The Tragic Pastry(Anwesha Ghosh) (Note that the author was 17 years old when she wrote this story.)


My teacher bit into the pastry that I had given him. Suddenly, amazingly, before my eyes, he began to grow smaller. Help! I have shrunken my teacher!

How could it be? This very pastry was supposed to be my tiffin. Ooh! The very thought of eating it made be shudder. But this pastry was not supposed to be the enchanted one. The shrinking pastry was safe at home, on my study table. Then? Oh no! I must have switched it!

The shrinking pastry was going to be a present (actually a punishment) for the bully next door. Oh! Who could tolerate that boy? Always throwing water balloons at neighbours, stealing anything possible, beating up yours truly! But no one can get away from the rage of an underage wizard. The pastry was my way of revenge, but alas! The pastry was now within my teacher's tummy, showing it's true powers. Nooooooo!!!

"Anwesha, ANWESHA! Can you hear me?" A tiny squeak reached my ears. As I looked down at the chair where my previously overweight teacher was sitting, there stood a Tom Thumb-like figure, earnestly waving at me.

"Oh, Sir! I'm so so sorry!" I ran up to him. I felt sorry for him. But still it was his own fault that he was so tiny. After all he had wanted to eat my tiffin when I had politely offered it to him. I know I shouldn't be rude about him, but I guess he couldn't resist a mouthwatering and delicious-looking chocolate pastry. Was it my fault that I was going to eat it right when he walked in?

Just then the bell rang and the whole class came back. Obviously no one could see him. The monitor came back from the staff room and declared that Sir was nowhere in sight. That meant a holiday! A cheer ran through the entire class. Before I knew it someone was drawing Sir's picture on the blackboard. True, it was more like a pig's portrait but the resemblance was striking. Before long the classroom looked like an airport with paper airplanes all over the place and all passersby thought that this was actually a zoo, not a classroom. I knew that the Principal would be here any minute now. Sir was so angry now that he resembled a tiny red balloon rather than Tom Thumb.

"Now get this straight, Anwesha. If I don't get back to normal this second, you're going to fail my class for the rest of my life." The squeak was getting pretty nasty. "You hear me?"

Now how was I going to handle this situation? Even if I managed to hide Sir, how would I ever excuse myself from the Principal? She knew that I was a wizard. How long would it take to deduce this simple logic? I didn't know the antidote for this spell. The only person in town who knew it was Granny!

Of course! The perfect solution! How could I have ever forgotten her? I quickly scooped up Sir (screaming at the top of his puny lungs) and placed him into my pocket. Then I made a dash for home, managing to squeeze through the playground fence (You have to thank my lithe figure for that!). Let's hope my friends were not going to squeal on me about running away from school.

Reaching home, just a few blocks away, I tried the calling bell. Granny wasn't home. Using the spare key I quickly slipped in and ran towards Granny's laboratory. There were jars and jars of spells and their antidotes. I just had to find the right one. Hair growing, hair removing, wings growing, wings removing, shrinking, growing - There! Found it at last! I quickly opened the jar and made Sir drink it. Slowly but steadily he was growing back. Thank God! I made sure he drank the whole bottle. He was now actually smiling at me. Just then I noticed Granny's neat handwriting on the label, 'Two drops sufficient for normal growth'. Before my eyes, Sir continued to grow way past his normal size. What had I done? Oh no!

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