The Ball
This story was written for Lunar Awards season three
It was the start of summer vacation but it was a rainy day for Lucas and Johnathan. They looked forward to going to the beach all school year but now today they can’t. Their mother suggested that they go through some of the things in the attic for a future yard sale. So, the boys went upstairs to the attic and looked around. The first item that they saw was their old wood rocking horse.
“Hey, I remember this thing, you loved rocking on it,” Lucas said to his brother.
“I did? I don’t remember that,” Johnathan pushed down on it’s head to rock it.
“Yep, you rocked on that thing for hours,” Lucas kept walking.
As Johnathan examined the rocking horse, Lucas walked over to a stack of three boxes. He opened up the top box and saw some old toys. He found an etch-a-sketch, some green army men, a toy piano, along with a bunch of other stuff.
“Well, I think I found the first box of stuff for the yard sale,” Lucas moved the box to the floor.
As Lucas opened up the next box, Johnathan walked over to an old four drawer dresser. He pulled out the top drawer and found nothing but old newspaper clippings. One of the clippings was titled, “Class Act”. Johnathan saw someone who looked like a magician but didn’t think anymore about it. He then pulled open the second drawer and found some material. It felt like satin and was purple and black.
“Hey, did either of us dress up as magicians when we were young?” Johnathan asked.
“No, I don’t think so. Why?”
“Well, there’s some kind of material or robe in here,” Johnathan said.
“Maybe Dad used it for something,” Lucas said.
Johnathan felt around the drawer of material, and found a small hard object wrapped in some black velvet. Johnathan carefully unwrapped the velvet and was surprised by what he found.
“Lucas, look at this. It looks like a little crystal ball,”
Johnathan held the small ball in the palm of his hand and walked over to his brother. The ball was only an inch and a half in diameter and was crystal clear.
“See,” Jonathan held his hand out.
Lucas looked at the crystal clear ball and was instantly drawn to it, “wow, that’s pretty cool. It looks like a large marble.”
Lucas picked the ball up and held it up toward the light fixture. But what he saw wasn’t the light from the fixture at all.
“Hey, look at this. What do you see in there?”
Jonathan looked up at the ball while Lucas held it, “It looks like a blue sky… And water? Wait a minute. It looks like a beach. How can that be?” Johnathan grabbed the ball from Lucas’s hand.
When Johnathan held the crystal ball up to the light, it changed to a movie playing in a theater.
“Wait a minute. What’s going on here?
“What is it?” Lucas asked.
“Well it changed. I’ve been thinking that if we can’t go to the beach today, then maybe we could go see a movie. Look, the movie theater,” Jonathan let Lucas see.
“Wow, that’s crazy. Let me see that thing again,” Lucas snatched the ball.
Lucas thought about the beach again and watched as it appeared in the ball. With a big smile on his face he quietly wished that they were at the beach. Almost instantaneously the boys found themselves standing on the soft brown sand. They heard the sounds of the waves and the seagulls. And as they looked around, they felt the warm sunshine and smelled the fresh air.
Johnathan looked around with amazement, “are we really at the beach?”
Lucas stomped his foot on the sand, “I think so.”
“How is this possible?” Johnathan looked at Lucas.
“I don’t know but I’m going to enjoy it,” Lucas put the crystal ball into his shorts pocket.
“Don’t you think that we should let mom know?”
“We’ll only stay for an hour or two. She’ll just think that we’re going through stuff in the attic,” Lucas said.
After about an hour of enjoying the sunshine and water, Johnathan plopped down next to his brother on the sand, “do you think that ball will take us anywhere?
Lucas took the crystal ball ball out of his pocket and held it up, “do you mean like… We wish to go to the state fair?”
Suddenly, Johnathan and Lucas unbelievably found themselves sitting on a bench swing at the top of the Ferris wheel. The two of them looked down over the sides as the wheel started to move.
“This is great. We can go anywhere with this thing,” Lucas smiled.
“I don’t know about this. Doesn’t this seem strange to you?” Johnathan glanced around.
“Yeah but what is it hurting? We’re doing fine, right?” Lucas said.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Johnathan watched the people as the wheel continued to go around.
