Just One Wish

Jesse hated his life…

He decided this as he laid in his bed, staring at the dark ceiling above him. He could hear his parents arguing downstairs. He didn’t even know why his dad was still here. He’d dropped Jesse off over an hour ago, but came inside to talk to his mom. They were arguing about money. They always argued about money. Jesse’s dad no longer lived hhere.

About three months ago, they pulled Jesse into the living room after school and told him they were getting a divorce. He didn’t even know what divorce meant. He was only eight. But, from the gist of it, he understood that his dad was moving out and that he would take turns seeing his mom and dad from now on.

Jesse didn’t understand it. If they loved him, why would they do this to him? And they were married! Weren’t they supposed to love each other forever? As he laid in his bed thinking about all of this, he heard the front door slam on the house as his dad stormed out. Jesse felt sick to his stomach. He didn’t want his dad to leave.

Turning over in his bed, Jesse furiously punched his pillows. He felt the hot tears start running down his cheeks and only grew angrier. Life wasn’t fair and he hated it! He laid there in his bed, crying silently until he finally drifted off to sleep.

When he woke up the next morning, it was to his mom peeking into his room and telling him it was time to get up for school. Her face was all pink and splotchy, so he knew she had been crying again. Reluctantly, he dragged himself out of bed and picked out some clothes to change into. When he glanced out the window, he saw that it was a dreary day. The sky was dark and it was raining outside.

With a heavy sigh, he pulled his rain boots and rain jacket out of the closet and carried them downstairs. His mom was in the kitchen, so he set his coat and boots with his bookbag at the bottom of the stairs and walked into the kitchen. Some cereal sat on the table with a gallon of milk and a bowl with a spoon. Jesse poured himself a bowl and sat down in his seat. His mom was packing his lunch. When she finished, she set it beside him on the table and sat down across from him.

“Jesse, I need to talk to you about something,” she told him. She was wringing her hands nervously, so Jesse’s stomach tightened uncomfortably He set his spoon down in his unfinished bowl of cereal and looked up at her sad, swollen eyes. After a long pause, she finally continued. “We are going to have to find somewhere else to live,” she admitted sadly.

“But this is our house,” Jesse insisted, shocked. He felt his anger from last night return and stood to his feet. “We can’t leave our house!”

“Jesse, we can’t afford to live here anymore,” his mom responded. She reached out to grab him, probably to hug him, but he didn’t want to be hugged. Instead, he stormed out of the kitchen. He pulled on his boots and his coat. As he put on his bookbag, his mom appeared and silently handed him his lunchbox. He grabbed it from her reluctantly, then walked out the front door without a word to her.

As he walked down the road, she stood at the end of the driveway and watched him walk to the corner where the bus would pick him up. Jesse suddenly felt really bad about not giving her a hug or telling her he loved her, but he was so mad that he couldn’t help it. He already had to deal with the silly divorce, and now he had to move. Life wasn’t fair!

The rain poured down upon him. Water flowed in the streets with trash and leaves floating in the streams before disappearing into the sewers. Jesse watched as the trash and leaves swiftly passed by him. He noticed something stick out from the rest of the trash. It was a little black book, drifting in the stream towards him. As it got closer, Jesse bent and picked it up before it dropped into the storm drain.

The little book was sopping wet as he turned it over in his hands. Just as he was about to open it, his bus arrived. Jesse slipped it into his coat pocket and got on the bus. He sat down with his friends and promptly forgot about the little black book.

It was only once he was back from school and taking his jacket off in his room that he felt the weight of it in his pocket. He pulled it out and noticed that it had already dried. Thinking that to be unusual, Jesse took it over to his desk and laid it down. He sat himself in front of it and flipped open the cover of the book.

In simple print, the book read,

Wish for what you want and need,

for this is why I’m here.

The following words must you heed,

or the price can be most dear.

Make sure the wish is true and just,

for you cannot undo what’s done.

Listen to your heart you must,

for you can only wish for one.

Jesse had to reread it several times before he understood what it said. The little book was telling him to make a wish. Jesse became so excited. He turned the page and saw “Write your wish below” on the following page. Jesse picked up a pen and brought it to the paper. He paused, trying to decide what to wish for.

He could wish for money. Then he and his mom wouldn’t have to move. Plus, he could get a new bicycle, and maybe the trampoline he’d been wanting. His dad had promised him a trampoline for his birthday and said he’d teach him how to do a flip. But that was before his dad had left. Jesse’s birthday was last month and he didn’t get the trampoline. His dad had probably forgotten about it or didn’t have the money for it.

