The Wish Stealers (27 page)

T
he sounds of drums, horns, trumpets, and whistles electrified the air. A marching band, reporters, and news cameras gathered in the sunshine in front of the town hall. Dr. Fonda, the representative for Pennies for the Planet, had traveled to Dadesville to collect the check the bank had written after counting all the coins.

Griffin, Garrett, and Alfred had been invited to stand on the platform set up in front of the town hall next to the bubbling town fountain, where in half an hour they would present the giant check to Pennies for the Planet. Mayor Alexander of Dadesville would speak first and introduce them. Thousands of people packed onto the town green. Hot dog
vendors, potters, artists, and local clubs all set up booths.

Griffin was supposed to meet Garrett by the information booth at ten thirty a.m.

“Griffin!” called Garrett.

“Hi,” she said, smiling. She carried a bag of
Go Green
,
Save the Earth
, and
Peace
rubber wristbands in a bag to hand out to kids.

“Hi. This is pretty cool,” said Garrett, looking around at the huge crowd gathered to celebrate something they had started. Griffin gave him a Save the Earth band. They wove their way through the booths.

“Griff!” called Libby, running up to her and hugging her. Maggie, Madison, Audree, and a few other girls were right behind Libby. “This is so awesome. Congratulations!”

“Thanks,” said Griffin. She hugged her friends, each wearing a different wristband. Everywhere people munched on organic popcorn and licked raspberry clouds of cotton candy. People kept stopping to congratulate her and Garrett as they made their way to the stage. Garrett stopped to talk to some of his friends.

Passing Mr. Luckner, Griffin saw him eating a huge cotton candy cone like a little kid. “Hi, Mr. Luckner,” she said.

“Hi, Griffin. I’m thinking I should assign a big science project every year!”

“Maybe,” said Griffin, still smiling. She gave him a
Go Green
wristband.

Mrs. Gideon came up to Griffin. She wore a colorful velvet patchwork skirt and a necklace of small clay squares with Chinese symbols for good luck on each one. “I’m so proud of you! I hand-copied one of Shakespeare’s sonnets for you as a gift for all your work to help our planet. It’s Sonnet XCIV. The one we talked about in class.”

Griffin accepted the beautiful poem written in calligraphy. When she read it, the lines that meant the most to her were:
“They that have power to hurt and will do none … and to temptation slow … They are the lords and owners of their faces.”

“Thank you so much, Mrs. Gideon. I will save this forever,” said Griffin. She gave her a
Save the Earth
wristband and rolled the poem into a scroll to keep in her Mysterium Collection Box. With Mariah’s curse she could have hurt a lot of people, and she had been tempted. But she’d refused to end up a rotted lily with cruelty twisted in her face. She now knew: She owned the light inside her.

“Griffin,” said Mrs. Gideon, “the Traveling Globe Theatre Company left town early. Some kind of date mix-up. Such a shame. I’d hoped our class would get to see them perform.”

“We could always do
Hamlet
and act out some scenes. My grandma taught me the best line from that play. ‘Angels and
ministers of grace defend us always against curses, evil wishes, and witches!’ Or something like that,” she said, smiling.

“
Hamlet?
What a wonderful idea! Maybe we will! I could still use my Festering Lily Perfume too,” she said, and winked.

“It’s your perfume?” said Griffin.

“I bought it at a Shakespeare festival at Stratford-upon-Avon in England. I thought it would be perfect for a lesson on sonnets!”

Griffin laughed. So that was Mrs. Gideon’s secret!

Samantha, Martha, and Sasha—overdressed with giant bags with nothing inside them, and high-heel shoes that kept sinking into the mud—stood a few feet in front of her. No one noticed them. People were more interested in celebrating saving the planet and listening to the music than talking about Samantha’s new clothes. Samantha called to her, “Griffin, what are you handing out?”

Griffin said, “Wristbands to remind people about what’s important. Do you three want one?”

“Okay,” said the girls.

To Martha, Griffin gave a
Go Green
band; to Sasha,
Save the Earth
; and to Samantha,
Peace
.

