Golden Kumquats
12 year-old Maggie had just moved from the nice and chill city of Sunnyvale, CA, to San Jose, CA. Maggie didn’t like how the new house did not have a pool, something she loved about her old house. Her new house had a gazillion fruit trees, but none of these fruits were Maggie’s favorites. One thing in particular about the kumquat tree concerned Maggie ever since she moved in.
There were three kumquats, the largest, somehow had the color gold, like the color of her skin. She had always wanted to try them, because maybe they were better than the other ones. Maggie’s birthday was in a few days, but her parents were acting completely normal. She suspected that they did not prepare anything, or forgot about her birthday altogether, because of how busy they were unpacking boxes and organizing possessions.
“I suppose I can try the golden kumquats, as my birthday gift. It could be a good reason,” Maggie thought.
After 3 typical days of unpacking, organizing, and having ‘Panda Express’ as everyday meals, the day of Maggie’s birthday arrived. She woke up at the crack of dawn, tiptoed down the hall and out the storm door, and found herself in the backyard of their new house. Carefully, she picked one of the three kumquats from the tree. The kumquat shined brighter than before.
Maggie kept the kumquat safely in her desk, and slowly crawled back in bed. When she woke up, she found her mom shouting at her dad about something in the kitchen.
“You should have taken mo……care about the…… Now I only have two. How can I… if I don’t have all three!” Maggie’s mom shouted as Maggie watched from her parents’ room. Maggie always like how the window in her parents’ room looked directly into the kitchen. That way, she could spy on the happenings without getting caught. Maggie liked to sneak around and get some news before it was told to her directly. Maggie liked to be prepared.
“Wait, was she talking about the golden kumquats?” Maggie murmured to herself.
Maggie tried to sneak the golden kumquat back into the tree, but her mom was in the kitchen, fiddling with something Maggie could not see. Her mom could easily see what Maggie was doing doing from the kitchen.
Maggie decided that she needed to confess that she had the third kumquat, or her parents would fight. They might get divorced!
Later that day, towards dinnertime, Maggie pretended that she wanted a snack, but suddenly remembered something. She stared at her mom until she turned around, looking angry.
“Umm, so you know the third missing kumquat?” Maggie asked in a shaky voice.
“I don’t want to talk about it right now!” Maggie’s mom shouted.
“Um, ok, but this might help. I picked the kumquat off the tree this morning because I thought you guys forgot about my birthday,” she said, trying to show her best puppy eyes.
Her mom placed her hand out as if asking for the third golden kumquat. Maggie slowly handed it to her, but took it back.
“Maggie, you’ll still have the kumquats anyways. It’s part of your birthday gift, but we have to give it to you tomorrow because of the kumquats,” her mom said calmly, still eyeing the third kumquat in Maggie’s hand.
After what felt like a decade, Maggie’s parents woke Maggie up with a surprise! They were holding a gigantic eraser with three golden kumquats on it.
“Uhhhh, what can I do with this?” she asked.
“You’ll see!” chorused her parents.
When school started, she kept the eraser safely with her. On the very first test, Maggie used it to erase something, and suddenly, she felt like she was back in her room, studying for the test. She caught a glimpse of the test paper she was holding. In a blink of a second, she was back in the classroom with the text paper in front of her.
Now Maggie realized that the magic eraser, driven by the three golden kumquats, could help her on tests.
After school, when her parents picked her up, she ran up to them and hugged them.
“Thank you for the eraser!” Maggie exclaimed.