Fantasy literature; Oz (Imaginary place) -- Juvenile fiction
"Graham! Graham!" His eyes--which had been shut tightly as the Witch
shook him--opened to see with great surprise his mother's face as she
also shook him. "Wake up! Wake up! Don't you know it's twelve midnight?
And you haven't even done your homework! Your father will be having
serious words with you in the morning, young man. Now, up to your room
immediately!"
Graham had not been expecting to come home to such a tongue-lashing, but
he was very happy to finally be back home after so many harrowing
experiences. Ever since he had first been abducted to Oz, he had
considered it his mission to get home again. The wishing well had made
it possible.
But as Graham turned out the light beside his bed that night and laid
his head against his pillow, he began to think over the events that he
had experienced in Oz. Of course he had wanted to get home to his
family. It only made sense that he would. He was only twelve and he
needed them. Not only that, but they would be worried sick. He had made
a sensible wish. Or had he? As he lay on his bed, it occurred to him that
he might have used his penny to wish away the wicked witch and save Oz.
A feeling of guilt began to gnaw at him. Had he actually used his penny
to desert his friends when they needed him most? He realized then what a
selfish act that had been. _Not entirely selfish_, he thought. _I was
thinking of my family as much as myself_. But he knew that he was making
excuses and that he should have wished more wisely. As he slowly drifted
off into a troubled sleep, he saw images of the Cowardly Lion, the
Hungry Tiger, Telly, Jeanne-Marie, MacDonald Lindsay, Doré, and many
other Oz folk pass before his eyes.
[Illustration]
The following day, Graham's mother was sorting the boy's dirty clothes
for the wash when she noticed an ink stain on his shirt pocket. She
checked the pocket and found a piece of paper with some kind of smudged
drawing and words below the sketch that she could not make out without
her reading glasses. It looked like, something ... speare. Without a
thought, she crumpled it up into a ball and threw it in the trash.
TO BE CONTINUED ...
End of Project Gutenberg's Abducted to Oz, by Bob Evans and Chris Dulabone
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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