The Magic Crystals

James was furious. His parents only thought about Jinny these days. What was so special about his baby sister? Why did everybody worship her?

He had to play with the toy train. Why did she insist on taking all his toys? She had dolls of her own. He wished she didn't seem quite so interested in any of his toys.

He went out to the garden. There was a table there, with four chairs around it. On the table was a glass bowl partially filled with water crystals. Dad brought them home occasionally.

They were all in different colors. He had once asked his dad why he didn't buy the water crystals in the same colors. Dad had told him that they were more interesting this way.

He sat down and stared at the red crystal. There was an image in it.

Flash. He was a knight in the middle ages. He knew that he had to rescue Princess Joanna before it was too late. He heard a roar behind him. He turned and saw a dragon.

Flash. James looked away. He was stunned. What had he just seen? Was the dragon real? He braced himself and stared at the red crystal again. Nothing happened this time. He looked over at the yellow crystal.

Flash. It was at the height of China's revolution. He was a young man at the university. One of his fellow students burst in and shouted, "The soldiers are coming! We have to go right away!"

Flash. He had blinked. He was back in the garden. Impatient to know what had happened to the Chinese boy, he tried to stare at the yellow crystal again. Nothing happened.

James now realized that he had only one chance to look at what each crystal had to show. He closed his eyes, relaxed his eye muscles and opened them again. This time, he looked at the blue crystal.

Flash. It was very cold. He seemed to be underground somewhere. There were a lot of people with him. They were all black. A fat lady came to them. She whispered, "Y'all come with me. We's up North before yous massas realize." There was a gunshot suddenly.

Flash. James cursed silently. He had been so determined not to lose the storyline that time. He turned towards the green crystal.

Flash. This time, he seemed to be a sailor at sea. He was on a huge ship. It was night time. Everything was very peaceful. James felt as though he was falling asleep. Suddenly there was a cry from the lookout, "Glacier ahoy!" There was a huge crunch. James could feel the ship slanting up. They had hit the glacier and were sinking. He was pushed into the sea by an old man who had panicked. As he began to sink, he read the name on the side of the ship - Titanic.

Flash. He was back in his own garden. He looked eagerly at the glass bowl again. He was quite disappointed to see that there were no more crystals.

James sighed and turned to go in. It was getting dark. He was hungry anyway.

Dad met him at the door. "There you are!" he said.

James didn't reply. He was still inclined to sulk. Dad took something from his pocket.

"Look what I have," he said. His voice was very persuasive. He took a look.

Dad was holding two new crystals. One shone bright orange, the other was purple. James took them. He was fascinated. He wanted to take them out to the garden at once.

Jinny pulled at his hand. He looked down at his younger sister. She was cute, in a way. He took her hand and led her out to the garden.