The Curse of the Magic Wand
Formerly "Missing in Venice"
(Based on a Chris Van Allsburg illistration)
I sat at my desk staring at the Botticelli print hanging on the wall while my teacher looked over the damage report.
"I can't even imagine how you could have done all this ruckus, Tony!" Miss Marzano said to me scowling and slapping the paper back on her desk.
"I'm sorry Miss Marzano," I said looking at her, but she wasn't looking back so I continued studying the print on the wall. "I didn't mean to. I mean, I couldn't help my self, ma'am." Which was true because I didn't even know what I had done.
Miss Marzano got up from her desk and with deliberate quick steps walked over to mine. "I don't know how you could have done what you did but you'd better reverse it before someone gets hurt. And I mean that!"
I nodded, but deep in my heart I knew that reversing what I had accidentally done was virtually impossible because I had no clue how I did what I did let alone reverse it. I lowered my eyes and looked at the book that was on my desk. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I'll try to go fix it right away," I said with a quivering voice.
She finally put her hand on my shoulder and I looked up from the book. In a slow deliberate voice, Miss Marzano said, "You should go get some help for your problem. I don't know anyone else like you." With that she walked back over to her desk.
I was stunned. How could I help how I was born? My eyes filled up with tears, but I didn't let it show. I wasn't going to let her tell me that I wasn't normal. I was as normal as God had made me.
I stood up and put my book in my backpack. I liked that book so much; I had read it about five times in the last year alone. It was about a normal boy with normal parents and who led a normal life. Oh how badly I wanted to be that boy. Miss Marzano called to me as I was zipping up my backpack, "Oh, Tony," she said with a stern voice.
I gulped and replied, "Yes, ma'am?"
"May I please have your wand?"
My wand! My precious wand that was given to me on my seventh birthday from my grandparents, she was going to take it from me. I couldn't let that happen but I knew I had no choice. No student at the Saint Lucia Academy had refused a direct request by an adult. I had to give it to her.
Choking back the tears from earlier, I handed her my wand, the only thing in the world that meant anything to me. "Thank you, Tony, you can have this back at the end of the year," She said as she put my want in the cabinet that was behind her desk and locked it with the gold key that she kept around her neck.
"The end of the year?" I asked politely. "But it is only March! I can't wait two months for my wand back!" I yelled losing all composure.
"For your information, Tony," she replied in a calm tone, "June is three months away."
That was it. I couldn't take anymore. I ran over to my backpack, grabbed it up in one quick motion and ran out the door as fast as a lion hunting down his prey and pouncing after it.
Out in the hallway. I crumpled to the floor and sobbed. The kind of sob that you only hear from babies that have lost their mothers or from wives that have lost their husbands. I just sat on the floor and cried.
Why was I born with this abnormality that makes me so different from everyone else? I thought.
The abnormality was having magic powers. And worst of all, not knowing how to use them. My grandfather had the same problem as he was growing up, but now he has dimensia and can't remember anything about his childhood. I have tried asking him for advice, but it is hard talking to a person that can't remember what day it is or how old he is.
I buried my head in my arms and closed my eyes thinking about my parents and how they had given me up to this boarding school at the age of eight because the public school near my house thought I was too much of a handful and didn't want me there anymore.
Then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I unburied my head and saw my best friend, Maria, kneeling down next to me. She had a smile on her face and to me. "How are you doing, Tony?" she asked.
Maria was like me; born with the same abnormality. She is 17, four years older than I am. She has blonde hair, which is cascading over her shoulders in a waterfall. She has brown eyes and is wearing a black dress with black knee socks.
"Not too good," I said through tears. "She took my wand today. I swear she is out to get me!"
Maria took a handkerchief out of her shirt pocket and wiped my eyes. "Don't worry, Tony. You'll get it back soon. She can't keep it forever," she said trying to cheer me up.
"I know. Just till the end of the year," I said feeling a little bit better now that Maria was here.
She stood up and took my hand. "Come, Tony, for I shall show you something."
I stood up and followed Maria through the hallway. She took me down to the pier that lead out of Italy. There I saw what I had done.
There was a ship that was coming down the canal. But the ship was not any kind of ship, it was a freighter the length of a football field. I was having a hard time traveling down the canal because it was too big for it.
I could hear the ship's engines straining in reverse but the ship was only moving forward at a steady pace. "I did that?" I asked Maria in total amazement.
"Yes," she replied. "You have to be careful what you are doing with the wand in your hand and be careful what you say so these type of things don't happen," she said pointing into the canal and the troubled freighter.
I bowed my head and looked at my feet. How could I have done such a terrible thing? I thought.
Maria took out her mini sized wand from her pocket and waved it into the air. The freighter disappeared. All the people who were standing around gawking at the freighter were now back to there business as if nothing had happened.
Maria always makes things right again, it thought. No matter what I do, she can make it right.
Then I could feel a coolness of metal in my hand. She had brought my wand back from the cabinet and placed it into my hand. I was overcome with joy. "My wand! You have brought it back!"
She nodded her head and put her hand on my shoulder again. "But this is the last time I am doing this for you. You have to learn to do it yourself, Tony."
I nodded and with that she disappeared.
