THE MAGIC MARBLE -EXCERPT

The Magic Marble

A short story by

Austin Mitchel

Kirk and Ricky were playing marbles outside their school gate one evening after school. Both boys were in Grade Five. They were about even as to who had won the more games.

An old man approached them. It was the first time either boy was seeing this old man. They wondered which village, he was from.

“Boys, I’m hungry. Help out an old man with some money.”

“We don’t have any money,” Kirk replied, looking at the old man. The man’s clothes were untidy and looked to be in need of a good scrubbing.

The man fished into his pocket and took out a marble.

“This here’s a magic marble, you can’t miss with it.”

“How much will you sell it to me for?” Kirk asked.

The old man looked curiously at Kirk.

“I thought you didn’t have any money.”

“I’ll buy it from you,” Ricky told him.

“For five hundred dollars, you can have it. As I said, you can’t miss with it. The marble is not to be played after six o’clock in the evenings. If you disobey my orders it will become useless to you.”

The old man handed Ricky the marble and Ricky handed him the five hundred dollar bill. Immediately the old man rushed into a nearby shop to buy something to eat.

Ricky soon cleaned out Kirk of all the marbles he had. Kirk bought some more marbles from Ricky but again lost all his marbles. Only when he was down to his bus fare did Kirk stop playing.

Ricky was so good at marbles that other boys refused to play against him. Kirk had told them about the magic marble Ricky had. Many of the boys wished they could have a marble like that. Ricky never missed with it, no matter the distance. He refused to tell anyone where he got the marbles from.

But Ricky was always curious as he never saw the old man again. Nobody knew anything about him. But Ricky was a greedy boy and decided not to heed the old man’s warning not to play after six o’clock. The first and second days he played after six o’clock, nothing happened. The third time he he played, the marble did not work the next day .

The marble was now playing like a normal marble.

”It’s no good. I’m sorry I ever listened to that old man. If I ever see him again, I’ll demand back my money and give him back his useless marble.”

“You’ve won lots more money than you paid for it,” Kirk told him.

The next day Ricky flung the marble as far as he could throw it.

Many boys asked him what he had done with the magic marble. Ricky told them that  it had become useless and so he had thrown it away. He never told them that he had disobeyed the old man’s warning.

All the boys in the village started looking for the magic marble.

Ricky learned that the old man was from Westmoreland and his name was Josh. He made a lot of magical things which he sold to make his living. Ricky heard that he sold magic balloons, kites, balls among other things.

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