The problem with most wishing machines was, of course, that they worked. When nine year old Drake Marshall brought his Wishing Machine in for show and tell, Miss Marsh thought it was a nicely done magic trick when a large toad appeared from just an empty cardboard box. Sally Spencer tried it and wished that mean Timmy Hawkins would turn into a fish, and everyone laughed, but Miss Marsh could have sworn she heard screams coming from a classroom down the hall. But the recess bell rang and the sound was drowned out. The Wishing Machine was transported to the worst possible place for a Wishing Machine: the playground.
Jessica Alvarez was first to wish her little brother would just go away. Emily Larson liked that idea and wished all of her brothers would go to Antarctica, which they did and promptly died of exposure. Stephanie Bowen wished for a horse. That started a run on horses, each one prettier than the last (literally, each girl would wish for a horse prettier than the one before). Then came a unicorn, then a small herd of pegasi. Surya Patel jumped in and went for an elephant, complete with carriage and driver.
These events occurred so incredibly quickly, wishes are contagious after all, that by the time a teacher noticed the first zebra, a dozen other animals were already rampaging about. Before any adult could get near the epicenter there appeared a tank, a tyrannosaur, a jet fighter, and a blue whale. The blue whale crushed most of the 4th grade PE class, while panicked animals trampled any other child caught in the open. Worse, Eddie Acosta was already inside the tank and shelling the north wing of the school mercilessly. It was, predictably, a bloodbath.
Thanks to her investigation of the dead fish that appeared atop Timmy Hawkins’ desk, only Miss Marsh understood what was happening. And once she understood, she believed, and believing was all the Wishing Machine needed to work properly. She raced to the playground and found Drake hiding under some sturdy monkeybars, fending off monkeys. He pointed to where he last saw the Wishing Machine, down among the buffalo and monster trucks.
Miss Marsh bravely dove into the mayhem, believing if she could just get to the box –no, to the Wishing Machine, she could set everything back to how it was. Only meters from the machine, she had already formulated the proper wish to undo all the playground horrors. Just as she reached out, Surya’s elephant trampled past, and completely crushed the Wishing Machine. Miss Marsh scooped the crumpled pieces in her hands, wishing, desperately wishing as hard as she could for that one wish to fix everything.
But it was just a box. And the problem with most boxes was, of course, that they could not grant wishes.