“Just go with it bro and have some fun, “Lucas smiled.
Johnathan tried to relax and have fun at the fair by eating corndogs and funnel cakes. They went on three other rides and also looked in the exhibit hall. But after two hours went by, Lucas asked Johnathan if he was ready to go. He suggested maybe going to New York City to see their father.
“I don’t know about that Lucas, what if we can’t get back home?”
“Relax, let’s go spy on dad and then we’ll go home, okay?” Lucas took the crystal ball out of his pocket.
Johnathan went along with what his brother wanted just so he could get to go home quicker. Lucas held the ball up and pictured his father’s address. The next thing they knew, they were standing on a sidewalk in the city.
“It did it. This ball brought us to New York,” Lucas tapped his brother’s arm.
Johnathan and Lucas hadn’t seen their father in two years and the number they saw on the building was his last known address. They walked up the steps and Lucas tried the door but it was locked. He then looked at the list of names by the buzzers and found his fathers. He looked at Johnathan though and thought for a minute. Should we even waste our time on our dad, he thought? After all, he wasn’t a very good dad when he was around.
“How about we just look around the city and then go home?” Lucas said Johnathan.
“Sounds good to me,” Johnathan smiled.
So the two of them walked down the street not really knowing where they were going. They glanced around but only saw residential buildings in that area. They made a right and saw some small businesses but it wasn’t what Lucas wanted to see.
“I know,” Lucas stopped and took the crystal ball back out of his pocket.
He held the ball up and envisioned the Time Square that he’d seen many times on television for the New Years countdown. And just like that, the boys found themselves standing on a corner in the busy part of Times Square. Johnathan and Lucas looked around and saw the tall buildings around them. They even notice that a few of the buildings had large display screens on them. Some played advertisements while others played music videos.
“This is cool, right? We’re in Times Square,” Lucas smiled.
Johnathan couldn’t help but look all around him. But he did find it a little overwhelming. After all, these teens have never been to a big city before.
“Come on, let’s look around,” Lucas tapped Johnathan’s arm.
Johnathan stuck close to his brother as they walked down the sidewalk. They glanced in a few business windows and observed the height of some buildings. The boys even stopped and watched a couple of street performers. What they didn’t like to see was someone getting beat up down an alley that they walked past.
“Lucas, I want to go home now. Mom must be getting worried about us,” Johnathan stopped him.
“Oh, okay. But let’s go where there are less people. We don’t want anyone to see our crystal ball,” Lucas said.
The boys turned a corner and saw a sign that said Bryant Park. The two of them walked that way and found themselves near a huge library.
“Okay, let’s go over by that tree,” Lucas pointed.
They passed a couple of people who were sitting on the grass and walked over to the tree. Lucas took the ball out of his pocket and looked at his brother.
“Can I wish us home?” Johnathan asked.
“Sure,” Lucas handed the ball to Johnathan.
Just as Johnathan held the ball up and envisioned their house, two sloppy dressed men walked up from behind them.
“What is that?” The one man asked.
Lucas grabbed the ball from Johnathan’s hand, “it’s nothing. It’s just a marble.”
“A marble? Let me see it,” the man held out his hand.
“Johnathan, let’s go,” Lucas looked at him.
“Now wait a minute, what’s your hurry?” The man side-stepped in front of Johnathan.
Lucas was blocked by the other man and held his hand out in front of him.
“Now, give my friend that marble,” the man said.
Lucas looked at the tall scruffy man that stood in front of him and then reached into his pocket.
“Lucas, no. How are we going to get home?” Johnathan said.
Lucas pulled the crystal ball out of his pocket and said to his brother, “don’t you have football practice today?”
Johnathan looked at Lucas and paused, “yes, I do so we need to go now,” Johnathan stepped back.
The man that was standing in front of Johnathan turned to look at Lucas. Lucas tossed the crystal ball past the men and Johnathan reached up and caught it. Quickly Johnathan wished to be back home. His wish worked but he found himself standing alone in his front yard.
“Lucas,” Johnathan called out.