That was 10 years ago and I have not seen Maria since, but boy do I miss her.
I sat at my desk staring at the Botticelli print hanging on the wall while my teacher looked over the damage report.
"I can't even imagine how you could have done all this ruckus, Tony!" Miss Marzano said to me scowling and slapping the paper back on her desk.
"I'm sorry Miss Marzano," I said looking at her, but she wasn't looking back so I continued studying the print on the wall. "I didn't mean to. I mean, I couldn't help my self, ma'am." Which was true because I didn't even know what I had done.
Miss Marzano got up from her desk and with deliberate quick steps walked over to mine. "I don't know how you could have done what you did but you'd better reverse it before someone gets hurt. And I mean that!"
I nodded, but deep in my heart I knew that reversing what I had accidentally done was virtually impossible because I had no clue how I did what I did let alone reverse it. I lowered my eyes and looked at the book that was on my desk. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I'll try to go fix it right away," I said with a quivering voice.
She finally put her hand on my shoulder and I looked up from the book. In a slow deliberate voice, Miss Marzano said, "You should go get some help for your problem. I don't know anyone else like you." With that she walked back over to her desk.
I was stunned. How could I help how I was born? My eyes filled up with tears, but I didn't let it show. I wasn't going to let her tell me that I wasn't normal. I was as normal as God had made me.
I stood up and put my book in my backpack. I liked that book so much; I had read it about five times in the last year alone. It was about a normal boy with normal parents and who led a normal life. Oh how badly I wanted to be that boy. Miss Marzano called to me as I was zipping up my backpack, "Oh, Tony," she said with a stern voice.
I gulped and replied, "Yes, ma'am?"
"May I please have your wand?"
My wand! My precious wand that was given to me on my seventh birthday from my grandparents, she was going to take it from me. I couldn't let that happen but I knew I had no choice. No student at the Saint Lucia Academy had refused a direct request by an adult. I had to give it to her.
Choking back the tears from earlier, I handed her my wand, the only thing in the world that meant anything to me. "Thank you, Tony, you can have this back at the end of the year," She said as she put my want in the cabinet that was behind her desk and locked it with the gold key that she kept around her neck.
"The end of the year?" I asked politely. "But it is only March! I can't wait two months for my wand back!" I yelled losing all composure.
"For your information, Tony," she replied in a calm tone, "June is three months away."
That was it. I couldn't take anymore. I ran over to my backpack, grabbed it up in one quick motion and ran out the door as fast as a lion hunting down his prey and pouncing after it.
Out in the hallway. I crumpled to the floor and sobbed. The kind of sob that you only hear from babies that have lost their mothers or from wives that have lost their husbands. I just sat on the floor and cried.
Why was I born with this abnormality that makes me so different from everyone else? I thought.
The abnormality was having magic powers. And worst of all, not knowing how to use them. My grandfather had the same problem as he was growing up, but now he has dimensia and can't remember anything about his childhood. I have tried asking him for advice, but it is hard talking to a person that can't remember what day it is or how old he is.
I buried my head in my arms and closed my eyes thinking about my parents and how they had given me up to this boarding school at the age of eight because the public school near my house thought I was too much of a handful and didn't want me there anymore.
Then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I unburied my head and saw my best friend, Maria, kneeling down next to me. She had a smile on her face and to me. "How are you doing, Tony?" she asked.
Maria was like me; born with the same abnormality. She is 17, four years older than I am. She has blonde hair, which is cascading over her shoulders in a waterfall. She has brown eyes and is wearing a black dress with black knee socks.
"Not too good," I said through tears. "She took my wand today. I swear she is out to get me!"
Maria took a handkerchief out of her shirt pocket and wiped my eyes. "Don't worry, Tony. You'll get it back soon. She can't keep it forever," she said trying to cheer me up.
"I know. Just till the end of the year," I said feeling a little bit better now that Maria was here.
She stood up and took my hand. "Come, Tony, for I shall show you something."
I stood up and followed Maria through the hallway. She took me down to the pier that lead out of Italy. There I saw what I had done.
There was a ship that was coming down the canal. But the ship was not any kind of ship, it was a freighter the length of a football field. I was having a hard time traveling down the canal because it was too big for it.
I could hear the ship's engines straining in reverse but the ship was only moving forward at a steady pace. "I did that?" I asked Maria in total amazement.
"Yes," she replied. "You have to be careful what you are doing with the wand in your hand and be careful what you say so these type of things don't happen," she said pointing into the canal and the troubled freighter.
I bowed my head and looked at my feet. How could I have done such a terrible thing? I thought.
Maria took out her mini sized wand from her pocket and waved it into the air. The freighter disappeared. All the people who were standing around gawking at the freighter were now back to there business as if nothing had happened.
Maria always makes things right again, it thought. No matter what I do, she can make it right.
Then I could feel a coolness of metal in my hand. She had brought my wand back from the cabinet and placed it into my hand. I was overcome with joy. "My wand! You have brought it back!"
She nodded her head and put her hand on my shoulder again. "But this is the last time I am doing this for you. You have to learn to do it yourself, Tony."
I nodded and with that she disappeared.
That was 10 years ago and I have not seen Maria since, but boy do I miss her.