by Angela Fish
Ben said the words and Gran told him that he was a clever lad. He liked that. He thought hard about his wish, but he had two in mind and couldn’t decide between them.
‘Gran,’ he said, ‘if we light the candles a second time, can I have another wish?’
Gran laughed. ‘No, cheeky! Just the one, so make it a good one. Now, go to sleep and it will soon be morning.’
When Ben woke up the sun was shining and he could hear the birds calling to each other in the garden. He jumped out of bed when he heard the clatter of the letterbox. The postman had been! He ran downstairs and his mum was in the hallway.
‘Look Ben, lots of cards, all for you, and there are more in the kitchen. Now go back upstairs and put on your slippers and dressing gown, please.’
Ben went back to his room and did what his mum had asked, then he ran down to the kitchen. The table was laid for breakfast but on his plate were lots of cards, and on his chair were presents from his family. They clapped and cheered when he came into the kitchen and shouted, ‘Happy Birthday, Ben!’
Ben opened the envelopes and ripped off the wrapping paper and said ‘Thank you’ to everyone. Mum and Dad had bought him trainers, and a computer game about a boy who lived in a castle. The boy made friends with a dragon and they had to go on lots of adventures. Gran gave Ben a backpack and torch, and a big book all about birds, as well as a red notebook and pencil. He couldn’t stop smiling.
At three o’clock that afternoon his friends began to arrive. For their birthdays, lots of them had had parties in the new burger bar in town, and Mum said that maybe next time Ben could do that. Today they were having a barbecue in the garden and Dad had set up the picnic tables outside as well. Ben and his friends played football on the grass while Dad was cooking and then they all sat down to eat.
Soon it was time for the cake. Gran carried it out and Ben jumped up and down. His cake was shaped like a castle and there were seven silver candles on top. Mum and Gran had made it and Ben could see that the front gate was exactly like Lox’s. This was the time to decide which wish to choose. Should he wish that he could find the last piece of the gate, or should he wish that autumn didn’t come at all this year?
‘Come on, Ben. Time for the candles.’ Dad lit them and Ben took a deep breath.
‘Don’t forget the words, Ben,’ Gran reminded him, ‘the magic ones.’
Ben shook his head. He’d nearly forgotten.
‘Red, orange, yellow, green, purple, blue.
Please make my birthday wish come true.’
He took another big breath in and blew as hard as he could. Five candles went out right away but two of the flames just wobbled. Ben puffed even harder and the two lights went out.
‘Hooray, hooray!’ Everyone clapped and sang ‘Happy Birthday to Ben’.
‘So what did you wish for?’ Jess poked him in the side.
‘Can’t tell you, or it won’t come true,’ Ben said.
‘Well, will you tell me if it does come true, then?’ Jess asked.
‘Yes, all right.’ Ben smiled. He’d made his choice. He was going to find the last piece of the gate in the next two weeks. He was. He really was.
Later that night, when Ben was in bed, his gran asked him if he was ready to finish his made-up story.
Ben shook his head. ‘Not yet, Gran, but soon.’
‘All right. Just tell me when you’re ready.’ Gran turned off the light.
Ben began to plan how to search in the lane and woods. He would have to do a small patch at a time but he had no idea where to start and how far he would have to look. He was really worried now.
4
The Adventure Game
At school the next day Ben told Jess all about his new computer game and how his dad had helped him to put his name into it so that the boy in the game was called Ben. Then he’d shown him how to move the people and things about. Jess thought it sounded like good fun.
‘Can I play it as well the next time I come over?’ she asked.
‘Yes,’ Ben told her. ‘Maybe your mum can bring you on Saturday.’
Ben liked it when Jess came to his house. There were always lots of games to play in the garden, or inside if the weather was bad. When Ben’s mum met them after school, Ben asked if Jess could come over on Saturday and his mum said that was fine as long as Jess’s mother agreed. When they arrived at Jess’s house her mother said that it was all right and that she would bring Jess over at about eleven o’clock.
