Jenny's Magic Touch

Jenny had always known she was special. Quick-witted, she learned to read before she learned to walk. Passing up children's books, she picked up books on mathematics, sciences, and chemistry before she was sent to public school in kindergarten. She loved playing along with the other kids, and would sit and try to teach them to read. She concluded one day when she got home that the kids were dumb and cried herself to sleep.

As the years passed, she learned to fit in, to pretend to learn at a level acceptable for her age. At home, she kept to herself, day dreaming high among the branches of trees in her backyard. She dreamed of magic dragons and casting spells, and most of all, shooting lightning from her fingers and making things happen.

Her parents were too busy for her, her dad worked mostly in the garage when he got home and her mom always had her eyes glued to the latest video game. With their peculiar ways, she never brought any friends home and they never let her go to their houses. Therefore, her imagination was her playmate.

One day in late summer when she was just 8, while nosing around in an old farmhouse nearby, she came across a very old trunk in the attic. It was made of leather and wood so old and black she could not identify it. It was locked, which troubled her. So, she searched for many months in the old house and among her parents' stash of old keys for one that would fit it.

One day while sitting near the trunk, watching the early spring sunlight shift its way across the room, a single beam landed on the lock. It seemed to sparkle and glow. She absent-mindedly picked up a stick nearby, pointed it at the trunk, and said in very clear Latin "UNLOCK."

A spark flashed from the end of the stick and with a loud click and a low rumble, the lock swung open. The lid stayed closed, but the trunk now jumped and shifted. It was alive, or something was alive in it.

Jenny, being a brave little girl, jumped up from her cushion on the floor and rushed to open the lid. It was heavy, even for a girl of eight, and she pried at it with all her might. "Open, I SAID!" she demanded. With that, something jumped inside, bumping against the lid, opening it just a crack. A tiny golden claw scratched at the crack and a few muffled squeaks came from within.