The Magical Cure

Mum was ill. She was lying in bed and looked really horrible: her hair was all touseld and her face was very pale.

She said it was only the flu, and she would be better soon, but Ben was not so sure.

Last summer his Auntie Janet had died. Ben thought she was a fairy now. Sometimes, when there was something he really, really wanted, he would send a wish to her. It worked quite often, but not always.

Ben did not want his mum to be ill. He wanted her to play with him. It was Saturday and he was bored. Daddy said he was too busy looking after mum to play with him.

So Ben had to think of something to do all by himself. First, he played with his train set, but after a while he got bored with that, so he switched the TV on, but he did not like the programme.

In the end he went to ask his dad, if there was nothing they could do to make Mummy better quickly. His dad told him just to let her sleep, then she would get better all by herself. Ben did not believe that. Everybody knows that dead people sleep!

Ben went to his room and took Bear from his pillow. He sat down on the floor and said to him, “Mummy is really ill. What do you think we can do to make her better?”

Bear just looked at him. He did not know. He had never been ill in all his life.

“When I am ill, Mummy gives me medicine. I wonder if Daddy has given her some? Let’s go and ask him”, Ben told Bear.

Ben went downstairs with Bear and asked. His dad nodded, he had given her medicine. “It’s not working very well, is it?”, Ben wondered.

“It just takes a bit of time. Mummy caught the flu quite badly...”, his dad explained.

“Maybe she needs stronger medicine. Or even magic medicine!”, Ben suggested.

“Magic?”, Dad asked surprised.

Ben nodded knowingly. He knew all about magic. Magic brought the Snuffler, and it kept the monsters at bay. It might even make mummies better.

“What do you think, Bear?”, Ben asked.

The Bear nodded. He agreed with Ben’s idea. Magic was always great with things like that.

“Let’s get started then. Do you want to help, Daddy?”

His dad grinned and nodded, “What do we do?” [...]