On Friday night Ben asked his dad if they could go into the lane on Saturday to do some more training with Scoot, because Jess would like to see how well Scoot was doing. He also thought that he might be able to do some searching for the last piece of the spider gate, but he didn’t say anything about that. Dad said that as long as it wasn’t raining they could go into the lane with him. The next morning it was pouring with rain and Ben was sad when he looked out of his window. When he went downstairs, there was even more bad news.
‘Sorry, Ben,’ Dad said, ‘but Mum and I have to go into town today. I’ve broken my glasses and I can’t drive without them. Gran will stay here with you so Jess can still come over. The weather isn’t good enough to take Scoot training today anyway, but we’ll go tomorrow if it’s dry. Shall I set up the computer for you?’
Ben nodded. He had really wanted to go outside today. He didn’t think he had much more time before his wish ran out. He had to find the last piece of the gate and he had no idea where to start looking. The lane and the woods were so big.
‘Cheer up, Ben!’ Mum tickled him under his chin and gave him a big hug. ‘I’m sure Jess and you will have a great time together. If you ask Gran nicely she might make you something special to eat. We’ll be back as soon as we can, I promise.’
Ben smiled at his mother and, after breakfast, he went to the door to wave them goodbye, then he went back up to his room to wait for Jess. He played with his toy cars and then he drew some pictures of birds in the notebook that Gran had given him for his birthday. He heard a sound outside the window and looked out. Two magpies were sitting on a branch of the big tree at the end of the garden. They were making a lot of noise about something but Ben couldn’t see what it was. Then they flew to the top of the garden shed and Ben saw that one of them had a piece of bread in its beak. The other one was trying to steal it and they seemed to be arguing. Ben laughed. He loved their black and white feathers, and Dad had shown him in the bird book that, if he looked closely, he could see that there was also some green in their tail feathers. Ben watched for a little while longer, then one of them flew away quickly and the other followed. They flew towards the woods and he lost sight of them.
The doorbell rang and Gran called up to him that Jess had arrived. They had some milk and biscuits and then settled down to play the computer game. Jess loved it. Ben showed her how he had made the boy in the game meet the dragon and how many adventures they had been on. Jess had a go and said that she’d like to have the same game for her birthday.
‘It’s really good, Ben.’ Jess told him. ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we could do all the things like the boy in the game? You know, go exploring and finding treasure and things like that.’
Ben nodded. ‘Mmmm. Yes it would. If it stops raining later we could pretend that the shed is a castle and go exploring in the garden, if you like?’
‘Oh, yes please!’ Jess clapped her hands. ‘We can pretend that the path is the moat around the castle and that the gate in the hedge is the way into the dragon’s cave.’
Ben jumped off the chair. ‘Let’s see what the weather’s like now, then we can ask Gran if we can go out.’ They both ran into the kitchen and Ben opened the back door. The rain had stopped and the sun was trying to peep out from behind the clouds.
‘Gran! Gran! Where are you?’ Ben shouted.
‘I’m here, Ben, in the hallway. The newspaper has only just arrived. It’s really late today. What’s the matter?’ Gran ruffled his hair.
‘Can Jess and I go
out in the garden to play? It’s stopped raining. Please?’
Gran thought for a moment. ‘Well, as long as you put on your boots and wrap up warmly, I think that should be all right. Don’t sit on the wet grass, and you must come back in if it starts raining again, though. What are you going to do?’
‘We’re going to play exploring, like in the computer game that Mum and Dad bought me,’ Ben told her.
‘Oh. You’ll need supplies then?’ Gran asked.
‘What do you mean, Gran?’ Ben looked puzzled.
‘Well, all explorers need to have food and water and such things if they’re going to travel a long way, don’t they? What else do you think they might carry?’
Ben and Jess looked at each other, then Jess said that they might need a map and maybe a torch.
‘I know,’ Ben shouted. ‘We can use my new backpack and fill it up with everything we need. I had a new torch as well. We’ll have to make a map, though. Can you draw that, Jess? You’re better than me at drawing.’
