The Wondrous Prune by Ellie Clements

Author:Ellie Clements [Clements, Ellie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781526638335
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2022-03-07T00:00:00+00:00

When Jesse got home from school, Mama set about making our dinner.

‘How’s it going?’ he said, plonking himself down on Grandma’s old armchair.

‘Mama has confiscated my sketchbook,’ I told him gloomily.

‘Why did she do that?’

But of course, I couldn’t tell Jesse the real reason, even though I’d already tried to tell him about my superpower, seeing as Mama now forbade me from speaking of it again. But he still probably wouldn’t believe me. So instead I said, ‘I was cheeky to her and she’s still angry with me so won’t give it back.’

‘Well, maybe she will once she’s calmed down,’ said Jesse. ‘Still, it’s only a sketchbook. If you want to draw something, can’t you just use any paper?’

‘It’s not only a sketchbook,’ I said, offended. ‘It’s my sketchbook. It has pictures in it that are important to me.’

Even though it had only been a few hours since Mama had taken it away, I was really missing my sketchbook and felt tempted to secretly bring another one to life.

After Mama had put her casserole in the oven, she went upstairs to get changed into her work uniform. She was going to cover the shift of another waitress at Big Sal’s.

‘I won’t be back until very late,’ she said when she came down and collected her handbag. ‘The casserole should be ready in about two hours. And while I’m not here, I want you kids to be on your best behaviour,’ Mama added, looking pointedly at me as she said this and not my brother.

Mama left for work, and when the casserole was ready, Jesse and I ate it at the dining table.

‘You’ll never guess what I found the other day in the cellar,’ said Jesse.

‘What?’

‘Poppa B’s cloak – you know, the one he’d wear when he’d tell us a story and would try and act like he was some old, wise wizard?’

I giggled. ‘I remember that cloak and I loved Poppa’s stories.’

Back when Poppa was still here, whenever Jesse and I would come to stay, he’d always make sure to tell us a bedtime story. They were made-up stories, though he did claim some of them were true. But anyhow, they were all amazing stories even if a few did scare me a little. They’d be stories of kids going on epic adventures, or kids who’d become warriors as they battled to save their kingdom, or kids who’d find themselves having to defend the earth from an alien invasion. And even when Poppa got sick, he still loved to tell us these stories.

I suddenly thought about what Theo had said about the Delmere Magic. Had it been Poppa who’d originally told me that story?

‘There’s a boy in my class, Theo, who reckons there are kids in Delmere with superpowers,’ I told Jesse.

‘Yeah, right!’ he scoffed.

‘It’s called the Delmere Magic because the town supposedly has some ancient magic running through it,’ I continued regardless.

‘As if!’ said Jesse derisively.

‘I think Poppa B might’ve told us the same thing. Do you remember him ever telling us about kids having superpowers?’

‘No, I don’t think he did.

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