Magic Happens

• Poppy Peters, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2022

I never believed in magic, not even when I was little. You see, I’m the type of kid who reads books for fun and does maths instead of sports. Science has proven magic is not real, it's only an illusion that messes with your mind. We all know that people can't wave a wand and get what they want or click their fingers and tidy every room or have a leprechaun appear and do their homework. That's all nonsense. The only magic in this world is the world itself. Why, you ask? Well, the world just appeared and humans, plants and animals grew on it. That sounds like real magic to me. I truly believed that magic did not exist until one warm, summers day.


The sun was shining and the breeze was light. I was riding my bike home from school down the old dirt road with its many potholes, which are horrible in winter when they fill up with rain and mud squishes through the gaps in my tyres and flicks up the back of my neatly ironed clothes; not a good look at school. Anyway, I was riding along when I hit one of those nasty potholes. My wheels wobbled and I fell to the ground with a thud grazing my hands and knees. I dusted myself off, picked up my bike and realised one wheel was bent and unrideable.


As I pushed it along I wished I was home with my nose buried in a book learning about ancient Greek history or difficult maths equations. The squeaking bent wheel seemed to be getting louder and the road seemed to be getting longer with each step I took. I craved to be at home. I longed for Mum’s chocolate biscuits with the crunchy outside and soft inside. The more I thought about it the more it felt real until suddenly I was there in my room, with a book in my hands and mum's biscuits next to me. I thought I had hit my head and was dreaming for a second until I picked up a biscuit and took a bite. It was real. But how?


Picking up my book, the dog-ear marking where I was up to had shifted. Amazingly, the pages begun to turn in front of me, flipping to the exact page I wished for. This can’t be happening, science could not explain this. It couldn't be magic . . . could it? I thought about Albert Einstein and how he would know the answer. And there before, he stood. I was in utter disbelief. I was thinking of so many questions to ask him and unbelievably the answers came flying back. I started to get the hang of it - whatever I thought, happened!


I asked aloud, “Is this magic?” Albert said, “Of course it is. The world may seem like it’s only science, but the secret is that it's full of magic. Only special people can see it!”