Relentless: Three Novels (18 page)

“Okay, Buzzy, you ready to go?” Mrs. Honey Pickle asked. “Woof, woof,” said Buzzy and he jumped into Mrs. Honey Pickle’s spaceship and headed to Earth to help Holly Anne.

They arrived in the back yard of the Peterson’s house. Mrs. Honey Pickle wasn’t a very good driver and crashed into the small tree house that hung in the back yard. She was great at space ship takeoffs. Landings were where she was always in trouble. Holly Anne ran out the back door to see what all of the commotion was about in the tree house. “Who are you?” Holly Anne shouted. “And what happened to the tree house?”

Mrs. Honey Pickle and Buzzy stepped out of the spaceship to introduce themselves. “Sorry about the tree house.”

“Is everyone okay?” Holly Anne asked, frowning at the smashed tree house.

“Oh yes! We’re fine. This happens all the time. Hello, Holly Anne, I am Mrs. Honey Pickle and this is my dog, Buzzy.”

“How do you know my name?”

“You see, Holly Anne, I am your fairy godmother and I’m here to grant you a wish.”

“My fairy godmother?” Holly Anne asked puzzled. “I thought those were only in fairy tales?”

“Oh no, we are everywhere now.”

“How do I know you are telling me the truth?”

“Well, because I am your fairy godmother.”

“So, you have fairy powers?” Holly Anne asked.

“Why, yes, I do,” Mrs. Honey Pickle said with a smile.

“Then prove it,” Holly Anne said again. Mrs. Honey Pickle was shocked that little Holly Anne didn’t believe her.

“Okay,” Mrs. Honey Pickle said, crossing her arms across her chest. “What would you like me to do?”

Holly Anne looked down at Buzzy and said, “Turn him green.” Buzzy looked at Mrs. Honey Pickle as if he was pleading with her not to do. Buzzy even put his tail between his legs.

“Will it hurt him?” Holly Anne asked, having second thoughts.

“Oh no. He just doesn’t like the color green. He says it doesn’t go with his eyes.”

“Oh. Well, if you make him green, can you change him back?”

“Sure! Well, okay, here we go.” Mrs. Honey Pickle grabbed her magic wand from the hook on her gown and pointed it at Buzzy, said a little chant, and voilà, Buzzy was green.

Holly Anne looked stunned. “Wow,” she said, “I didn’t think you could actually do it.”

Mrs. Honey Pickle gave a proud smile, blew off her wand like it was a smoking pistol and hooked it back on her gown. “I’m going to have to get a holster for this thing. So, Holly Anne, do you believe me now?”

“Yes, I do. That was cool, Mrs. Honey Pickle. How did you do that?”

“Years and years of magic practice, my dear.”

“And can you put the tree house back the way it was?” Holly Anne asked. “Please? My dad built that for me before Bobby was born and I go up there sometimes to be alone.”

“What a sweet girl. Of course I can fix it.” Mrs. Honey Pickle waved her wand and the tree house was brand new.

“Wow, that’s even better than it was! Thanks! My dad is going to be amazed.”

“You’re welcome, Holly Anne. I broke it so it was up to me to fix it.”

“Now what do we do? Do you want to play with me?” Holly Anne asked. “I have a Chinese jump rope and Twister and Uno cards. I have Clue and jacks and a Hoppity-Hop. I have dolls, too.”

“That all sounds fun. But not today, sweetie. Today, I am here to grant you a wish.”

“A wish?” Holly Anne asked surprised. “Really?”

“Yes, Holly Anne. You can have any wish you want.”

Holly Anne started at Mrs. Honey Pickle and said, “Are you going to change your dog back?”

Mrs. Honey Pickle laughed, “Why yes, Buzzy, I’m sorry my love.”

She removed her wand once more, pointed it at Buzzy and he went back to his normal color.

“Woof, woof!” said Buzzy, thanking her for changing him back.

“Was that my wish?” Holly Anne asked.

“Oh my, no. Your wish is for you!” Mrs. Honey Pickle walked toward Holly Anne and motioned for her to have a seat on the patio bench. The two sat down.

“Now, Holly Anne, what do you want your wish to be?”

Before she could answer, Bobby burst through the back yard gate, dragging Holly Anne’s broken bike with him.

“What happened to my new bike?” she yelled. “Dad just put that together yesterday!”

“I was using it on the jumps at the park and I fell and it broke on the ramp.”

“Bobby, you freak, everything is always ruined because of you! I don’t care if you ruin your stuff, but why do you always take my things and break them!”