Jess nodded and sat at the table to start the map. Ben fetched his backpack and checked that the torch batteries were working. Gran put two bottles of water on the table and asked Ben what they would like to take to eat.
‘Can we have some cheese sandwiches, please? Jess likes those best and so do I.’
So Gran made the sandwiches, wrapped them up and put them in the backpack. She also put in some chocolate biscuits and an apple for each of them.
‘Now, find your boots and coats,’ Gran said.
‘Wait a minute, Ben.’ Jess pulled on his sleeve. ‘We’ve forgotten the magic wand. You know, the silver one that the dragon gave to the boy so that he could save the castle from the wizards from the dark lake.’
Ben looked at his gran. ‘I’d forgotten that. Can you make some, Gran?’
Gran thought for a moment. ‘What did you do with those balloons from your party, Ben? There were a few that were tied to sticks. We could use two of those if you can find them.’
Ben ran upstairs and picked up two of the balloons from the floor. He took them back to the kitchen and Gran cut the balloons off. Then she covered the sticks with silver foil.
‘There you are, then. Two silver magic wands.’ Gran handed them one each, then helped them with their coats and boots.
Scoot had been watching them very carefully and he was running around the kitchen in circles. He wanted to play as well. Gran said that he could go with them but only for a short time; otherwise she would have to bath him as well tonight! Ben took Scoot’s whistle with him and he said he would show Jess how clever Scoot was.
5
Following The Magpies
Ben and Jess and Scoot ran around the garden for some time, then Ben opened the shed door and pulled out two garden chairs. He sat down and called to Jess to do the same. They ate half of their sandwiches and one chocolate biscuit each, and drank some water. Ben filled Scoot’s water bowl and he had a long drink too. Ben showed Jess how Scoot’s whistle worked and she patted the dog’s head. She thought he was a very clever dog and she wished she had one as well.
After they had played with Scoot they thought they would go back to the exploring game.
‘Where did I put my magic wand, Jess?’ Ben asked. He looked in his backpack, under the chair, inside the shed and on the path but he couldn’t see it anywhere.
Jess pulled at his sleeve. He looked at her and saw that she had her finger over her mouth. She wanted him to be quiet, but why? Jess let go of his sleeve and pointed up at the roof of the house. Ben’s mouth opened in surprise. Sitting on the roof were the two magpies he had seen that morning. He was sure it was the same pair. They were arguing again but not about a piece of bread this time. No, they were fighting over something shiny. Something that Ben knew was his. It was the magic wand! The magpies must have taken it from somewhere in the garden.
‘What shall we do, Ben?’ Jess whispered. ‘They’re going to fly off with it, aren’t they?’
‘Yes, if we can’t make them drop it first. Let’s clap our hands and shout at them.’ Ben puffed out his cheeks.
So Jess and Ben clapped and shouted, and Scoot barked, but the magpies ignored them. Then one flew off towards the woods carrying the wand. The other bird followed. Ben ran to the gate in the hedge but then he lost sight of the two birds and he stamped his foot hard.
‘That’s not fair! They’re always taking things that don’t belong to them. Now what are we going to do?’ he shouted.
Jess caught up with him. ‘Never mind, Ben. You can have my wand, or maybe your gran can make another one. What did you mean when you said that the magpies are always stealing? What else have they taken? You’ve never said anything about it before.’
Ben bit his lip. Should he tell Jess now about Lox and the spider gate? Maybe she could help him. He didn’t think he could do it on his own any more. So they went back to the chairs and sat down, and Ben told Jess the whole story.
When he had finished, Jess looked at him and screwed up her nose.
‘Are you making this up, Ben? Is this another one of your computer games or story books?’ she asked.
‘No! Really and truly,’ Ben said. ‘That’s what happened. If we’re very quiet I can show you the cave in the hedge but we have to be careful not to scare Lox or any of the other guards who might be there.’
Jess followed Ben to the bottom of the garden and they crawled under the hedge even though it was very wet on the ground. Jess saw the cave, and two big garden spiders just inside the opening, but she still wasn’t sure if she believed Ben.
