Chapter Five

 

“Philip,” said Mr. Felton, “what you have in your hand is what I called my Moon Charm. My friends and I used it as a good luck piece when I was about your age. You know, like a rabbit’s foot.” The phone rang and Philip’s father went to answer it, but Philip had heard all he needed to hear. This had to be the good luck charm he’d been looking for; and even better, a good luck charm that ran in his family!

The Moon Charm. Philip liked the sound of it so much he repeated it again and again—The Mooooooon Charm—as he waggled the shiny disc in the light. He headed for his bedroom, but stopped midway up the stairs as a wondrous and magical chill swept over him. With this charm he would never have bad luck again!

 

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“I can’t find my homework,” Philip whispered to Emery next day when Mr. Ware asked the class to pass their homework forward.

“Did you do it?” Emery whispered back.

“Would I be looking for it if I didn’t do it?” Philip reached into his pocket to touch the Moon Charm, but his pocket was empty! Panic shot through him! He didn’t lose his Moon Charm already, did he? Life could not be so cruel to him; his bad luck could not be that powerful. But the Moon Charm was gone. What a disaster!

“I don’t see your homework here, Philip.” Mr. Ware said, thumbing through the papers from his aisle.

“I can’t find it,” Philip explained in a tiny voice. “But I did it.” He shrugged.

“Give it to me tomorrow then, Philip.” Mr. Ware smiled at him.

He’s in an awfully good mood, Philip thought, puzzled. Could the Moon Charm have so much good luck that even from a distance it made Mr. Ware smile rather than scold? If it was that powerful Philip knew he had to find the Moon Charm and glue it to his arm if necessary.

Philip concentrated and tried to remember what he’d done with the Moon Charm that morning, but he couldn’t picture doing anything with it. He reached down into his pocket and felt for a hole. No, no hole so the Moon Charm could not have dropped out. His homework and the Moon Charm had to be back in his bedroom. They better be, Philip thought, his stomach twirling in distress at the thought of losing the Moon Charm less than twenty-four hours after he found it.

Then Philip remembered! He’d taken the Moon Charm the night before and rubbed it over his homework, twice over the math he struggled with, to ensure he got everything right. He recalled putting the homework and the Moon Charm down on his desk when his mother called him to take a bath. Obviously, he forgot to put the homework back into his schoolbag and the Moon Charm back into his pocket. Philip watched the clock all day, counting the minutes until he could rush home and check.

Philip flew up the stairs when he reached home and there they were, lying on his desk—the Moon Charm and his homework! He stuck the charm deep into his pocket and put his homework into his schoolbag right away.

“Philip,” Mrs. Felton called from downstairs.

Philip ran to the top of the stairway. “What do you want, Mom?”

“Emery’s here. Come on down.”

Philip felt his pocket again to check on the Moon Charm and then he went downstairs to his friend.

“Hi, Emery.”

“Hi, Philip. What do you want to do?”

Philip thought a moment. He had never beaten Emery in chess. If he challenged Emery to a chess match and won, it would prove the Moon Charm’s power . . . but maybe checkers might be easier. He beat Emery sometimes at checkers. Philip considered the possibilities and realized if he beat Emery at checkers, he wouldn’t know whether the Moon Charm was the reason or not. Then he recalled he had never beaten Emery twice in a row at checkers. If he could win twice in a row, it could only be because of the Moon Charm’s power. If it worked on checkers, then he could move up to chess.

“Let’s play checkers,” Philip suggested, slipping his hand into his pocket and giving the Moon Charm a twirl.

“Okay,” said Emery.

As the boys climbed the stairs to Philip’s room, Philip noticed Emery slip his left hand into his pocket. Ha! Emery had his troll with him and planned to use the troll’s good luck power to help him win at checkers! It would be a battle between the power of Emery’s troll and the power—the super power, Philip hoped, of his Moon Charm.

Philip set up the checkerboard, and Emery took the black pieces without comment. Yes! His first piece of luck, Philip realized, since he always preferred playing the red pieces. The charm was bubbling! Philip made the first move. Then Emery moved. Back and forth the game went. Soon, Emery had three kings left to Philip’s two kings.

“What are you doing?” Philip asked when he saw Emery slip his left hand into his pocket again.

Emery pulled his hand out quickly. “Nothing. My leg itched. I think I got a rash.”

Philip snorted in disbelief and moved his gaze to his two kings. His move.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Emery demanded.

Without thinking, Philip had slipped his hand into his pocket and let his fingers touch the Moon Charm.

“Nothing,” Philip blurted and yanked his hand free.

“You put your hand in your pocket.”

“My leg itches, too. You don’t have the only itchy leg in the world, you know. I probably caught your stupid rash. Stop making noise and let me think.” He moved one of his kings away from Emery’s kings.

As Emery studied Philip’s move, Philip noticed Emery’s hand creep toward his pants pocket again.

“Hey, you already scratched your leg. It can’t itch anymore.”

“It’s my leg. I can scratch it if I want to, even if it doesn’t itch. Maybe I just want to keep it from itching later. Rashes are funny things.”

“Well I can scratch my leg if I want to even if it doesn’t itch and keep my leg from itching later, too. My rash is as funny as yours.”

Each boy thrust a hand defiantly into a pocket.

With his free hand Emery made his move and trapped one of Philip’s kings. Philip saw no matter what space he moved his king to, Emery would be able to jump him. He backed up his other king one space.

Emery took his hand out of his pocket, and when he did, Philip could see yellow troll hair poking out of Emery’s fist.

“Hey!” Philip shouted and pointed an accusing finger.

Emery shoved his hand back into his pocket. “Hey what? It’s nothing.”

“Does your rash have yellow hair? It’s your troll. Your good luck piece. You’re using your good luck to try to win this game.”

“So what?” Emery argued. “That’s what a good luck piece is for, isn’t it?”

Philip had had enough. Like a Wild West gunfighter he slowly drew his Moon Charm from his pocket and, with a sharp click, put it down on the table right in front of him. He looked Emery in the eye and said, “I don’t care what you have. I have my own lucky charm now.”

Emery stared at the glittery, shimmering disc. “What is it? Where’d you get it?”

“From my dad and it’s a better good luck charm than a troll.”

“I don’t think so,” said Emery. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his troll, and stood it next to the checkerboard. Emery studied the checkerboard and moved one of his kings toward Philip’s untrapped king.

Philip backed his king away another space.

Emery moved his king closer.

After two more moves Philip’s king ran out of back-up spaces, and both his men were trapped!

Emery smiled and returned his troll to his pocket. “You lose. I guess you better look for a different good luck charm. Yours doesn’t work.”

“It does work,” said Philip with determination. “It just doesn’t want to waste its power on something stupid like a checker game. You’ll see. Wait till something really important comes along. You’ll see how much good luck it gives me then.”

Emery thought a moment. “How about tomorrow’s spelling bee in school?”

Philip had forgotten and his spirits fell. Mr. Ware had promised to line the class up along the wall the next day and test them on how much spelling they’d learned. Philip knew he had not done a whole lot of studying. It would take a barrelful of good luck for him to do well in the spelling bee.

“Maybe we should both study a little,” Philip suggested quietly. “You know. Help the good luck out.”

“Okay, let’s study till I have to go home for dinner.”

“I’ll go get the list of words,” Philip said, the checker game forgotten.