by Jade HarmerI got nervous when Gran's fingers twitched.
Nervous for Toby Treloar who was threatening to toss my ball into the creek.
“I wouldn't do that if I were you,” I said.
“And whatcha gonna do about it?” taunted Toby.
Oh well, can't say I didn't warn him...
“Toby, let me introduce my Gran. Gran, this is Toby.” Gran licked her lips and I rolled my eyes.
Toby looked at me like I was from outer space. “Why would I wanna meet yer Gran?” he sniggered, twirling my ball on his sausage-shaped finger.
His goons fell about laughing.
“Would you like to give the ball back, sonny?” Gran asked.
Toby roared with laughter.
And that's when Gran, fast as lightning, jumped up onto her frame, balanced on one foot and pointed the other squarely at Toby, the toe of her Hush Puppy just a centimetre from his crooked nose.
His goons took a step back.
“Pleasure to meet you Toby,” Gran said, eyes threatening as darts. “Always nice to meet a friend of Charlie's. Now how about you give his ball back. I've got a pot roast in the oven.”
“Where's the camera?” Toby looked around helplessly. “Yer just an old lady!”
Gran launched herself into the air and spun so quickly that she blew Toby Treloar and his goons into the creek.
My ball flew from his sausage-shaped finger into my arms. Gran raised an eyebrow in my direction as Toby and his goons stumbled about in the creek bed.
“See you tomorrow, Toby,” Gran smiled, landing a spectacular backward somersault with a twist. In a split second she was back in her familiar Gran-like position, shuffling her frame along the path that followed the creek home.
“Gran,” I asked. “When do you think I'll start getting Ninja skills?” I’d always known they ran in the family.
“Well I was a late bloomer, Charlie, but I have a feeling you might already have some.”
“You do?” I asked.
“I think you might be a Wish Ninja,” she whispered.
“OK, sure Gran,” I laughed, but I couldn't help being just a little bit curious. “What's a Wish Ninja?”
Gran’s smile widened. “It's the most powerful type of Ninja,” she explained. “A Wish Ninja can make things happen just by wishing them. You made your ball fly from that boy's finger into your arms,” she said.
I thought about that for a minute. I may have wished the ball to come to me, but I was no Wish Ninja. I wasn't even a Regular Ninja. Not yet anyway.
“Pot roast smells good,” I said when we got to Gran’s. I was starving and I wished I could eat it whole.
Gran smiled and checked the oven only to find an empty pot. She stared at me, her eyes round like saucers.
“Gran, do Wish Ninjas have big appetites?” I asked sheepishly.
“I daresay they do, Charlie,” she grinned, prodding my belly in disbelief, “I daresay they do!”
Jade lives in the Adelaide Hills with her husband and their three children, the resident koalas, kangaroos and echidna. She works in marketing communications and spends her spare time devising quirky picture book stories. Her dream is to see one of her manuscripts picked up by a publisher and turned into a beautiful picture book, then maybe another, and another, and another… If only she were a Wish Ninja! Visit Jade's blog to find out more about her creative pursuits.
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