The Wish Stealers (20 page)

“Just, uhh—a note,” Griffin said.

Mrs. Davis swooped around her desk and peered into the FedEx bin. “‘Brian Patterson Forester,’” she read aloud. “‘Sender: G. Penshine.’ Hmmm. Forester? I remember that name from entering school records. Is that Garrett Forester’s dad?”

“Uhh, maybe. I’m just dropping something off for my grandma.”
Brrringggg,
screeched the school bell.

“Oh, that wonderful lady I met the first day of school? Why is your grandma writing to Garrett’s dad, sunshine? Are they acquainted?”

“It’s about science night, that’s all,” said Griffin, through her clenched jaw.

“Look here! On the address line! Nome, Alaska! Garrett’s dad lives in Nome, Alaska? Ain’t that a hoot! Bear country! You know what they say about Nome, don’t ya?”

Griffin shook her head, now dizzy, as the floor became quicksand sucking her down.

“They say,” Mrs. Davis said, and started choking on her laughter, “there’s no place like Nome!” Her laugh boomed all over the front office.

Griffin left the office and hoped Mrs. Davis wouldn’t say anything.

To keep your secret is wisdom;
but to expect others to keep it is folly.

—Samuel Johnson

S
cience Night was only a week away, and Samantha and her friends were panicking, and panicking meant supervenom. It took every ounce of strength for Griffin not to wish wretched things on Samantha’s clique. Like maybe Samantha’s, Martha’s, and Sasha’s teeth would turn black and fall out, or they would all grow bushy beards. But darkness filling Griffin’s soul in exchange for Samantha’s sprouting a beard was not worth it. And some of the kids were excited about science for the first time. Audree constantly doodled blue-footed birds of the Galápagos. Photos of black holes plastered the inside of Robert Winbell’s locker. Caden Nosam was bumping
around the hallway with a stack of books, discussing bears with Mr. Luckner.

“Hey, Griffin,” whispered Jason, a few desks down from her in social studies class. “Are you coming to band rehearsal today at Garrett’s? Kurt really needs help.”

“Yeah, I’ll be there.” For the past week she had learned all the songs for Garrett’s band.

Trying to concentrate in class was becoming harder and harder for Griffin. Something was definitely wrong. The tingling-sinking feeling returned, and she’d had it ever since she’d left the front office.

A cold breeze swept through the hallway and throttled Griffin by the throat. As she unloaded books out of her locker, every hair on her neck shot straight up. She knew with one word what had happened.

“GRIFFIN!” yelled Garrett, rushing toward her, his face blistering red. “GRIFFIN,” he said again, and now he was right in front of her. “DID YOU WRITE TO MY DAD?”

Her eyes grew large. “What?”

“I just bumped into Mrs. Davis, who said, ‘Garrett, how neat that your dad lives in Alaska. There’s no place like Nome!’ I asked, ‘How do you know that?’”

Griffin felt a steel rod zoom straight up her back.

“Mrs. Davis said, ‘Well, your friend Griffin Penshine just sent him a letter.’”

“Can I talk to you after school?” she asked, looking down at her shoes as students passed by them in the hallway on the way to class.

“NO! I don’t care if I’m late for class. I don’t care if I never go to another class EVER!” Garrett was an erupting volcano.

Samantha and her group paraded by in a line, eyeing both Griffin and Garrett, who were standing, red-faced, inches apart from each other. “Look! Look! They’re having a fight!” she heard the girls whisper as they passed them.

Griffin bit down hard on her lower lip and looked straight at Garrett. “Garrett,” she said, and took a deep breath. “I’ll tell you everything, but could we please talk after school?”

“NO! TELL ME RIGHT NOW!”

“Fine.” The class bell rang, but Griffin didn’t budge. “Garrett, you once said you wished for a dad. I wanted to help out your wish, so I Googled your dad and found out he lived in Nome. Then I asked him to please write me back.
I never thought anything would happen,
ever
. Then he sent me a FedEx package to put my next letter in. In my second letter I said I’m sorry, this is none of my business. I should not have written.”

“I never want to see my dad! I hate you for writing to him! I’m not doing my science project with you, Griffin! I don’t care if I fail! Do the stupid project yourself!” Garrett punched three lockers in a row and exploded out the school doors.

Griffin looked up from the swirling floor in time to see Samantha and her mean friends’ faces pressed against the window of the classroom door, their shiny eyes like wolves’.

“Griffin Penshine! What are you doing out here? The class bell has already rung, and you’re LATE!” shouted Mr. Blackwell, patrolling for tardy students.

“I—I—I was just getting my books,” stammered Griffin.

“You’re tardy. That means a thirty-minute detention after school in room 201.”

