We are delighted to share our bilingual student's brilliantly creative and magical story with you. Elise Bizeau participated in the 2021 Young Author's Fiction Festival organised by the American Library in Paris and won under the category fourth grade. Her sister Emilie won the second grade award! A talented family of writers!
In a sunny valley, Sun, an orange cat with white paws, was out with Minou, a Siamese girlie cat. These two gentle but adventurous friends were playing on the fresh green grass.
Suddenly, a cloud-like white circle appeared next to the peach tree. Then, an old white cat emerged from the cottony time machine.
The old cat said, “Hi, Sun.”
“Hi grandpa! I am pleased to see you!”
“I lost my magical book,” continued Sun’s grandfather, “I need your help to find it.”
At these words, Minou was jumping up and down in excitement. She loved adventure.
His grandfather explained, “I will be searching in the present and you in the past.”
Sun and Minou then entered the time machine, pressed a button, and shouted, “Back to the past when the theft happened!” At the end of their words, they were back 3 hours earlier and landed in front of Sun’s grandfather’s house.
They hid themselves in a nearby bush outside the front door. Minutes passed. Then, a big delivery cat put a big package from CatMazon at the door.
Unexpectedly, Minou saw a charming black-and-white Tuxedo cat getting out of the package.
Sun’s mouth gaped open, and he mumbled, “I know him, he is Midnight, my classmate. Why was he hiding in the package?”
“Ugrh,” the Tuxedo cat spit bits of the packaging paper in disgust. He then used a pin to unlock the door and entered Sun’s grandfather’s house.
Sun and Minou ran towards the window and spied inside. In the middle of the living room, they saw Midnight searching in a desk drawer where he found the magical book.
Midnight left with the book in his paws and called someone on the phone with an assuring voice, “Mission accomplished, Mr. Anadresse.”
Sun and Minou followed Midnight from a distance until Midnight entered an unknown house. They read the name on the mailbox: Robert Anadresse.
Minou babbled, “That is our teacher’s name!”
Sun pushed the unlocked door and went in by himself, telling Minou to wait outside.
Sun heard a sound coming from the office. He peeked inside the office whose door was slightly opened. He saw Midnight and Mr. Anadresse making senseless wishes with the magical book.
Mr. Anadresse proclaimed, “I want lots and lots of fish.”
Followed by Midnight saying, “I want plenty of fancy strings to play with.” But nothing happened.
Sun got angry seeing them with the book, his tail fur becoming fluffy. He kicked the door open and screamed, “This book belongs to my grandfather. I’m taking it back!” He snatched the book from Midnight and ran away.
Midnight and Mr. Anadresse chased Sun as he ran out of the house. Sun cried out, “Minou, follow me and FAST!”
Sun and Minou jumped in the time machine and returned to the present time in the valley.
Minou commented, “I wonder what’s inside the book?”
Sun replied, “Let’s open it.”
When Sun opened the book, there was a flashing light coming out of the book and made its way to Sun’s heart. The book whispered, “Congratulations! you are my new owner. You are the new owner of magic.”
Sun’s grandfather arrived and exclaimed, “You found my book. Or should I say, YOUR book. The book has belonged to our family for generations. Now it's the time that it belongs to you. This book grants wishes to its owner.”
Sun asked, “Why didn’t the wishes work for Mr. Anadresse and Midnight?”
“Well,” he explained, “Robert and Midnight did not know its secret. You can only make wishes for others. Those cats weren’t kind, were they? They cared only for themselves and their stomachs. Obviously, those wishes would not work.”
“Now I understand,” Sun opened the book and pronounced, “I wish all the bad cats will become caring, so that the world will be a better place for us cats to live.”
At the end of his words, Midnight and Mr. Anadresse appeared. They brought feathers and milk to apologize.
“Sorry for stealing the magical book, but can you still make fish and lots of strings appear?” insisted Mr. Anadresse.
Sun laughed and everyone laughed with him. They started to put on lively music and partied together. They danced and meowed while playing with feathers and enjoying milk. Sun’s grandfather cooked some fish and Sun took out his yoyos so they could play with the strings.
All without using any magic.
The end