The three girls studied the bracelets like they were reading a foreign language.

“Uh, thanks,” said Samantha and her gang, trying on the bracelets.

“They look good on all of you,” said Griffin, and she kept walking.

Garrett called out, “Griffin, over here!” He waited for her at the platform base. Mayor Alexander was ready to go up and speak. Principal Yeldah was one step behind him.

Griffin waved and ran toward Garrett.

“Look!” gasped Griffin as she approached the stage. “Look! It’s Stanley! And Aurora!”

“Who?” said Garrett, looking up at the two musicians onstage ready to play.

“Stanley from the library and Aurora the harpist from the music center. Aurora!” called Griffin. “Stanley!”

They both waved. Stanley, smiling, came to the edge of the steps to greet them.

“Hello!” he said, bending down to talk to them. “Thanks to you and that lucky penny, my life has done a flip-flop.”

“Really?” said Griffin.

“That old penny you gave me was magic! While I was walking down the street, I accidently dropped it. The penny rolled away, and I thought, ‘Just like my life, things rolling away.’ But for some reason I chased that penny, and when
I scooped it up, I stood face-to-face with a poster on a telephone pole. It was a picture of Aurora playing in town! Well, I scrounged some money to buy a ticket to her concert, and on the way out I bumped into her. I gave her my CD, and the rest is history!”

Aurora came to the edge of the platform. “Hello, Griffin and Garrett. Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” said Griffin.

“Thank
you
for helping me find Stanley. Talent like his doesn’t come along very often. When I listened to his CD, I knew he was the accompanist I needed! I invited him to come on tour with me.”

“Cool!” said Garrett.

Griffin beamed.

“Attention, please. Your attention, please!” said Principal Yeldah through the microphone.

“We’re really proud of you both!” said Aurora.

The surging crowd shifted their attention to the stage. Griffin’s heart pounded. From the raised steps she observed people pushing closer to the platform. Garrett’s dad and mom held hands in the crowd close to the stage. Libby cheered nonstop.

Griffin’s head spun when she noticed the top of a Sunflower Assisted Living Home van. Painted on the van’s
windows in bubble letters were the words “Thanks, Griffin! Thanks, Garrett! Yay, Penny!” Had Florence and her friends come to the ceremony?

Griffin’s heart hammered harder.

“Are you ready?” whispered Principal Yeldah from the stage.

“Yep,” said Garrett and Griffin. Alfred from the metal shop arrived on the platform steps.

“Hi, Alfred,” she whispered.

“Hi,” he whispered back, and blushed. Griffin guessed he was nervous too.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” said the principal, “may I have your attention please on this beautiful Saturday in Dadesville!”

Everybody cheered.

“Today we celebrate the remarkable efforts of some of our young citizens who want to make a difference in our world, want to make changes and help our planet. By starting small but thinking big they raised awareness and collected pennies for the charity Pennies for the Planet. From the incredible support of fellow students and the town community, more than five thousand dollars was raised for our planet! I am also thrilled to announce that the Bank of Dadesville has matched that sum, making the grand total for Pennies for the Planet ten thousand dollars!”

Wild applause erupted from the audience.

Griffin, Garrett, and Alfred all high-fived.

“Here today is Dr. Fonda to accept a check that will be used to prevent deforestation of our Earth. But before we present the check, would Griffin Penshine, Garrett Forester, and Alfred Coombs come up onstage and share a few words?”

Alfred spoke first. “Hi, I’m Alfred Coombs, and my grandpa always told me two things: He said, in the words of Benjamin Franklin, ‘A penny saved is a penny earned.’ I’ve been saving pennies all my life. But the second thing my grandpa always said to me was, ‘Never be penny wise and pound foolish,’ which means know what’s really valuable and don’t skimp on the important things! I’m so proud to give all these years of saved pennies to help our planet.”

Applause again rang through the audience.

Garrett took the microphone and spoke next. “I’m Garrett Forester. Doing your part for the planet is cool! Helping out is like being an alchemist—you can turn regular old things like pennies into gold! Peace out!”

Cheers rolled in giant waves across the town green.