“But, Mr. Blackwell … I …,” pleaded Griffin, holding back tears.

She didn’t hear anything for the last two periods of
school; only a giant blur and drone of buzzing surrounded her: “Did you and Garrett break up?” “Did Garrett dump you?”

Griffin knew she was lost inside one of Giorgione’s inside-out clouds.

Ride out the storms when clouds hide the face of the sun in your life, remembering that even if you lose sight of the sun for a moment, the sun is still there.

—Blessing of the Apaches

M
rs. Forester called that evening, after Griffin had come home late from detention. From her bedroom Griffin could hear her mom talking. “We’re so sorry, Mary Beth. So sorry. I know this must be very hard for Garrett and you. We can assure you Griffin had no idea what this meant to both of you. She was trying to be helpful.”

Dr. Penshine clicked off the phone and knocked on Griffin’s door. “Griffin, please open the door,” said her mom.

But Griffin locked the door and buried herself under the blankets. She never wanted to go to school again. She never
wanted to help another person again. She swore she would never write another letter or use another penny again in her whole life.

“Dad and I want to talk to you downstairs. Take fifteen minutes for yourself, but then we want you downstairs in Dad’s office. No ifs, ands, or buts.”

After Griffin heard her mom’s footsteps go down the stairs, she took out Mariah’s two boxes and put them on her bed. The “puppy,” “STOP,” “popular,” “world peace,” and the unlabeled penny remained. Griffin slowly took out Mariah’s red ring, its huge garnet stone resembling trapped blood. Tears dribbling from her eyes, Griffin tried to see her reflection in the stone. But tonight there was no glow, just a dull red. One of Griffin’s teardrops smacked the middle of Mariah’s ring. Griffin brushed away the tear, leaving a smudge. Setting the ring back in the box, she scanned the remaining pennies. “Popular” looked dull and tarnished. Carefully she slid that penny out of the ring slit.

Long ago someone wished to be popular. Griffin wondered why that person had made that wish. Did he or she have that same suffocating feeling that Griffin did right now? Like the whole world was against her?

The grandfather clock chimed. Time to go downstairs and face her parents. The small desk light was glowing on her
father’s desk. Her parents sat on the couch together. Griffin slumped into the leather chair across from them.

“Griffin, it’s time you told us what’s going on,” said her mom. “Garrett’s mom is beside herself. She said Garrett is so upset. What made you write a letter like that?”

Griffin took a deep breath. She remembered what Mariah had said:
If you tell anyone about the curse, you are cursed for generations, and the person you tell will never have any of his or her wishes come true.

Griffin chose her words carefully. “Remember when I met that lady, Mariah Weatherby Schmidt, at Mr. Schmidt’s shop?”

Her mom nodded.

“She gave me a penny and a box of polishing cloths. But actually, in the box of cloths were some other lucky pennies. I was only trying to help make Garrett’s wish for a dad come true. I gave him a lucky penny and wrote that letter to speed up his luck. Mariah also gave me a ring and a leather guest record book from the inn.”

“May we see the ring and guest book Mariah gave you?” asked her dad.

“Okay.” Griffin nodded and dashed upstairs to retrieve the box. When she returned, her mom examined the ring. “This stone is a garnet. It looks about six carats—worth quite
a lot. They are never this large. The gold band is thick, too.”

Together her parents opened the guest book and studied it, like careful archeologists. “An odd and interesting bequeathal,” said her dad. “Reminds me of a quote from Ben Franklin. He said, ‘If a man could have half of his wishes, he would double his troubles.’”

“I made a huge mistake. I just wanted to try to help Garrett.”

“We know your intentions were good, but when you make a decision that affects someone else’s privacy, you need to be respectful and really consider how the other person might feel.”

Griffin nodded her head, as tears spilled from her eyes.

“I see here the name Florence L. Daniellson and the tiny word ‘puppy.’ Is this what the puppy thing is about?” said her mom. “This woman wished for a puppy?”

“I just thought it might be nice to make her wish come true.”

“I see,” said her mom.

“Garrett refuses to do the science project with me now. After all the work we did together, he’ll totally get marked down if he’s not there. He hates me too.”

“First, I think you should write apology notes to Garrett and his mother. Try to explain what you meant to do.”

“I told him already!” cried Griffin.

“Giving people time to calm down is best,” said her mom. “Science night is still a week away. Maybe Garrett will change his mind. If not, you need to honor his choice, and we’ll help you set up your booth. What do you want to do with Mariah’s stuff?”

“Throw it in the garbage.”

“Do you want to keep the ring?”

“No, it scares me,” answered Griffin.

“I have an idea. Let’s sell the ring, and any money you make we’ll donate to Pennies for the Planet. I’ll take care of it for you, okay?”