Magic Socks

Marjorie woke up for school early on Friday. It was the day of the big race so she put on her magic socks.

Her magic socks came all the way up to her knees. They were striped, like a rainbow, and kept her legs toasty warm no matter how cold it was outside.

Marjorie's magic socks let her do anything. She could run faster than a cheetah when she was wearing them. She could jump higher than the tallest building in town. If she ran so fast and jumped so high at the same time, it was like she was flying.

Marjorie did a few test jumps in her bedroom. She jumped over her bed without touching it. She jumped over her dollhouse without upsetting it. She jumped over the block tower she'd made without knocking it over. She nodded and decided she was ready.

She went downstairs for breakfast and ate oatmeal with blueberries (her favorite). Her dad mussed up her hair and she grinned through the big bite of oatmeal she'd just taken.

"All ready for the big race?" her dad asked. Marjorie nodded. She put her dirty dishes in the sink and picked up her bookbag. Her legs felt loose and wobbly and she had a mad fluttering in her tummy. She gave her dad a shaky smile and headed out the door to school.

On the way to school, she met her best friend Billy.

"Are you nervous?" asked Billy. Marjorie nodded.

They walked to school in silence. Marjorie wished she didn't have to wait until after lunch to run the race. She didn't remember anything the teacher said all morning and she was too nervous to eat her lunch.

After lunch, she and Billy walked to gym class together.

"Good luck," said Billy. He pointed at her socks. "You don't really need it, though," he said and smiled at her. He was missing two teeth up top. He looked a bit like a jack-o-lantern which made Marjorie smile.

She looked down at her magic socks. She stomped all of her nervous feelings out of her legs and took her place next to the other runners. They were all bigger than her, she noticed, but no one else had magic socks.

The gym teacher approached them with a starter flag. He held it up, above his head, and brought it down quickly.

"Aaaaaand GO!" he shouted.

The runners took off. Marjorie pumped her little legs as fast as she could and was soon out in front of everyone. It seemed she was running on air, almost flying, and even after she crossed the finish line (first, of course), she kept running. She ran outside, past the playground. She ran to the middle of the woods and jumped to the tallest trees to talk to the high-flyingest birds she could find.

Marjorie wanted to know how the birds flew so high. The birds wanted to know where Marjorie had gotten her magic socks. Their legs get very cold in the winter, you see.