Tree Stump Read online

toward it.

  He climbed on the giant roots to get a look at the top of the stump. "It has a hole in the centre, this must be it," Zach said looking back at me with a wide excited grin.

  I punched my hand in my pocket and pulled out the wish I had written on a scrap of paper during the last hour of class. It was then that I realised my error, I didn't have a gold coin. I dug around in my pocket and found a silver coin and wrapped it in the scrap of paper. It wasn't a gold coin but it would have to do, after all what harm could it do?

  Suddenly the sound of crunching leaves came echoing up the hill along with a few faint curses.

  "Someone's coming, quick make your wish!" Zach said in a frantic tone as he pointed to the stump.

  Zach glanced between me and the direction of the approaching footsteps, I leapt onto the huge roots of the wishing stump and stretched right out to get near the hole but I still couldn't reach, I looked back at Zach.

  "I can't reach it," I said with my arm outstretched.

  Without a seconds hesitation, Zach ran up behind me and pushed me up in one great heave, the move caused the edge of the stump to scratch the skin over my stomach and it instantly began to sting, but I tried not to think about it as I dropped the coin wrapped in the note down the hole.

  "Done," I said with relief. Zach let me go and I wiggled backward off the stump and slid down to the roots then jumped to the ground and in that very moment a large figure lurched into the clearing and it was not what I had wished for.

  Stinky Billy Tate stepped out of the trees and glared at Zach and me, with a mixture of surprise and annoyance.

  "What are you two nerds doing here?" Billy said, his top lip rose in a sneer.

  Instantly Zach turned to face me as if he was unsure what to say and didn't want Billy to find out about the wishing stump. I thought if we told the truth, he would only make fun of us and probably burn the stump to the ground or fill the hole with concrete or some evil thing like that.

  "Nothing, we're just?" I glanced around the clearing as if I was trying to find something. "Looking for brush turkeys," I stammered. It was the only thing I could that came to mind.

  Billy snorted and gave a knowing grin. "I thought you were here to make a wish at the wishing stump that I heard about at school today." His snake like eyes flashed between Zach and me.

  "I don't know what you mean," I replied trying to sound genuine, not meeting Billy's eyes.

  Billy headed toward the stump and with a chuckle he shoved Zach out of the way, knocking him to the ground with a hollow thud. But there was one thing that Billy hadn't counted on and that was the bond between a dog and his boy.

  Kane leapt forward with his fangs bared, snarling and snapping at Billy who took a few quick steps backward to the edge of the clearing as Kane stalked his every move. I'd never seen Kane act like this, and by the open mouthed look on Zach's face, he hadn't either.

  All of a sudden the sunlight vanished and the clearing was enveloped in a shadowy gloom that filled me with a feeling of emptiness that I could not explain. In unison we all seemed to gaze up at the blackening sky just for a moment before Kane jumped at Billy, sending them both crashing down the hillside with the sound of crunching leaves and breaking branches following them as they fell.

  Suddenly Billy let out the most blood-curdling scream and then? all went silent.

  Zach and I looked at each other; neither of us seemed willing or able to speak. I helped him to his feet and as I did, the sunlight shone down on us once more. Together we crept to the edge of the clearing and scanned through the trees but there was nothing.

  "Kane, here boy," Zach called weakly, but there was no response, no sound, no movement.

  We searched for Kane and Billy for the next hour but found no trace of either of them; it was as if they had just disappeared. Zach thought that maybe Kane had gone back to the wishing stump, so we went back up the hillside to the clearing.

  We walked into the sunlit area; the stump was so brightly lit that it almost seemed to be made of gold.

  It was then that I turned to Zach. "I have to tell you something."

  "What's that?" Zach asked with his head hung low and shoulders slouched.

  "The thing I wished for, it was-"

  "No! You can't talk about it until you're wish comes true," Zach said seriously.

  I sighed and a made grim face. "That's the thing, it did come true."

  "What! What did you wish?"

  With shameful eyes I stared at the ground, feeling regret for the first time in my life. "I wished that Billy would go away and never came back."

  "Do you think it really worked? Do you think he is gone forever?"

  "I don't know, but there's something else."

  He looked at me silently with sudden concern. "What is it Sam?"

  "Well, you know how I was meant to put a gold coin in with the wish."

  Zach nodded. "Yeah, what about it?"

  "I only had a silver coin and I used that instead," I replied with my eyes lowered.

  Taking a step back, Zach stood up straight and tall with a look of horror and disgust creeping over his face. "You didn't pay the full price for the wish, so my dog was taken as payment."

  In unison Zach and I faced the stump and for the first time, we pondered the source of its power and began to fear the power of the wish.