“Because I can,” Bobby replied.

Holly Anne started to cry.

Bobby laid down the bike and said, “Girls are so dramatic.”

Holly Anne got off the bench and ran up to his face. She said, “You’re wrecking my life! I wish I never even had a brother!” she yelled.

After she spoke the words, Bobby disappeared into thin air.

“That was it?” she asked Mrs. Honey Pickle.

“Yes, that easy,” Mrs. Honey Pickle answered.

“You didn’t hurt him, did you?”

“No! No! I wouldn’t do that.”

“So where is he?”

“He doesn’t exist,” said the fairy godmother.

Holly Anne began to sing and dance around the backyard, as Buzzy chased her and barked.

Mrs. Honey Pickle was pleased with herself, she loved this part of the wishes, when the kids were happy, but she knew all too well that it would change.

“Come on Buzzy we have to go,” said Mrs. Honey Pickle.

Buzzy gave Holly Anne a few licks and followed Mrs. Honey Pickle to the space ship.

“Thank you so much, Mrs. Honey Pickle. It was good of you to come and grant a wish for me.”

“You’re welcome, my dear. Now if you have any problems, you just look to the sky and say my name three times, and Buzzy and I shall return.”

“Trust me, I will have no more problems, now that Bobby is gone. He was trouble from the day he got here. My grandma even got him a baby t-shirt that said ‘My Middle Name is Trouble’ and it’s been crazy around here, ever since!”

Mrs. Honey Pickle laughed.

“I’m not kidding. Every time he did something bad, my parents would laugh like it was cute. I didn’t know what to do. You saved my life!

Mrs. Honey Pickle hugged her and waved goodbye to Holly Anne as she and Buzzy were off in the space ship, zooming past the moon and then Venus on the flight plan that was just past Mars.

“Wow,” Holly Anne thought, “could this be true, could Bobby really be gone?”

Holly Anne rushed into the house and ran up the stairs to see if Bobby’s room was there.

She opened the door and found in Bobby’s room, the home gym that her mother had always wanted. The room was crammed with exercise equipment and a big mirror on the wall, even with a ballet barre.

“Wow, Mom got a wish, too! By accident!”

Holly Anne laughed in happiness and skipped back down the stairs.

This is amazing, she thought, I am now an only child again, my wildest dream. No more little brother getting in my things, breaking my dolls, or crashing my bike.

Life would now be amazing. She saw her mother’s car pull up, she couldn’t wait to start her life as any only child.

Holly Anne ran to the car to meet her mother, and was surprised to find a baby in a car seat in the back.

Holly Anne didn’t recognize the baby, “Mom who’s the baby?”

“Holly Anne, don’t be silly. That’s your baby sister, Wendy.”

“Baby sister, Wendy?” Holly Anne repeated. “But, but, that bedroom has exercise equipment. Where do you keep the baby?”

“She shares your room, silly. You know that.”

“Really?” Holly Anne asked, her world collapsing.

“Yes,” her mother said, “now get Wendy out of her car seat and help me cook dinner.”

“Cook dinner? It’s Bobby’s turn tonight. He’s supposed to microwave the pizza.”

“Who is Bobby? Holly Anne, you are acting really strangely today.”

Holly Anne picked up Wendy and followed her mother in the house. For such a little baby, she was heavy!

Her mother began to prepare dinner and asked Holly Anne to watch her sister.

“This can’t be too bad,” Holly Anne thought. “She is a baby and a girl, too. What could she possibly do to me?”

She toted her little sister up the stairs and headed to her room.

“Now, Wendy you sit here while I do my homework. You’ll be my living doll, a sweet baby sister.”

Holly Anne placed the baby on the floor and grabbed her homework from her backpack.

She sat down next to Wendy and started working on her homework.

Wendy was playing with a hair clip that she found on the floor, and then put it in her mouth.

“Ew, Wendy, don’t put that in your mouth. Don’t put anything from the floor into your mouth!” Holly Anne removed the hair clip from the baby’s mouth and put it on her desk. Holly Anne grabbed an old teddy bear that she had when she was younger from her closet.

“Now, Wendy you sit here and be a good little baby while I do my math problems.” She held up her index fingers. “Look, I’ll teach you math. See my fingers? I have one on each hand. So how many is that?”

Wendy gave Holly Anne the cutest little smile, which made Holly Anne’s heart melt.

She’s so sweet, Holly Anne thought. Wendy was a million times better than Bobby, even if they did have to share a room.

