Logan
and the Magic Gum Ball Machine
By
Grandma
Baadsgaard
Happy
sixth birthday to a very special boy I love very much.
I
hope you have a great day.
When Logan unwrapped a gum ball machine
for his sixth birthday, he smiled, looked up and said, “Thank you Grandma.”
When their eyes met, his grandma winked
at him. Then his grandma did something rather peculiar. She stood up, rubbed
her tummy once, hopped up and down twice, then twirled around three times.
Logan’s eyes popped open. His grandma did not often do those sorts of things. He wondered if she was giving him a secret
code. Logan liked having his birthday in April because that is when everything was
coming back to life. But even more than he loved spring, Logan loved bubble gum.
He especially liked to stuff several pieces of gum into his mouth all at once
until his mouth was so full he could barely chew.
Logan usually chewed up all his new gum
the first day but this time he had a plan to make his gum last. He decided to
eat one colored ball a day.
On the first morning he picked a red gum
ball. All of a sudden Logan felt terrifically grumpy. He stomped into the
kitchen and glared at the table.
“Who ate all my favorite cereal?” Logan
yelled.
“Wow. Did you get up on the wrong side
of the bed?” his mother asked.
Logan crunched his eyebrows and frowned.
“My bed is against the wall. There is no
wrong side.”
That whole day Logan was perturbed,
annoyed and short tempered. His family was happy when he went to bed that night.
The next day Logan chose a yellow gum
ball. All of a sudden Logan felt happy and warm inside. He took a long bath,
brushed his teeth without being asked and got dressed for the day.
“Good morning Mom,” Logan said with a
big smile at breakfast.
“Why Logan,” his mother said, “I don’t
know what has got into you, but I like it.”
All that day Logan cheerfully sang a
song while he emptied the trash, fed the bunny and swept the kitchen floor. He
read his brother Liam three books, put his baby brother Gideon to sleep and
then carefully organized all his toys. He even mated and color coded the socks
in his sock drawer.
“Pardon me please,” he said at supper
whenever he burped.
“Thank you for this delicious meal,”
Logan said when he finished.
“Logan, I like you better this way,” his
older brother Sam said.
The next day Logan decided to eat a blue
gum ball. Suddenly he felt sad. The hangnail on his big toe made him cry. When
his brother poked him in the side at breakfast, he burst into sobs.
“Logan you’re being a little dramatic,”
his father said. “Every little thing is not worth crying over. Buck up kid.”
Pretty soon Logan grew confused about
his jumble of days. He just didn’t feel like himself. While he was in bed on
the third night, he tried putting all the puzzle pieces together. He thought
about how he felt on the day he ate each color . . . yellow - happy, red - mad,
blue - sad. Then he remembered his grandma’s strange dance demonstration at his
birthday party. Maybe that was the clue.
The next day Logan chose a green ball.
He immediately grew two feet. The buttons on his shirt popped off and his long
pants became shorts. Logan bumped his head on the door frame. When he walked
into the kitchen for breakfast his mother screamed and his baby brother laughed.
Suddenly Logan got a super idea. He
rubbed his tummy once, jumped up and down twice and turned around three times.
Suddenly Logan shrunk two feet.
“I never know what to expect with you,”
his mother said.
“Do it again,” my younger brother Liam
laughed.
“Wow,” his sister Sophia said.
“I wish I could do that,” his brother
Sam said.
“Well,” Logan answered, “you just need a
little magic gum ball machine. And when things get tough, don’t forget your
grandma dance.”
I
wonder what will happen when I chew my purple ball
tomorrow, Logan thought. And orange, that could be interesting.
