On Thin Ice (2 page)

It all started one horrible day back in third grade. Katie had lost the football game for her team. Then she’d splashed mud all over her favorite jeans. But the worst part of the day came when Katie let out a loud burp—right in front of the whole class. Talk about embarrassing!

That night, Katie wished to be anyone but herself. There must have been a shooting star overhead when she made the wish, because the very next day the magic wind came.

The magic wind was like a really powerful tornado that blew only around Katie. It was so strong, it could blow her right out of her body . . .
and into someone else’s
!

The first time the magic wind appeared, it turned Katie into Speedy, the hamster in her third-grade class. Katie spent the whole morning going round and round on a hamster wheel and chewing on Speedy’s wooden chew sticks. And that wasn’t even the worst part. Things got
really
bad when she escaped from Speedy’s cage and ran into the boys’ locker room. That was when Katie landed inside George Brennan’s stinky sneaker!
Pee-yew!
Katie sure was glad when the magic wind came back and switcherooed her into herself again!

After that, the magic wind came back again and again. Sometimes it changed Katie into other kids. One time it turned her into Suzanne. Another time it turned her into Suzanne’s baby sister!

And when the magic wind switcherooed her into their school principal, Mr. Kane, there was chaos at the school. By the end of the day, kids were running wild in the halls, and all the electricity had gone out in the building.

The magic wind followed Katie everywhere—even to Europe! In Spain, the magic wind turned Katie into a flamenco dancer in a Spanish restaurant. Katie was not a very good dancer. She’d fallen off the stage, landed in some man’s lap, and sent rice and lobster claws flying all over the place!
Ay, caramba
!

The magic wind was the reason Katie hated wishes so much. They only brought trouble. But she couldn’t explain that to Suzanne. She wouldn’t believe her, anyway. Katie wouldn’t have believed it, either, if it didn’t keep happening to her.

“I know you didn’t say anything so bad,” Katie told Suzanne finally. “It’s just that when you say things like that, you sound kind of jealous. And I know that’s not true,” she added quickly.

“I’m
never
jealous,” Suzanne said. “Other people are jealous of
me
.”

“Of course they are,” Katie said, trying really hard not to laugh. Suzanne never changed. Suzanne was always Suzanne.

Except, of course, for that time when
Katie
had been Suzanne.

Today was Katie’s favorite school day. That was because Wednesday was class 4A’s library day. Each week the kids got to pick out a new library book to take home.

“Do you have any more books by Nellie Farrow?” Katie asked Ms. Folio, the school librarian.

“I knew you were going to ask me that, Katie,” Ms. Folio said. “The new one just came in. I put it away for you.”

Katie grinned. It was amazing. There were so many kids at Cherrydale Elementary School, and Ms. Folio was able to remember what every kid loved to read.

“Emma W., here’s a book about a big sister with a little brother who is a real trouble-maker,” Ms. Folio said, handing her a fat chapter book.

Emma W. smiled. “I can relate to that,” she said.

Katie knew exactly what Emma W. meant. Emma W. had
three
little brothers—
and
an older sister!

“This book is full of really funny library jokes,” Ms. Folio told Kadeem, handing him a paperback book.

“Hey, that’s not fair! I want a joke book, too,” George shouted out.

Katie sighed. She’d been expecting that. George and Kadeem were always having joke-telling contests against one another.

“Don’t get upset,” Ms. Folio told George. “I have a really special book for you. It’s a biography of Harry Houdini, the greatest magician who ever lived.”

“But I don’t know anything about magic,”

George said with a shrug.

“You will after you read the book,” Ms. Folio told him.

“Hey, you guys, this joke is sooo funny,” Kadeem said, looking up from the joke book. “Why was the Tyrannosaurus rex afraid to go to the library?”

“Why?” Andy Epstein asked him.

“Because his book was six million years overdue!” Kadeem said with a laugh.

The other kids laughed, too.

“Oh yeah?” George butted in. “Well, how can you tell if an elephant checked out a library book before you did?”

“How?” Kevin asked him.

“When you open the cover, peanut shells fall out!” George exclaimed.

Everyone laughed again.

“See? I don’t need a joke book to make
me
funny,” George told Kadeem.

But Kadeem wasn’t scared off. He turned the page of his book and grinned. “Here’s a good one,” he told the kids. “What goes on a librarian’s fishing hook?”

“A bookworm!” George shouted out before Kadeem could say the punch line. “That’s an old one.”

