Hopping Poppers

            Hopping Poppers 


Kate sat down on her bedroom floor and reached under her bed, rummaging around. She grabbed her diary, (or journal as she called it) unlocked it and began to write…



                  7-24-1932

Today I visited the lair like I always do on Tuesdays. I decided to try a new spell to transport me there but, I must have said something wrong, because I ended up stuck in the chimney of the wizard’s lair. So, I did the spell that makes you thin, but like the transporting spell, I must have said something wrong. It made me fat. I tried again and I was thin like paper. I had made some bricks loose when I made myself fat and they fell on me as I fluttered down. Some ash blew out onto the small rug. I hope the wizard won’t notice. But, I didn’t see the wizard anywhere. It was freezing, even with my blue and green striped sweater on. I roamed around to see if I could find some dragon scales so I could shape shift into a cat or a rabbit. I walked around the stacks of books and dusty jars. On my way to the kitchen to look in the cabinets, I passed a mirror in the hall. I stopped and saw that my blond hair was covered in soot. It seemed to make my blue eyes look very bright. I searched in cabinets. All I found were some vials and some jars that had long words like “colored pluxedkinkers.”  I searched everywhere, but they where no where to be found. I had a strong suspicion that the wizard took them. With my mother not expecting me home until 5:00, I had nothing to do for one hour. So I waited about ten minutes for the wizard. When he didn’t show up, I got up and wandered over to the spell books which were strewn about. The book I was looking for was set sideways on the bookshelf. It is  my favorite book in the entire collection. Spells No One Really Needs To Know!!! was the name. The chairs had books and other mysterious objects on them. I say mysterious because I could not name them. I am only a level 4, the right age for an 11 year old, and haven't learned about them yet. So, I decided to sit on the floor.  Unfortunately, it is stone, which made it even colder in the lair. But, I blocked out the cold and closed my eyes, flipped open the book toward the middle, then randomly put my finger on the page. As I opened my eyes, I saw that the spell I landed on was Hopping Poppers. I soon found out that it was a spell to make fireworks, but I didn’t even read the rest of the page because I had already leaped up and ran outside to try the new spell.

I didn’t bother hiding, because the wizard lived in a small cottage in a meadow far away from regular people. I couldn’t be seen doing magic because that would break wizard rule number 1. I walked a little further into the meadow and said, “Hopping and popping the fire flies in the sky.” The next thing I knew, sparks flew up into the sky in all different colors, reds, greens, yellows, blues, and oranges. But, then they came hurtling back toward the ground! I saw the once beautiful colored sparks turn into small pieces of something…They hit my head and it hurt as bad as if someone were throwing pennies at me. I soon discovered that the colorful pieces of something were candies. They were unfamiliar to me but I decided not to tell the wizard because I knew he would be mad. I ate one and it was sweet and full of chocolate. Today I learned a life lesson… candy can give you more than cavities… it can give you bruises, too.

      -Kate Anderson



                            9 years later….



    6-25-1941
   
Today I found out that the things I got hit with 9 years ago were M&M’s. They are candies coated in a hard sugar shell and full of chocolate.  I don’t feel like writing so I think I will go outside and make what they now call M&M’s fall down from the sky with my new husband. But, I am still  proud to have been the first person to have eaten M&M’s!!!!

    - Kate Smith