Lifeguard from Maracas Bay

Chapter 13 - Peter And Friends

After the milk and cookies, the boys joined Grandpa on the couch for the story. He started with ...

"Once Upon A Time ... there was a little boy named Peter."

The boys asked in unison, "Is this story about Uncle Peter?"

"No, no. It is about a little boy named Peter."

"Okay, go ahead Grandpa."

"Peter lives with his family in a small cozy farmhouse overlooking a river. He has three friends; Tom the cat, Freddie the frog and Jack the rabbit. They love doing things together and sometimes get into lots of trouble.

Tom the cat is spoiled rotten. He is allowed to spend most of his time sleeping in front of the fireplace. The gang usually meets there when they are ready to play. He was there this morning when the bright sunshine disappeared behind a huge cloud and the rain came down. It is now too wet for them to play in the backyard as planned.

After breakfast, Freddie the frog said, "Since it is so wet outside, we should go to the library today." Peter's dad was very pleased with the idea and offered to drive them there.

When they arrived at the library, Johnny was sitting at a small table in the far corner of the room. He was well known for teasing the kids at school and was always playing mean tricks on Peter. As usual, Peter and his friends tried to stay away from Johnny.

Jack the rabbit found the first book; it was a collection of Aesop's Fables. He wanted to read about The Crow and the Pitcher. Freddie found the next one; it was a colorful book with beautiful pictures.

The picture on the cover was that of a pond with a cute girl frog basking on a large lily pad. Jack and Freddie took their books to a table across the room from Johnny.

Tom the cat was somewhat undecided until he remembered the recent magic show at Peter's school. He went to Nicole, the librarian, for help to find a good magic book. They found three books and Tom took them to the table where Jack and Freddie were sitting.

As he sat down, Freddie's eyes popped out of his head when he saw Peter coming towards them with a large pile of books. Peter was almost at the table when he tripped on the mat and his books about trains and planes went flying in every direction.

Nicole rushed over to help and found that Peter was slightly bruised on one knee. She sighed with relief and Peter vowed never to carry so many books again. Across the room, Johnny laughed loudly while Peter and his friends picked up the books.

After a short while, Peter and the gang settled down to read. Freddie was still admiring the cute girl frog on his book cover when he started daydreaming about being in that pond with her. It felt so real to him that he actually jumped and fell off his chair.

Johnny laughed out loudly again and Nicole reminded him that silence is still the golden rule in the library. Jack was reading the story about The Crow and the Pitcher while Peter was looking through another book about planes.

Suddenly, Tom slammed his fist on the desk and said, "Yes! I found it! I found it! According to this book, it is very easy to make things disappear. Here is the spell to make a pen disappear ...

Look at the pen, think of the magician on the cover of the book and say Ala-ca-zoo, Ala-ca-zee, then sneeze twice and say Ala-ca-zoo, Ala-ca-zair, please make this pen disappear."

Peter looked up slowly and asked, "Is that it? Will it work?"

"Yes! That's it!" said Tom. "This spell will make things disappear and the next line says the spell on page 47 will make them reappear. But wait! Here's a note from the magician! This spell was created to make things disappear. It should NEVER be used to make people disappear."