“Okay, dudes,” Mr. G., Katie’s teacher, said, stepping between the boys. “Let’s put this joke-off
off
until later. There are still a few people who don’t have books yet, and we don’t have much library time left.”

“Speaking of which,” Ms. Folio said, handing Emma S. a thick book. “Here’s a biography of Kerry Gaffigan for you to read, Emma. I hear she’s coming to town this weekend.”

Emma S. nodded. “On Sunday. And I’m going to meet her. This book is absolutely perfect for me. Now I won’t just be Kerry’s biggest fan, I’ll be the world’s greatest expert on her, too.”

Katie sighed. She was glad Suzanne wasn’t around to hear that.

“Does anyone have a nickel?” George asked the crowd of kids who had gathered around him on the school playground the next day at recess.

“I have one,” Jeremy Fox said. He handed his nickel to George.

Jeremy was Katie’s other best friend. “Careful, Jeremy,” she warned. “George is learning magic. He might make your nickel disappear.”

“No I won’t,” George insisted. “In fact, I’m going to make this nickel grow into a quarter.”

“That’s impossible, George,” Suzanne told him.

“The Great Georgini can do anything!” George exclaimed.

“This I’ve gotta see,” Suzanne scoffed.

George took Jeremy’s nickel and placed it in a small, red, rectangular plastic box. He shut the box and waved his hand over it. “Abracadabra!” he said in his best magician’s voice.

The kids all watched as George opened the box once again. “Ta-da!” George shouted.

Katie’s eyes opened wide as she looked in the open box. Sure enough, the nickel had become a quarter. “Wow! That is so cool, Great Georgini!” she exclaimed.

“Thank you, Katie Kazoo,” George said with a bow.

Katie grinned. She loved the way-cool nickname George had given her back in third grade.

“You should try that with dollar bills,” Mandy told George. “You could be a millionaire.”

“It only works with nickels and quarters,” George explained.

“Speaking of nickels,” Jeremy reminded him. “Can I have mine back?”

“Yeah, sure,” George said. He closed the little box, waved his hand over it, and said, “Abracadabra!” When he opened the box again, the nickel was back in place.

“Can you teach me how to do that?” Andy asked him.

The Great Georgini shook his head. “A magician never reveals his secrets.”

“Then how did
you
learn the trick?” Suzanne asked him.

“They’re
illusions
, not tricks,” George corrected her. “That’s what Harry Houdini called them. My parents bought me a magic kit at the mall yesterday. The secret was in the instruction book.”

“You sure learned it well,” Katie told him.

“You guys want to see another illusion?” George asked.

But before anyone could answer, Emma S. came running over. She had a big envelope in her hand. “I have invitations for everyone,” she said as she began handing out ice-skate-shaped pieces of paper.

“Invitations to what?” Emma W. asked.

“My ice-skating party,” Emma S. explained. “It’s on Saturday at the Cherrydale Rink. My parents are throwing me a party for getting the gold medal. They said I can invite the whole grade. It’s going to be great. We can skate for a whole hour. Then we’re going to have hot cocoa and cookies!”

“This is perfect!” Miriam squealed. “We can watch you skate on Saturday and Kerry Gaffigan skate on Sunday. My mom picked up my ticket yesterday afternoon.”

“So did mine!” Katie exclaimed.

“Mine too,” Emma W. chimed in.

Emma S. nodded. “It will be a super skating weekend!”

The kids seemed really psyched about that. All except Suzanne. She didn’t seem to think the idea of a skating weekend was super at all.

“She’s just having this party so she can show off,” Suzanne whispered to Katie.

Katie shrugged. “Maybe she can show us how to do some easy tricks,” she suggested.

“Why would I want to learn that?” Suzanne said. “I hate skating. The ice is cold, and it hurts.”

“Ice
hurts
?” Katie asked, confused.

“When you fall on it, it does,” Suzanne said. “Not that
I
fall when I skate or anything. I’m too graceful for that. Models are
always
graceful.”

“Of course,” Katie said, trying not to laugh. “
I
fall a lot, though. I’m hoping Emma S. will give me a few tips.”

“If it means she can show off, she will,” Suzanne said.

“So are you going to the party?” Katie asked. From the way Suzanne was acting, it sure didn’t seem that way.

“Yeah, I’ll go,” Suzanne said reluctantly. She stood quietly for a minute. Then a strange little smile began to form on her lips. “Come to think of it, this party could turn out to be kind of fun.”