‘Please, Jess, will you help me?’ Ben said. ‘I think I know where the magpies might have taken the other piece of the gate but I need to go outside to find it. Will you come?’
Jess looked worried. She knew they weren’t allowed to go outside the garden on their own, but Ben was so upset and she really wanted to help her best friend. She knew that Ben’s dad always bolted the gate in the hedge so she thought that they might not be able to open it anyway.
‘All right, Ben.’ Jess smiled at him. ‘I’ll help you but we have to put Scoot back in first. Remember what your gran said.’
‘Yes, you’re right. I’ll take him in and say that we want to stay out a little bit longer.’
Ben called Scoot and the dog followed him to the kitchen door. Ben pulled off his boots, opened the door and went into the kitchen. Scoot followed him and went straight to his biscuit bowl. Ben looked for his gran and saw that she was in the living room reading the newspaper. Then he looked a little closer and saw that she was asleep. He didn’t wake her. He shut Scoot in the kitchen, then put his boots back on and hurried down the path to Jess.
‘Let’s go,’ he said. ‘We have to open the gate first. If I bring a chair down here, I can stand on it and pull back the bolt.’
Jess just watched. She was scared but she didn’t want to tell Ben. When he had opened the gate they went out into the lane.
‘Do you think we should go back?’ Jess asked. ‘If we bolt the gate again no one will know. We’re going to get into trouble if we stay out, aren’t we?’
Ben looked at her. ‘I know but if we can find the piece of the spider gate quickly we can be back before anyone knows. We won’t stay out too long, I promise, but I have to try to find it.’
6
The Woods
Jess followed Ben along the lane to the path that led into the woods. They walked for a long way. She didn’t like it here. Even though lots of the leaves had come down from the trees it was still quite dark. She knew that her mum would be so cross with her, but Ben was unhappy about the missing piece of gate and she wanted to help him. He seemed so sure of where he was going. He said that his dad had brought him here in the summer with Scoot, and had shown him where the magpies built their nests. Ben thought that the birds might still come to the same place and maybe it was where they brought all the shiny things that they stole.
Jess wasn’t sure if Ben really remembered the way.
She decided that she would only go as far as the big holly bush just ahead of them. After that the bushes were thicker and the path was narrower, and Jess did not want to go there.
Ben switched on his torch and shone it on the ground as they walked along. He told Jess what to look for and they moved forward slowly. When they reached the holly bush, Jess stopped.
‘Ben, I want to go back now. I don’t like it here.’ She began to shake.
Ben stared at her and shook his head. ‘Look, Jess. Just there.’ He shone the torch beam at a tree just a little way further down the path. ‘Can you see them? The magpies are there. Right near the top.’
Jess looked up and saw the two birds. They were sitting side by side on a branch. They weren’t arguing any more and they seemed to be watching the torch beam. Ben crept forward until he was underneath the tree. He shone the torch all around the tree trunk and kicked the fallen leaves with his boot.
‘Jess! Jess! I’ve found the wand.’ He picked it up and waved it at her. ‘I’m sure that the other piece of gate must be here somewhere. Come on. Come and help me find it.’
So Jess and Ben found some broken sticks and prodded and poked all around the tree. The two magpies watched them. Then Ben moved on to the next tree and began again. Jess looked up at the sky and saw some big black clouds. She knew that it was going to start raining very soon.
‘Come on, Ben. It’s no good. You won’t find anything here and it’s starting to rain. I want to go back now. Please.’
Ben looked up. He could see that Jess was nearly crying. He felt sorry that he’d asked her to come this far. It was his task to find the last piece of the gate; he was the one who had promised Lox. But he knew Jess couldn’t go back on her own, so he threw down his stick.
‘It’s all right, Jess.’ He smiled at her. ‘We’ll go now. Sorry.’
They began to walk back along the path but as they passed the tree where the magpies were sitting, Ben suddenly gave a shout.
