Messy Miranda (2 page)

“Do I smell pizza?” asked Uncle Aldo.

“What gives you that idea?” said Miranda's dad, holding the pizza boxes.

“Magic,” said Uncle Aldo, smiling.

Miranda and her family stepped inside. Uncle Aldo lived in a small house in the city. The living room was cluttered with rabbit and bird cages. Uncle Aldo kept the animals for his act here. There were shelves full of magic books, wands and colored scarves tied together. It was the best house ever.

Uncle Aldo bent down to give Miranda a hug. “How was your day?”

Miranda shook her head. “I missed recess.”

“Again?”

Miranda nodded.

Uncle Aldo smiled. “I know what to do.” He reached behind her ear and pulled out a big shiny coin. “Presto! Magic will solve the problem!”

Miranda's mom shook her head. “Aldo, won't pizza solve the problem instead?”

Uncle Aldo's stomach growled. “Good idea. Let's eat.”

He led the family into the kitchen. They all sat at the table and had dinner.

As she ate her pizza, Miranda kept thinking about the mess in her desk. She wondered about what Uncle Aldo had said.

Could magic solve the problem?

There was one way to find out.

Chapter Three

After dinner, Uncle Aldo wanted to show Miranda and her family his new trick.

Ben's eyes lit up. “When can you teach me? I want to show everybody at school,” he said. “I'd be the best at it.”

Uncle Aldo smiled. “What do I always tell you? Magic isn't a game,” he said. “You need to be careful. There's a lot of power in magic tricks.”

Uncle Aldo reached into his pocket. “Presto!” he shouted. He pulled out a huge bunch of flowers. He gave them to Miranda's mom. “What do you think?”

The flowers squirted water at Miranda's mom.

“Ooops!” said Uncle Aldo.

“Ooops is right,” said Miranda's mom. “You still need to practice.”

Miranda pushed her chair away from the table. “I'll be right back,” she said. “I have to go to the bathroom.”

While Uncle Aldo practiced his new trick, Miranda left the kitchen and walked up the stairs. The bathroom was on the second floor. But so was Uncle Aldo's magic room. Miranda didn't really need to go to the bathroom. What she needed was magic.

Miranda knew she shouldn't go into Uncle Aldo's magic room alone. It was his special place, where he kept his secrets. But Miranda needed to fix her messy-desk problem for good. Magic would do the trick!

The stairs were creaky. She walked as quietly as she could. The floor just outside the magic room creaked so loudly that Miranda stopped. Her heart skipped a beat. She listened. Uncle Aldo was still doing his tricks downstairs. Nobody had heard her.

Then she opened the door.

SQUEEEEAK
.

Miranda's hand shook as she opened the door. She had never been in here by herself.

The magic room seemed bigger than the whole top floor. How could it be so big? Magic, Miranda thought.

In the room were dusty shelves full of old wands, lengths of chain and battered trunks. Sitting on a small table was a row of top hats. Miranda knew that Uncle Aldo could pull rabbits out of those hats. She had seen him do this many times.

If a rabbit could go into the hat, what else could? Maybe the mess from her desk? But how would she sneak the hat out? She couldn't wear it down the stairs. Could she flatten the hat and put it into her pocket?

Miranda pushed down on the middle hat as hard as she could.

A small white rabbit leaped out of the hat.

Miranda jumped back.

The rabbit just looked at her and twitched its whiskers. Then it jumped into another hat on the same table.

Uncle Aldo had so many top hats. He didn't need all of them, did he?

Miranda looked down. She had squashed the hat into a flat disk. She put her hand in. Wow! It looked like her hand was going right into the table. It disappeared up to her wrist. She pulled her hand back out and wiggled her fingers. “Presto!” Miranda smiled. It was time to make some magic of her own.

Chapter Four

Miranda woke up Monday morning feeling great. She was going to solve her messy-desk problem once and for all!

She was in such a good mood at breakfast that she ate two big bowls of cereal. She even skipped to school beside Ben. “Why are you so happy?” he said. “It's Monday and I have a math test. I forgot to study.”

“Today I'm going to skip with Neela at
every
recess.” Miranda smiled.

When Miranda and Ben got to school, Ben shuffled over to his friends. They were listening to music and bopping their heads. They all looked tired.

Miranda saw Neela coming off the school bus. Neela already had her skipping rope ready in her hand. Miranda ran to greet her.

“Are you going to skip with us today?” Neela asked.

Miranda gave her a big smile. “I will now
and
at recess too.”

A few more girls showed up. Talia and Penny each took hold of one end of the rope. They started to twirl it. Neela jumped first. She was amazing!

Miranda had spent so many recesses inside that she needed some skipping practice. She needed to practice her skipping like Uncle Aldo needed to practice his magic.

“Come on in!” Neela said.

Miranda jumped in. As the rope twirled, she skipped. She watched Neela bounce up and down with her. “You're great!” Neela said.

Miranda's smile felt as wide as the skipping rope was long.

Finally, she and Neela jumped to the side so the other girls could skip. As she did, Miranda felt something fall from her pocket. It was the magic hat!

It rolled across the pavement and knocked into Jaiden's feet.

“Oh no!” Miranda said.

Jaiden bent down to pick it up. He sniffed it. He looked around and gave it a private lick. Then he noticed Miranda was staring at him.

“Jaiden, give that back. It's mine!”

The hat was still flattened like a pancake. Jaiden pretended to throw it. “Nice Frisbee, Miranda!”

Miranda stormed up to him. “It's not a toy!” she said. She didn't want Jaiden to find out that the hat was really magical.

But Jaiden threw the hat over to his friend Abdu. Abdu caught it and tossed it over to another boy. Soon the boys were playing Frisbee with it.

How was Miranda going to stop them? If they found out the hat was magic, they would take it away. Or worse.

Miranda saw Ms. Basil out in the yard. If she told Ms. Basil, maybe the boys would give the hat back.

Just as Miranda was going over to her, Jaiden caught the hat. He saw Ms. Basil watching them. Her arms were folded across her chest. She was shaking her head back and forth. “Wait, Miranda!” Jaiden said.

Miranda stopped and saw Jaiden holding the hat. “Here. I was just kidding,” he said.

Miranda snatched the hat from Jaiden. She shoved it back into her pocket.

“It's just a hat,” Miranda said. But she jammed her hand into her pocket to keep it safe.

The bell rang. Miranda quickly took her backpack and lined up at the door. She stole a glance over her shoulder. Jaiden was giving her a funny look. It seemed like he was watching her every move.

Would he see her put the hat into her desk?

Miranda was going to have to be sneaky about this.