Johnathan looked around and realized that his brother must still be in New York. So, he held up the ball, pictured Lucas, made the wish, and then found himself back in New York. Johnathan recognized the park that he was at and looked around for his brother. He saw Lucas walking with the two men at the other end of the park. Johnathan knew that he needed to be smart about this and thought for a moment. He looked around and noticed two police officers standing by a coffee shop and ran over to them.
“Excuse me sirs, my brother is being taken by those men over there,” Johnathan pointed.
The officers looked and then one asked, “are you sure that he is being taken?”
“Yes, we were on our way home when they forced Lucas to go with them,” Johnathan said.
“Okay son, we’ll get your brother back.”
The officer told his partner to hurry down the sidewalk and go toward the three of them while he followed them from behind.
“What’s your name kid?” The officer asked.
“Johnathan.”
“Okay Johnathan, you wait here and we’ll bring Lucas back to you.”
“Okay sir,” Johnathan watched as the officer quickly ran after Lucas and the two men.
Johnathan felt anxious while he waited for his brother to be returned and gazed into the crystal ball. He knew that he couldn’t wish for anything though for fear of not ever seeing his brother again.
The police officer that was further down the sidewalk noticed how the one guy was pushing Lucas. He knew then that the two men were up to no good with the kid. When the men saw the one officer walking toward them, they grabbed Lucas by the arm and directed him in the opposite direction. But that didn’t work either because then they saw the other officer. Before the men could do anything, the officer raised his gun and asked them to stop. The men stopped, looked at each other, and then pushed the kid toward the officer.
Lucas fell to the ground in front of him and the two men ran off in different directions.
The officer put his gun away and hurried over to Lucas. The other officer also ran up to them, “are you okay Lucas?”
“Um, yeah but how do you know my name?”
“Your brother Johnathan pointed you out to us. He told us that you were in trouble with those men. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I am now. But you saw Johnathan?”
“Yes, he’s by the coffee shop. We’ll take you to him,” the other officer said.
Lucas kept quiet and walked with the officer’s. When Johnathan saw his brother, he felt relieved.
He ran up to Lucas and hugged him “Lucas, thank goodness you’re alright.”
“Yeah, thanks for coming back.”
“Are you boys going to be okay? Do you need a ride home?” The officer asked.
“Yes, we’ll be fine thank you. Our father’s office is in that building over there,” Lucas pointed.
“Okay, well, you boys take care then.”
“Yes sir, thank you sir,” Lucas nudged Johnathan’s arm.
“Yes, thank you officer’s,” Johnathan smiled.
After the officer’s walked away, Johnathan asked his brother why he lied about their father? Lucas pulled his brother down the sidewalk and around the corner of the building.
“We don’t need them asking us any questions. Remember, we’re not even supposed to be here. Are you ready to go home now,” Lucas asked.
“Yes, I’ve had enough of this adventure,” Johnathan said as he pulled the crystal ball out of his pocket.
Johnathan held the small ball up and envisioned his bedroom. Just as Lucas smiled at his brother, they were standing in Johnathan’s messy room.
“Boy, am I glad to be home,” Johnathan walked over to his bed and plopped down on it.
“Yeah, me too. That was a close call in New York,” Lucas said.
“Boys, where are you?” Their mother called out.
“We’re in here Mom,” Lucas opened the bedroom door.
“Oh, well, didn’t you hear me calling you earlier? I wanted to tell you that it’s supposed to be a nice day tomorrow so we all can go to the beach.”
“The beach?” Lucas started to laugh.
Johnathan looked at his brother and laughed too, “yeah, the beach. Sounds good Mom.”
“O-kay,” their mother turned to walk away. She stopped and looked at them again, “are you boys alright?”
“Yes, we’re fine Mom,” Lucas smiled.
“Oh, and look at what we found in the attic,” Johnathan jumped up and showed her the crystal ball.
“Oh, will you look at that,” their mom took the ball.
“I haven’t seen this in years. This used to be your grandfather’s. He used it in his magic act. He told me that it is really magical, but I didn’t believe him,” their mother handed the ball to Lucas.
The boys looked at each other and smiled. They knew just how magical that little ball was.
The End
That was a close call for the boys. I was scared right with them !