanley handed Heidi his math notebook and pencil.

  Heidi read the problem again.

  “First we have to add up how many cookies there are altogether,” she said. She wrote out the equation.

  41 + 38 =

  Stanley looked at the problem.

  “I can solve that!” he said. He added the numbers together. Heidi did the same.

  “I got seventy-nine,” Stanley said.

  “Me too,” said Heidi. “Okay, now let’s subtract how many cookies Mia ate.” Heidi wrote down the next equation.

  79 – 3 =

  Stanley subtracted the numbers on his fingers.

  “Um . . . seventy-six!” he cried.

  Heidi nodded. “Now we need to subtract the cookies Scott ate,” she said. She wrote down the next step.

  76 – 4 =

  Stanley subtracted the numbers.

  “Seventy-two!” he said happily.

  “That’s right!” said Heidi. “And seventy-two is the answer.”

  Mrs. Welli blew her whistle. Heidi’s classmates started running toward the school building.

  “Thanks, Heidi,” said Stanley as he closed his math book. “You really helped me.”

  “No problem!” Heidi replied. Then she laughed. “Get it? No PROBLEM, as in WORD problem?”

  Stanley laughed.

  They headed back to school with the rest of their class.

  Another wish down! Heidi said to herself. One more to go!

  Heidi listened for wishes all day, but nobody wished for anything. Maybe I can MAKE people wish for something, she thought. Heidi got started right away. First she bumped into Lucy’s desk on purpose. Clunk! Lucy’s pencil case fell onto the floor.

  “I’m SO sorry!” Heidi said dramatically. She waited for Lucy to wish for Heidi to pick it up. But Lucy didn’t wish, she just asked.

  “Um, Heidi, would you please pick that up?” she said.

  Heidi grabbed the pencil case and plopped it onto Lucy’s desk.

  Oh well, so much for that one, she thought.

  Then it was time for drama class.

  Heidi passed out scripts for Jack and the Beanstalk.

  “Is there anything else I can help you with, Mrs. Noddywonks?” asked Heidi.

  Mrs. Noddywonks looked down over the top of her reading glasses and smiled.

  “How thoughtful of you to ask, Heidi,” said the drama teacher. “Would you please arrange the chairs in a circle for acting warm-ups?”

  Heidi nodded and headed for the stack of folding chairs. Merg, she thought. Why didn’t she WISH for me to set up the chairs? But Heidi mindfully unfolded the chairs and set them in a circle.

  Then everyone sat down to play Jumping Jelly Beans. Mrs. Noddywonks called out types of beans, and the children acted them out.

  “French bean!” Mrs. Noddywonks called.

  Everyone raised their hands to their chins. “Ooh la la!” they cried.

  Then it was time for library.

  “Mrs. Williams, do you need any help?” Heidi asked the school librarian.

  “As a matter of fact, I do!” Mrs. Williams handed Heidi a pair of rubber gloves and a tall stack of white coffee filters. Then she pointed to a tub of blue dye sitting on a table covered in newspaper.

  “Please soak the coffee filters in the dye and set them out to dry,” said Mrs. Williams. “These will become the water for our Under-the-Sea Book Fair decorations.”

  Heidi stretched on the rubber gloves and soaked the
coffee filters in the dye. This is fun, she thought, even though Mrs. Williams didn’t wish for my help.

  In gym, Heidi saw stray basketballs all over the gym floor. She walked up to Coach Wardner.

  “Don’t you WISH someone would pick up all those basketballs?” Heidi asked.

  Coach Wardner chuckled a bit and shook his head. “Not really, since we’re about to play basketball,” he said. “But you’re welcome to pick them up after class.”

  So Heidi helped collect the basketballs after class.

  “That shows great sportsmanship, Heidi!” Coach Wardner said, praising her. He held up his fist, and Heidi bumped it.

  Well, I may not have my powers back, Heidi thought, but it sure has been fun to help everyone out.

  “I’m going scootering!” shouted Heidi when she got home from school.

  “Stay on the sidewalk!” Mom called from her office.

  “Okay!” said Heidi as the door leading to the garage slammed behind her.

  Heidi unhooked her scooter, put on her purple helmet, and then took off down the driveway and onto the empty sidewalk. She cruised along, kicking off with her right foot. She rolled over cracks. Click-clack! Click-clack! Up ahead she saw a girl trying to ride a bike. The girl wobbled unsteadily and then tipped over and fell into a very large bush.

  Uh-oh! thought Heidi. I’d better go help!

  Heidi whizzed down the sidewalk. As she got closer, she realized the girl was Melanie Maplethorpe! Heidi wanted to turn around and go home. But how could she? Melanie was crying. Heidi rolled up to Melanie and stopped.