Jesse had almost decided on wishing for the money when he realized what he was forgetting. His dad wasn’t here anymore so he couldn’t teach Jesse how to do a flip. No, his dad was in some smelly apartment downtown where Jesse had to sleep on the couch when he visited. Jesse just wanted him to be home again, even if he had to listen to his mom and dad argue about money.

Jesse thought really hard about what to wish for. If he wished for money, maybe his parent would get back together since there wasn’t anything to fight about anymore. But the more he thought about it, the more he worried he was wrong. What if he wasted his wish on the money, and they still got a divorce? He could have all the money in the world, but if his parents weren’t together, he’d still hate his life. He really wanted a bike and a trampoline, but he wanted his mom and dad back together more.

Jesse thought about how to word his wish. Finally, he wrote,

I wish for my parents to get back together and to be happy again.

He wrinkled his brow as he looked at his sloppy handwriting. He hoped the book knew what he wrote down, and he hoped that it understood what he meant. He sat back in his chair and waited for something to happen. When nothing did, Jesse started to feel silly. It was just a little black book. It was probably all pretend and he had just got all excited for nothing.

Still, Jesse waited for something to prove his new theory wrong. He went down for dinner and found his mom in the kitchen making spaghetti. She asked him about his day at school and he told her the usual stuff about his class and his friends. She dished him out a plate of spaghetti and they ate in silence. Her face wasn’t splotchy anymore and she didn’t look like she’d been crying.

“Have you heard from Dad?” Jesse finally asked her as his patience started wearing thin. She wrinkled her eyebrow in confusion.

“No. Was I supposed to?” she asked. Jesse shrugged, disappointed.

He finished his plate and put it in the sink, then followed his mom into the living room and watched TV with her for a little while. Then she told him to go wash up for bed, so he did. When bedtime came around, Jesse laid in his dark room, staring at the ceiling. He prayed and prayed that the little black book really was magic. Eventually he fell asleep.

The next morning, Jesse got up for school and got ready. When he came to the kitchen, his mom was packing his lunch. Nothing seemed different. The box of cereal was on the table and his mom still looked sad and tired. He barely ate his breakfast, and when he pulled on his shoes, he felt what little faith he had in the book slip away. His mom walked him outside, and as he started to walk towards the bus stop, his dad pulled up. He didn’t even park the right way on the street. He just jumped out of the car and walked straight towards Jesse’s mom. In his hands was a big bundle of roses and a card.

Jesse looked over at his mom and he could see that she her face had turned all red with embarrassment. But he could also tell that she was happy. Jesse saw his bus driving up in the distance, so he happily waved at his parents and ran to catch his bus. He just knew things were going to be okay.

When he got back from school that evening, his parents were sitting in the kitchen waiting on him. He sat down at the table with them, but not before he noticed that they were holding hands across the table.

“Jesse, we have something to tell you,” his mom said, her eyes alight with happiness.

“I already know,” Jesse said, smiling right back at her.

“What do you know, son?” his dad asked, confused.

“That you all aren’t getting a divorce,” he answered.

“And how do you know that?” his mom asked.

“Because I wished it in the little black book,” Jesse answered. His parents only looked at each other. “I’m just glad I didn’t wish for money,” Jesse added, giggling.

“You were going to wish for money?” his dad asked him. Jesse nodded.

“Yeah, but I changed my mind. I wanted you home more,” Jesse explained.

“Well, then maybe it gave you two wishes,” his dad said, chuckling. “I just got a $20,000 contract with one of my clients.” Jesse jumped up and down excitedly.

“Does that mean I can get a trampoline?” he asked, dancing around the room. His parents laughed.

“Yes, you can get a trampoline,” his mother relented. “And we get to keep our home,” she gently reminded him. Jesse whooped in excitement and gave his mom and dad a huge hug. He wanted to show them the wishing book, but when he ran upstairs to find it, it was gone. He looked everywhere, but it was nowhere to be found.

“It’s someone else’s turn to make a wish,” his dad explained simply when he returned to the kitchen. Jesse agreed, but hoped he would find the book again someday. He really wanted a new remote-control car, and maybe a new baseball glove. Was $20,000 really enough for all that? He started to ask his parents, but when he saw them embracing, he decided it was definitely enough. He had his family back.