Letter 11

Wednesday, November 25, 2015                                    2:55 p.m.

Provo  Utah

My Dear Ohen;

Your mother tells me you like the story I’ve been writing for you, so let’s continue~

The Magic Thrift Store.

The first day that Henry and Suzy went into the Magic Thrift Store to work for the strange old woman, they didn’t know what to expect.

And they were certainly surprised when she greeted them with a toothy smile and offered them each a Merganser Candy Bar, manufactured by the Cody Merganser Candy Company, of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. (I get ten dollars every time I mention their company name in one of my letters or blogs . . . )

Their mother had warned them to be cautious, so they politely refused the offer, and immediately the rotten old woman screamed at them to get some brooms and sweep up around the book section and the toy section. Then she hobbled into the back room, where they heard her settle onto her daybed and start to snore like a chainsaw.

Being obedient children, unlike me when I was a kid (according to my mother), Henry and Suzy got out the brooms and began sweeping.

Henry swept up in the book section, where he found a large green book on the floor. He picked it up and was about to place it back on the shelf when he noticed the title:  HOW TO RAISE FLYING HAMSTERS FOR FUN AND PROFIT. By Professor Nitwit von Klaptrap.

Intrigued, Henry sat on the floor and opened the book.

Immediately a dozen flying hamsters flew out of the book and circled his head like big furry bees!

Henry tried to catch them, but they were too swift for him. One by one, they flew out the door, which happened to be open a crack.

Henry thought he might cry, but then decided that crying inside a magic thrift store might be dangerous, so instead he said a Bad Word, very loudly.

The Bad Word was:  Sugarbuns!

And wouldn’t you know it, the minute he said it he turned into a flying hamster himself!

He immediately flew over to his sister Suzy, who was diligently sweeping up around all the broken toys. She had not noticed what had happened to Henry, so when this big furry flying thing began dive bombing her she thought it was a June Bug and swatted it with a tattered badminton racquet. With a quavering squeak, Henry went shooting over to the Electronics section – where he landed inside a large lidless slow cooker.

Lucky for him, all slow cookers are very powerful magic spell breakers – and so he immediately turned back into a little boy.

Unluckily, now that he weighed so much again, the shelf that held the slow cooker came crashing down with a din to wake the dead.

It woke up the old woman in the back room, that’s for sure!

“What’s going on out here, you ragamuffins?” she demanded angrily.

“A big hairy bumble bee tried to sting me!” yelled Suzy excitedly, for that is what she truly thought.

“Phooey!” scoffed the old lady. “All the bumble bees have flown South for the winter. You are fibbing to me. Just for that, I am going to punish you severely.”

The nasty old woman stretched forth her hand and waved it around Suzy’s head.

TO BE CONTINUED.