Griffin unfolded her speech and scanned the sea of faces. Her mom, her dad, and Caelum were smiling like bright stars in the crowd.

“Good morning, everyone. My name is Griffin Penshine, and I would like to thank all the students of GWL and the citizens of Dadesville for everything you have done to help support our Earth by donating to Pennies for the Planet. It is so important to donate, but it is also important to do little things that add up to big things, like planting a tree every year, not littering, or taking the time to campaign against something you believe is hurting our environment. A lot of little efforts can add up to giant efforts.

“If you look very, very closely at a penny, in supersmall letters you’ll see a phrase on each and every one. It reads
e pluribus unum,
which means ‘out of many, one.’ Just think, if
many
small groups all over the
whole world
did their part—and we combined all those caring groups into
one group
—think how much we could accomplish to stop the destruction of the rain forest! To stop pollution! To promote peace!

“Out of all the pennies that were donated, I have one very old penny that I have been saving for a long time.” Digging into her pocket, Griffin pulled out the “world peace” penny. “Some people believe that if you wish on a penny, your wish just might come true if you don’t let anybody say, ‘It’s impossible! Give up! Don’t be silly!’ Never let Wish Stealers steal your dreams and make you ashamed for trying. I was
hoping all of you out there today could make a wish for world peace on this penny.”

The townspeople roared applause in response.

Griffin counted, “One! Two! Three!”

The audience hushed, and everyone made a silent wish for world peace.

Holding the penny high over her head, Griffin tossed the penny into the town fountain. It arced in the sky, sparkling like the most brilliant beacon.

You must be the change
you wish to see in the world.

—Gandhi

My first thanks goes to the Wish Givers in my life who helped make this book possible. A profound thanks to my editors: Ellen Krieger, whose extraordinary notes and brilliance helped refine this book and take it to another level; and to Fiona Simpson, whose wisdom and astute guidance helped give form to its finished shape. A heartfelt thanks to my manager, Fonda Snyder, who understands the secret labyrinth of a story like no other and whose intelligence and warmth make working with her a joy and honor.

An incredible thanks to my husband, Alexander Trivas, who read this book a gazillion times, offering priceless feedback and who cut any and all of Garrett’s dialogue that sounded like a forty-seven-year-old man in a tweed jacket. Alexander’s love, brilliance, support, and kindness are appreciated more than words can express. To our daughter, Hadley, whose intelligence, humor, and empathy shine through already. May you always be filled with courage and grace to pursue and fulfill your wishes, whatever they may be.

Thanks to my mother for her optimism, and to my father for his quiet and deep love of art. They have been Wish Givers in my life, championing writing, art, teaching, and creating as great ways to spend one’s time. A huge cheer for my brothers, who refused to hear from any Wish Stealers and pursued their dreams:
Scott as an airplane and helicopter pilot and Todd as an innovator in technology. An incredible thank-you to my in-laws, Sam and Stephanie, whose love and strong arms surround our family every day.

To the great teachers of my life who were true Wish Givers: Dr. Anderson, Mrs. Burns, Mrs. Skripol, and Professor Gelfant, I am grateful. Thank you to the sparkly eyed librarians: Mrs. Fournier, who let me hide out at recess in the Duffy Elementary School library to read; and Linda Clancy, the West Hartford town librarian who saved the
Anne of Green Gables
books for me. A huge thank-you to the great team at Simon & Schuster, especially Bess Braswell, Paul Crichton, Andrea Kempfer, and Alyson Heller. To the friends who read drafts or sections of this book, offering insights, support, or expert information, I am grateful: Aury, Lauren, Robert, Jake, Jennie, Regan, Todd, Elaine, Jyoti, Sarah, Jonathan, Stephanie, Benny, Ilana, Sara, Dennis, McCabe’s Guitar Store, Dr. Thomas, Griffin, Audree, Lily, Gabrielle, Yapha, Elisabeth, Jared, Michelle, Nicole, Madison, Bob, Maggie, Ketaki, Eileen, and Eden. A very special thanks to Merly, as always, and to Maria and Crystal, too.