Wish You Weren't Here

It was the day of my 13th birthday. I had invited nine of my best friends to celebrate with me at the small park down the lane from my little farmhouse, but all of a sudden, one of my friends, Anabel Artisan, looked to the sky.

“What is that?” She screamed!

“Ahhh! Is the world ending?” Replied Octavia Smith.

“Everyone, stay calm!” I heard Barbra Barberton shout.

“How do you expect us to stay calm? This could be the end of the world.” Judy Campbell answered loudly. The sky looked as if someone had thrown a thousand black and white pom-poms on it. I was frozen with fear, staring into the darkened sky. Then it hit me.

“Samantha, what is on your head?” Galata Silvan screamed. Something smelly and fuzzy had landed on me. I screamed and then fell over. Into my arms fell a puffy little ball. I stared at it for a second, but then realized the thing had a beak and eyes!

“What is that?” Anabel screamed again.

Then a thousand puffy balls and ovals with eyes and beaks of all sizes started dropping from the sky, slipping onto the slides, plopping onto our bikes, landing on the benches, splashing into the creek, diving onto the swings, and landing by the bathrooms.

“It is the end of the world!” Lidia Moore screamed.

“No!” I said, “It is not the end of the world; they are just penguins.” Penguins were waddling around the park and still falling from the sky.

“What in the world!” Said my friend Sally O’Malley.

“It can’t be true,” replied Shelly, her twin.

“It is!” I replied, “See for yourself and take cover!” We all hid under the pavilion, watching the penguin precipitation.

Then I remembered what had happened just before the sky had turned black.

My friends had just finished singing me happy birthday, and Janet Buchanan said,

“Wait, don’t blow out your candles, you must make a wish!” I sighed. Janet was always bossing everyone around.

“What do I wish for?” I had asked.

“I don’t know? Just make a wish so we can have cake,” replied Charmella Zachary. Charmella had been wearing a blue tank top that said, “I love all the Penguins in the world!” So I quickly wished for a thousand penguins and blew out my candles.

“I guess birthday wishes really do come true,” I said, oddly.

“You said what now!” Janet demanded.

“I wished for a thousand penguins,” I said plainly. I now see I should have been careful what I wished for.

“Who would wish for a thousand penguins? They aren’t even your favorite animal,” said Judy. Meanwhile, Charmella was putting on her sweatshirt and shyly looking away. I decided not to state my reasons because I did not want to hurt my friend's feelings.

“It does not matter,” I said, “What matters is that we fix this penguin problem.”

“Amen to that!” Sally and Shelly replied at the same time.

“But how?” Galata asked.

“I don’t know but we will find a way!” I said. Everyone cheered and sighed. Back then, we did not have smartphones, so we could not just call the pound or the zoo. We needed to think. How were ten teen girls going to capture a thousand penguins?

“What do penguins like to eat?” Octavia asked.

“Fish?” Janet said.

“There are fish in the creek! Why don’t we try to get all the penguins in the creek?” I suggested. Before we trapped all the penguins, we needed a plan to keep the penguins in the creek. So we stuck a ton of sticks in the mud around the creek on one side. Once that was finished, we split into three groups; Barbra, Lidia, Charmella, and I were in charge of herding the penguins and getting them into the creek. Meanwhile, Anabel, Judy, and Sally were making sure the penguins stayed in the creek, and Octavia, Galata, and Shelly were closing in the creek with the stick wall and finding more sticks.

So many sounds filled the park. Penguins were squawking, we were screaming demands at one another, and everyone was slipping into the pond. After an hour of chasing penguins around the park, we were exhausted and drenched. Seeing our endeavor was impossible, we took a break.

“This summer heat is killing me!” Galata groaned.

“We can’t go on! There are too many!” Lidia gasped.

“We need another plan,” I said, “We have no idea what we are going to do once the penguins are trapped!”

“I am changing my favorite animal to seals!” Charmella said, “Seals don’t run around they just lie there and look cute!”

“Anyway,” I said, “Let's think back to the beginning, the penguins are here because I wished for them. So, maybe all I have to do is wish for them to go away!” There was a moment of silence.

“Ok, well wish!” Janet said.

“I just did,” I said, “but they are all still here!”

“Maybe you need us to sing you happy birthday, then you have to blow out candles after the wish!” Barbra suggested.

“Good idea!” I replied. So, we all headed over to the cake, which was very nibbled on and destroyed because of the penguins.

“Get the candles and the lighter!” Janet barked. Everyone obeyed and then sang Happy Birthday. Then I wished,

‘I wish for the thousand penguins at this park to go back to where they came from.’ I blew out my candles and looked around. I wish I could tell you that my wish came true, that all of the penguins disappeared, and that I spent the rest of my birthday in peace, but that would be a lie. There were still penguins all over the park.

“Let's try again!” Janet said. So we did, but nothing happened. We all sat down and sighed.

“The penguins can’t stay in this heat too long; they might die,” Sally said sadly. I wanted to say, ‘Then they die!’ But that would be terrible. Then it would be my fault that they died because I had wished for them.

“I wonder why it did not work when you wished a second time?” Shelly said, ending the silence.

“I bet you can wish as much as you want on your birthday, but only one wish is granted!” I replied.

“Then all we have to do is find someone whose birthday is today, and they have not had their wish granted yet!” Octavia said with glee. Everyone wracked their brains to try to think of whose birthday was today.

“My mom’s birthday is August 28th,” suggested Lidia.

“That is a whole week from now,” said Anabel, “We cannot wait that long.”

“Anabel is right we can’t wait that long,” I said.

“Then what do you expect us to do?” Janet demanded, “Do you want us to just all take home a hundred penguins? You know we can’t just leave them here!” The sun we setting and it was getting late. We had no idea what we were going to do. We waited and waited. No one could think of what to do. Then the sun sank under the hill, and all the penguins disappeared! They vanished!

“Ummm. Did anyone else see that?” Charmella asked.

“They're gone!” I said with shock. The penguins were gone. As well as every trace of them ever being there. No feathers jeweled the path. No penguin tracks were pressed in the mud. The park was back to normal. Everything was exactly how it was before the penguins fell from the sky. Everything, except the stick wall around the edge of the creek, was perfect.

“How is this so?” Judy asked.

“I don’t know,” replied Galata

“I think I do,” I said, “It is no longer the day of my birthday, so the wish has ended.”

“Well, that is nice,” said Anabel.

“Yes, I never thought a wish ending could be so pleasant,” said Shelly. After that, we all went home still amazed at everything that had happened that day. I will never forget my 13th birthday, and I will never make a wish so hastily again.