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No Such Thing As Magic! Short Story (published 2010) • GL


 

GL Troubridge is a local children´s author living on the Costa Blanca. The first of her trilogy was published in 2010 and is now available in over 16 countries. Kidan and the Pendant of Isowana is available on line with Amazon, Tesco, WHSmith and all other good on line stores. For more information and fantastic concept video view her official website:  www.gltroubridge.weebly.com 

 

Below is one of GL´s short stories which was published in 2010.

 

 No such thing as magic!

 “MAGIC!!” nine year old Ben mumbled to himself as he stomped off back to his bedroom. His mum would never change…magic this and magic that! She was supposed to be the grown up and he was supposed to be the kid, he was after all nearly 10 years old, almost an adult in his opinion and he knew there was no such thing as magic.

His mum had different ideas. She would spend hours telling Ben and his little 5 year old sister Lucy about how Santa magically took their letters and arrived floating down the chimney every year on Christmas Eve to leave their presents under the tree. Ben had mentioned this at school and to his horror all his friends laughed at him telling him there was no Santa, it was all down to the parents. One of his friends had even seen his dad put the presents under the tree. When Ben questioned his mum about this she laughed and explained that some times Santa is in a hurry so leaves the presents with the parents to sort out. Ben was not convinced.

His mum’s next favourite magic was the sock people. Little people that steal the socks out of the washing machine. Ben had thought this over as well and asked his mum how they can survive in the washing machine. Mums answer, as always was “Magic” That the little people could breathe under water, they would grab which sock they fancied and hurry away down the pipes back to their little homes and make their clothes from the sock. Mum told him that if you were to look very carefully just before the spin cycle you might be lucky enough to see one of them. Ben never bothered to look. He was convinced his mother was completely mad. 

What concerned Ben at this moment in time, causing the stomping to his bedroom was his mums next favourite bit of magic. Ben knew he was going to hear it all again and had tried to keep quiet about his wiggly tooth, but mum spotted him pulling at it.

“I hope you will leave that tooth out for the tooth fairy” Mum said to Ben.

“Mum, please you know they are not real and they don’t live at the bottom of the garden, so please stop saying it” Ben shouted as he went up stairs “I’m not a baby!” 

Ben had to admit that the “mummy magic” still had him puzzled. Just how did mum know what he was up to when she wasn’t even in the room? But fairy’s at the bottom of his garden was taking this kid magic stuff a step too far and Ben was going to prove it. 

The once wiggly tooth was now in Ben’s pocket. It was just before dawn and Ben quietly got dressed up warm and tip toed down the stairs. He did not want to wake his family. He slowly unlocked the back door and made his way down the path to the end of the garden. He sat down next to his mums favourite roses and waited. He did not know how long he had waited but it seemed like forever and not a fairy in sight. He knew it was all this magic stuff was rubbish. 

Ben had not been as quiet as he thought. His mum and dad had heard the door open and were both now watching him from the kitchen window.

“Do you think he will find them?” Dad asked mum with a wink.

“I really can not be sure if they would show themselves.” Mum answered as she jabbed dad in the ribs and continued “Maybe Sapphire might, she is the friendliest”

Dad pulled a face and groaned, he was almost as fed up with all the magic talk as Ben was. 

About to give up waiting, Ben started to stand up. It was at this moment he heard a small flapping sound near his right ear. Turning slowly Ben could not believe his eyes. 

The back door crashed open and a wide eyed excited Ben came flying through it straight into his mums arms “Mum, dad, you will not believe what I just saw…..I saw a fairy…a real fairy at the bottom of the garden!”

Dad nodded and smiled but mum was overjoyed that her little boy had seen a real fairy. Ben continued to tell them all about the fairy he had met. “She was beautiful and so tiny with all the colours of the rainbow in her wings and she had long golden hair. Her name was Sapphire.”

Dad’s mouth fell open in complete disbelief. Mum laughed with joy and hugged Ben while throwing dad the “I told you so!” glare. 

Now Ben wanted to know everything about the different magic stories his mum had told him, but it was the middle of summer so research on Santa was out of the question. It did not stop Ben from his investigations. Later that day he arrived in the kitchen with his dad’s tool box. He knew that dad would be cross about what he was going to do but that mum would be cool about it. After all she understood about magic. He was sure she would understand the need to dismantle the entire washing machine to talk to the sock people.


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