3

Ben Learns The Magic Rhymes

Gran told Ben to write down what she told him. There were the two rhymes and the way that the secret could be passed on. He turned to a clean page in his notebook and waited.

‘Right, the first rhyme is the one to make you small,’ said Gran. ‘It’s better if you try to remember it, but be very careful about saying it out loud and doing the actions at the same time, as you could end up using all your chances in one day! It might be better if I just teach you both the rhymes before I pass over the secret to you. What do you think?’

Ben scratched his head. ‘Yes. That means I’ll have more time to make sure I know the rhymes properly. Is it a lot to learn?’

‘Not really,’ Gran smiled at him, ‘but you have to make sure you get it right, especially when you want to come back. Now, write this down. I’ll say it slowly.’

Ben took his pencil and wrote down exactly what his gran said.

Hold my breath and count to four,

breathe out slow and count four more.

Turn three circles, count to ten,

touch the floor, turn once again.

Close my eyes and touch my nose,

now make me small from head to toes!

Ben opened his eyes wide and his mouth too! He wanted to try out the magic rhyme so much, but he knew he’d have to wait until Gran was ready to pass over the secret. She began to recite the rhyme for getting back to normal size. It was exactly the same, except for the last line which was “now make me big from head to toes!”

Ben stopped writing. ‘What happens if I say them the wrong way around? Will I become a giant? Or even smaller if I’m already small?’

‘No,’ Gran shrugged her shoulders. ‘It doesn’t seem to work like that. I don’t know why, but as long as you say the words in the right order and do the actions properly then the magic happens. You understand that it’s important to learn the words exactly, don’t you? Just imagine how scared you’d be if you were small and couldn’t remember how to become your proper size again.’

Ben shivered. ‘Ooh, yes, but what if I was in a small place and said the rhyme, but there wasn’t enough room for me to be big in there?’

Gran took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. ‘Well, that would be a bit silly, wouldn’t it? You’d have to make sure you were in a good place first. Now, just one more thing and then I think I need to rest. You remember that I said you could use the rhyme for someone else to become small? Well, it’s very easy. Instead of saying ‘me’ in the rhyme, you just put their name instead, but you have to do the actions. You must be careful if you do this, and you shouldn’t really do it unless the person agrees. I know I didn’t ask you when I did it, but I guessed you’d be excited about the adventure. If you do decide to use the magic like this, you need to think carefully about how you’ll bring the person back again. You wouldn’t want to lose someone, would you?’

Ben thought for a moment. ‘I suppose it would have to be for something important, wouldn’t it? I mean, to use the magic on someone else?’

‘Yes,’ Gran agreed, ‘and it would have to be someone you trusted very much, because you’d have to tell them something about the secret wouldn’t you? Anyway, that’s a lot for you to think about for now. Go and help your dad in the garden for a while and try not to think about the secret too much. I expect you’ll have lots more questions for me tomorrow.’

Ben went into the kitchen and pulled on his coat and his boots. His head was bursting with all the things his gran had told him. He just couldn’t wait for tomorrow!

The next afternoon, when Ben arrived home from school, he ran upstairs and slammed his bedroom door. Mrs Jenkins, who lived at the end of the lane and had called in to see Gran, jumped and spilled her tea. She mopped it up with a tissue, and said she’d leave now that Ben was home.

‘Oh dear,’ Gran said, ‘it sounds like Ben’s had a bad day. Would you mind calling him for me on your way out? I still can’t manage the stairs properly.’

Mrs Jenkins shouted up to Ben and then left. After about ten minutes he came down the stairs very slowly. He went into the kitchen to fetch a glass of milk, and then took it into the living room.

‘Hello, Ben.’ Gran patted the seat next to her. ‘Come and sit here and tell me what the problem is. Bad day at school?’

He sniffed. ‘Sort of.’

‘What kind of answer is that? Come on, you can tell your Gran, can’t you? Then we can talk some more about the secret.’

Ben sat down. ‘Well, you remember I told you about the new girl who came to our school at the start of this term? Miss James put her on the table with Jess and me, and said we should look after her. She didn’t know anyone else.’

‘Yes,’ Gran said, ‘I remember. Her name’s Kelly or something like that? So what’s happened? I thought you were all getting along well.’

Ben sighed. ‘We were, but ever since the half-term holiday they don’t want to play with me, or even talk to me much. They just keep giggling together. I tried to ask Jess if I’d done something wrong but she didn’t really answer me. She just said “no” and ran off.’

Gran rubbed the end of her nose. ‘You know, sometimes friendships change, or even end, as you grow older. You have other friends in your class, don’t you? Maybe you should spend a bit more time with them?’

‘But Gran,’ Ben said, ‘Jess has always been my best friend and I’ve been hers. We like the same things and the same games and everything.’

Gran could see that he was upset, so she thought it was best to talk about something else until he calmed down. She told him to fetch his notebook again and to read her the rhymes. He managed quite well, but there were a few words that Gran had to help him with. Then he tried it with the actions, and they both laughed when he fell over.

‘Now then. Any questions about anything I’ve told you so far?’ Gran asked.

Ben linked his hands behind his neck and rocked in his seat. ‘Yes. If I used the rhyme and I went off exploring or something, wouldn’t Mum and Dad wonder where I was? I’d be in trouble if they thought I’d gone out on my own again, wouldn’t I?’

‘There’s something else you need to know about the secret,’ Gran said. ‘When you use the rhyme, it’s as if time doesn’t move at all. It doesn’t matter how long you’re away, when you come back it’s the same time as when you left. Didn’t you notice that last year?’

‘Not really,’ Ben replied. ‘I wasn’t small for very long – I just met Lox and we found the first piece of the gate. If it was you that made me small, how did you know when to make me big again?’

‘I was watching you all the time,’ Gran frowned. ‘I was a bit worried that Scoot would think you were something to play with, but he was sleeping in the shade. You have to be very careful when you’re small. There are lots of things that could hurt you. You’d make a nice meal for the magpies!’ Gran poked him in the stomach, and they both started laughing again.

Ben went upstairs to put his notebook away and to think about what his gran had told him. Lox would be coming back on Wednesday. Ben knew the secret now, but he didn’t know if his gran would let him use it just yet. He wanted to talk to Jess about it but he didn’t think she’d listen. The other problem was that he didn’t want to share the secret with Kelly.