If the money hadn’t been under Joe’s pillow

Charlie Nadeau

November 2013

If the money hadn’t been under Joe’s pillow, he never would have had enough money to go to the candy store.  So he took the money and walked all the way to the candy store. When he got there, it wasn’t like any other candy store he had ever seen. He swore that he had been there before, but there were all the same candies that he had

He looked up and he couldn’t see the ceilings.  The shelves just went up and up and up. He went to the front desk and asked the store manager to see some of the candies at the top.  

They got on a hover machine and began to float up until he couldn’t see the ground anymore.  He looked around and saw bins filled with candies that he had never seen before. They had strange labels in a different language that he had never seen before. But yet, he could still read them.  One said, “Candy to know your heart’s desire.” Another said, “Candy to be able to talk to animals.” He didn’t dare to look around to look at the others, so he picked the candy to be able to talk to animals.  The store owner picked up the candy, then he and Joe started to hover back down to the floor.  When they got down, Joe gave him the money and went outside.  When he looked back in, it looked like a regular old candy store.  But he knew it wasn’t regular at all.

When Joe got back home, he ate up the candy bar very quickly.  Then he walked over to his cat, Russell and asked him, 

“Are you feeling alright or would you like some different cat food. I’ve been noticing that you haven’t been eating it too much.”

Russell said, “Oh no, I don’t like it at all. I would rather have the songbird downstairs... WHAT?! You can talk to me?!?!”

“Yes, of course I can talk to you. I ate the candy that allows me to talk to animals... and by the way, we can’t let you eat the songbird. Let’s go downstairs and ask Mom and Dad if we can get you something better to eat.”

They walked downstairs and Joe told him mom that Russell doesn’t like the cat food.

His mom said, “How do you know?”

Joe said, “I ate a candy that lets me talk to animals.”

Joe’s mom said, “prove it.”

“If I tell Russell to do a somersault, will you believe me?”

His mom said, “Maybe... let’s see it.” So Joe told Russell to do a somersault and Russell said, “OK, I’ll do a somersault if it means I get new cat food.”

“Maybe you will if they believe me.”

Russell did a somersault and Joe’s mom said, “OK great, so you taught him to do a somersault.  I still don’t believe you.”

Then Joe said, “What would you want him to do?”

She said, “I’d like him to jump up on the counter and give both of us high fives.” So Joe told Russell to do as his mom asked.  So Russell jumped up on the counter and gave them both high fives.  His mom asked, “How did you learn to talk to animals?”

Then Joe said, “I ate a candy from the candy store.”

His mom said, “Let’s go to the store and get another one of those candies.

They went to the store and it was once again a regular old candy store. Joe said, “It was right here!” So they all went back home. Joe decided that he would talk to the animals at the zoo. He told his parents that he wash going out for a bit of a stroll and his mom told him to be back in half an hour. So he went over to the zoo and went straight to to the monkeys and asked what he would like for food? The monkey said, “pea leaves.”  Joe went home, back to his garden and got a whole bag of pea leaves.  He then gave them to the monkey and went straight on to the zebras and asked them what they wanted for food.  They said, “We want to try something that is black and white, like us. We want to try Oreos.” Joe said, “I don’t think you’ll them.” The zebras said, “We want to try them.” Joe went home and got some oreos and gave them to the zebras.  They said, “We don’t like Oreos.  We want to try chocolate and vanilla ice cream!”

Joe said, “I still don’t think you’ll like it.”

The zebras said, “We want to try it!”

So Joe brought them some ice cream.

And then, the Zebra said, “We don’t like chocoloate and vanilla icecream.  We want to try newspaper.”

And then Joe said, “I really don’t think you’ll like it.”

And the Zebra said, “We want to try it.”

So, he brought them some newspaper.

And they said, “We like this.”

Years past, and Joe got older.  He had a few zoo favorites.  The zebras, the monkeys, and the foxes.  The foxes were so eager to learn and so smart already.  So every day he would go to the foxes and read them book after book after book.

And then one day, he decided to go back to the candy store.  And so when he got there, it was the old candy store with shelves rising higher than he could see.  And he went up the person who ran it and before he could say anything a man said, “I have a job for you.”

And Joe said, “What is it?”

The man said, “I’m dying and I need you to run the candy store.”

He was lost in thought with happiness and grief. So he went home and told his parents that he found a job in the candy store.

When ever most people come into the store, he gets smushed into the wall and the candy store looks regular again, and when a young girl came into the store, he wasn’t smushed into the back anymore.  And the girl asked for a candy that would make grown ups understand her.  And somehow he knew the exact spot of the candy.

And so they got into the hover machine and floated up the exact spot.  He got the candy for her and floated down and she left.

One day a teenager came in and asked for a candy to make him popular.  And Joe said, “Are you sure you want a candy to make you popular?  Would you rather have a candy to make you liked?”

The teenager thought for a little while then said, “No, I want to be popular.”

The Joe said, “If I get this candy for you, you will no longer be able to come to us.”

The teenager said, “No, I just want the candy.”

So they floated up on the hover machine and he got the candy and he went down and he paid for it and he left the store.

And one time when he tried to come back into the store, Joe was smushed into the wall again and it looked like a regular candy store as always.

And so as the years past, he ate a few more candies and became quite supreme.  And one day and old woman came in and he was not smushed into the wall so he asked her what she wanted.  She said, I want a candy to make me young again.”

He suddenly knew the exact spot where that candy was.  The old lady said, “This is as far as you will go in your life.  Be careful.”

So, he got in the hover machine and started to float up faster and faster and faster until he became quite cold.  Every few seconds the ground became farther and farther away until he could no longer see it.  Until he came to a lovely snowy place with a tree right in the center.  And in that tree, was a phoenix.  And so he went up to the tree, and the phoenix stepped aside leaving one golden egg.   Right next to it lay a box to put the egg in for his journey down.  So he took the box and went down and down and down until he went all the way down back to the ground.

When he got to the ground, he realized that he could eat the egg himself and be immortal or give the egg to the lady.  So he thought about it and so he picked up the box and started to cry and then handed it to the old woman.  When she opened the box there were two eggs.  The old lady eat one of the eggs and her hair turned blond again, her wrinkles went away and she looked exactly the age of Joe, which she was.

And then Joe said, “I don’t need that other egg.”  But she didn’t want it, so they left it and hid it in a safe spot.

Joe said to his parents that she had no other place to stay and could she stay at there house.  They agreed and she put a magic spice in their food which made their dinner the merriest dinner that anyone could imagine.  They ended up getting married and stayed together until they were old again.  Then they found the other egg, cut in half and each ate a half, and they each stayed together for the rest of their lives.

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