001-The Wishing Well

The Wishing Well

Moving is never easy. Moving from a big city like Chicago to a small country village is even harder. Just ask the Barth children. “ There’re nothing to do here! ” complained the oldest, named Cy. “ I don’t see any shops, ” whined Anthea, the second eldest . Among her siblings, her nickname was Panther.

When her younger brother, Bobby, was little, he couldn’t say Anthea. He called her Panther instead, and now the others did too. “ What do you mean, we won’t have Internet?” cried Bobby, looking up at his father. ” Eeek! What’s that?” Jane screamed. A little brown field mouse scurried fromunder the steps and into the grass.

No one in the family had wanted to move to Aunt Martha’s house. But Father had lost his job, and they had no choice. ” It’s only for a short while, ” Mother said, trying to comfort the children as they sat at the kitchen table. “ And there’s lots of things to do aroundhere, ” said Aunt Martha.

“ Yeah, like catch grasshoppers?” Cy said in a rather nasty way. “ Grasshoppers? Where?” screamed Jane. To make matters worse, Mother and Father left the next morning. Father had some job interviews in Chicago .

The children stood alone on the steps as the car pulled away. “ Baa, baa, ” cried the baby happily. ” Oh, Lamb. Nothing makes you sad, does it?” Panther laughed. Hilary, the baby, got his nickname because the first word he said was “ baa, ” just like a little lamb. The children didn’t want to go backinside the house.