M.C. Joseph is a middle school student at Spencer Creek Valley in Oregon. He enjoys soccer, computer technology and duck raising.
By M.C.Joseph
“Mr. Johnson, running late again, are we?”
“Sorry, Sir. I got a flat on the 405.”
“Sit down, Johnson.”
“I really need 10 minutes more, so that I can get to these stupid corporate meetings.
I'm running out of excuses,” he thought.
“Johnson, could you give us your report now?”
“Yes. Marketing reports a gain of 2 percent over this last quarter. One percent in
the west, 1/2 percent in the south.......”
“ ‘night “ Mr. Johnson said to his wife later that day.
The next morning, after eating his regular toast and oatmeal for breakfast, he thought
how he could get an extra 20 minutes out of each day. “Maybe I can stop the clock
for 20 minutes. I wish ... ”
The next morning he got up and ate his typical toast and oatmeal for breakfast.
Heading to work, his ordinary way, he was on the 405. While he was stuck in traffic,
his car suddenly stopped. His engine just turned off. Then he noticed that the car
clock had also stopped. He looked outside and noticed that everyone was just sitting
still. He got out of his car looked around. Nothing was moving except the rain. Everything
was just sitting still and was silent. A Voice out the tree said, “Be careful what
you wish for.”
“So, the one stupid thing I wished for that came true is this. Why can't you give
me a million dollars?”
“Because you said ‘I wish’, unlike other times,” the Voice answered.
“So, if I said ‘I wish I could have a million dollars', that would come true?”
“No, the one wish per life rule is in affect. See you in 20 minutes,” the Voice said.
“Oh yeah, you won't be able to tell people about this.”
“So, I got my wish. Now what? Maybe I could rob a bank, like in Groundhog’s Day.
I’ll go do that.” He started walking off the 405 and down the street, past the frozen
people, past the frozen birds, through the frozen morning.
When he got to the bank, everyone was still frozen. He walks behind the counter,
grabs the keys from the teller, and goes toward the safe. He puts in the first key,
no luck. The second key, still no luck. The, third key, the fourth, the twelfth,
still no luck. Finally the fourteenth key works. He gets in the safe and starts unlocking
all of the safety deposit boxes. He looses track of time. When Johnson looked down,
he had thousands of dollars of jewelry, coins, and family heirlooms.
The world came back to life. The alarms went off. He was standing there in the middle
of safety deposit boxes, open and stuff falling out of his pockets. The security
guards ran over and grabbed him. “How in hell did you get in here?!”
“Well,.........um...........” Mr. Johnson mumbled.
“O.K., get him out of here.”
“Get the stuff out of his pockets.”
“O.K., people time to get up. Hey,new guy,” the jail guard called to him, “what's
your name?”
“Travis Johnson.”
“O.K., Johnson get--.”
The guard stopped in mid sentence after unlocking the door. The other inmates froze
too. The morning froze again. Johnson took the keys from the guard and walked past
him and out of jail. He found a men's clothing shop and got into some nice clothes.
Then he walked out of there and grabbed the keys to a new white Porsche from a guy.
He started up the engine and drove home. He got out and thought how nice it is to
drive without traffic, “I wish that there was no traffic in the morning. Now that
can't come true,” he thought.
Thunder clapped and a Voice said, “Wish granted”
“How can that happen?’
“Section 34, line 7, ‘If your second wish, know as wish B, is easier to grant than
wish A, then wish B shall be granted’. See. The traffic so now gone.”
“But, but......” Travis mumbled, “I liked the frozen morning.”