"No," said the boy. "I've tried it. When I landed in Buffalo I was hot
and thirsty. I had ten cents car fare, but I was afraid to spend it. So
I held up the umbrella and wished I had an ice-cream soda, but I didn't
get it. Then I wished for a nickel to buy an ice-cream soda with, but I
didn't get that, either. I got frightened and was afraid the umbrella
didn't have any magic left, so to try it I said 'Take me to Chicago.' I
didn't want to go to Chicago, but that was the first place I thought
of, and I soon saw this was going to be another long journey, so I
called out to the umbrella, 'Never mind. Stop! I guess I won't go to
Chicago. I've changed my mind, so take me home again.' But the umbrella
wouldn't. It kept right on flying, and I shut my eyes and held on. At
last I landed in Chicago, and then I was in a pretty fix. It was nearly
dark, and I was too tired and hungry to make the trip home again. I
knew I'd get an awful scolding, too, for running away and taking the
family luck with me, so I thought that as long as I was in for it, I'd
better see a good deal of the country while I had the chance. I
wouldn't be allowed to come away again, you know."
"No, of course not," said Trot.
"I bought some buns and milk with my ten cents, and then I walked
around the streets of Chicago for a time and afterward slept on a bench
in one of the parks. In the morning I tried to get the umbrella to give
me a magic breakfast, but it won't do anything but fly. I went to a
house and asked a woman for something to eat, and she gave me all I
wanted and advised me to go straight home before my mother worried
about me. She didn't know I lived in Philadelphia. That was this
morning."
"This mornin'!" exclaimed Cap'n Bill. "Why, lad, it takes three or four
days for the railroad trains to get to this coast from Chicago."
"I know," replied Button-Bright. "But I didn't come on a railroad
train. This umbrella goes faster than any train ever did. This morning
I flew from Chicago to Denver, but no one there would give me any
lunch. A policeman said he'd put me in jail if he caught me begging, so
I got away and told the umbrella to take me to the Pacific Ocean. When
I stopped I landed over there by the big rock. I shut up the umbrella
and saw a girl sitting on the rock, so I went up and spoke to her.
That's all."
"Goodness me!" said Trot. "If that isn't a fairy story, I never heard
one."
"It IS a fairy story," agreed Button-Bright. "Anyhow, it's a magic
story, and the funny part of it is, it's true. I hope you believe me,
but I don't know as I'd believe it myself if it hadn't been me that it
happened to."
"I believe ev'ry word of it!" declared Trot earnestly.
"As fer me," said Cap'n Bill slowly, "I'm goin' to believe it, too,
by'm'by, when I've seen the umbrel fly once."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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