Holly Anne worked very hard on her homework, she strived to get the best grades in her fifth-grade class. Every now and then, she would glance over to see how Wendy was.

Wendy loved the teddy bear and seemed to be having a good time.

Holly Anne heard the telephone ring in the next room. “You stay right here, Wendy, while I get the phone.”

Holly Anne raced to get the phone, dropping her homework that she had worked so hard on, to the floor. However, she didn’t notice and continued to run to the phone.

When she came back from answering the phone, she noticed that Wendy had something in her hand.

“What do you have, Wendy?” she said in a baby talk voice.

Holly Anne moved closer to the baby and realized that Wendy had her homework and was eating it.

“No!” she screamed. “The baby ate my homework!”

Wendy began to giggle, thinking Holly Anne was playing.

Holly Anne removed what was left of her homework from the child’s hand.

“All that hard work and now I have to start over. Wendy, don’t eat paper. You’ll get sick!”

“Goo,” said Wendy with a playful smile and Holly Anne could see that something was in her mouth.

She held out her hand. “Don’t swallow that stuff! Spit it out!”

Wendy spit out the gross stuff in her hand. She screamed because it was so icky and threw it in the wastebasket, then ran to the bathroom to wash her hands.

Holly Anne came back and frowned at her as she began to open up her math book to start her homework over again. “Wendy, that homework was really hard. It was long division. Do you know how much writing that is?”

“Holly Anne,” her mother yelled from downstairs, “You and Wendy come down for dinner.”

“Okay, Mom!” Holly Anne grabbed the baby and headed down the stairs.

She handed Wendy to her mother and then her mother put Wendy in her highchair.

Holly Anne glanced at the food on the table and was happy that her mom made her favorite dinner, meatloaf and mashed potatoes.

“Dad is working late tonight, Holly Anne, so I’m going to need you to help me with Wendy.”

Holly Anne was dumbfounded. In all her life she couldn’t remember having to watch Bobby. So why would she have to watch Wendy?”

“Mom, why do I have to watch her? She already ruined my homework and I have to do it all over.”

“How, long will it take you to do it over?” Her mother asked.

“About twenty minutes.”

“Okay, after dinner you do your homework and then I need you to watch her so I can do mine.”

“Your what?” she asked her mother.

“My homework. Holly Anne I told you yesterday that I needed you to watch your sister so I can study for my college test.”

“Mom, you’re in college?”

“Holly Anne stop being smart with me, now finish your dinner.”

Holly Anne took a bite of her mashed potatoes and looked over at Wendy who was sitting next to her in her high chair. Wendy was chowing down on her mashed potatoes with her hands, then noticed Holly Anne looking at her.

The baby smiled, picked up a handful of potatoes and heaved it at her sister’s face.

Holly Anne screamed when she got plastered with mashed potatoes on her school clothes.

“Oh, Holly Anne, don’t scream like that! She’s just a baby. She doesn’t know what she’s doing.”

Holly Anne grabbed her napkin and washed her face. Then she came back to the table.

Wendy leaned forward in her high chair and grabbed for Holly Anne’s glass of milk, spilling it all over Holly Anne’s new dress.

Holly Anne began to scream even louder at the tiny baby. “Mom! She’s making a huge mess!”

Her mother ordered her to finish her dinner in her room. And finish her homework, too.

Holly Anne stomped up the stairs with her plate. She couldn’t think of a time when her mother had ever been mad at her. The two of them were always so close. A tear began to fall down her cheek as she made her way up the stairs to her bedroom.

“Mom! It’s not fair!” she called down the stairs.

“Who said life was supposed to be fair?” Mom called up the stairs.

Holly Anne wanted this day to end so she put on her pajamas, finished her dinner, and then re-did her homework. After she finished her homework, she began to feel tired. She brushed her teeth and prepared to go to bed.

Right when she got in to her bed her mother came into the room, holding Wendy.

“Holly Anne, I told you that you had to watch her for an hour while I study for my test. It’s for my finals. I’m desperate.”

“Mom, I’m so tired. I was really going to go to sleep.”

Her mother looked at her watch and said, “It’s not even 7 o’clock, you can watch her for an hour, honey.”

Holly Anne scowled.

Wendy had a pacifier in her mouth and raised her arms out to Holly Anne.

“You are so cute. Can you be good, too?” Holly Anne picked the baby up and sat Wendy next to her.

“Do you want to watch television, Wendy?”