Wish

by Barbara O'Connor

“I made coffee cake,” Bertha said. “I wonder why they call it coffee cake. Not a drop of coffee in it.” She held the door open for the cat to come in. “Oh, I know. I bet ’cause you’re supposed to drink coffee when you eat it. You think? Well, anyways, who cares, right?”

I was definitely going to have to go out on that porch tonight and wait for the first star to come out so I could make my wish again. Maybe two in one day would do the trick.

“Every time you feel yourself starting to get mad, say ‘Pineapple.’”

If you cut off the pointed end of a slice of pie and save it for last, you can make a wish when you eat it.

I made a solemn vow and promise to myself right then and there. That dog was going to be mine.

How many braids were in Samson’s hair?

Name the man who went down into a pit on a snowy day to kill a lion. In what book, chapter, and verse can we read about a winner of a beauty contest becoming a queen?

That was the rule for black-horse wishing. If you see a white horse, just make a wish. But for a black horse you have to shake your fist at it three times.

When I was done, the silence settled over us, still and soft, like a veil.

I turned in a circle three times, clutching that acorn tight and making my wish.

set the acorn on the windowsill. I would leave it there for three days to make sure my wish would be even stronger.

What was Moses’s brother’s name? How many times a day did ravens bring food to Elijah?

A big, bright cardinal on the telephone line across the street. I closed my eyes, spit three times, and made my wish.

“If you blow on an eyelash, you get to make a wish.” I

“Well, if you’re making the same wish every time, it must not be coming true,”

“So what’s the point? Seems kind of dumb to me.”

“Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home.” As I watched that little ladybug fly off into the sky, I made my wish.