It all started with soup...

It all started with soup...

“Lucy!” my mom calls, “It’s time to go to your grandma’s house!” She seems excited to get me out of her house for a week.
        “Coming!” I say. I grab my duffel bag and step outside. It’s so hot I can almost taste it. I stroll onto the sidewalk, enjoying the peaceful essence of our small town. It seems very still and motionless, almost too much so. Other than the chirping cicadas, I can hear nothing else. I hop into the car and blast the air conditioning to escape from my one true enemy, the heat. We drive down four houses and arrive at my grandma’s house. I don’t even fully understand why we drove, when it would be easier just to walk.
        “Alright sweetie,” Mom says, “I’ll be back from my business trip in a week. See you soon.” She gives me a hug, and then I lug my bag into Grandma’s house.
        “Hello, sweetheart!” My grandma says. As I walk in, I hit a wall of heat. I knew my grandma didn’t have air conditioning, but the heater? Really?
        “Hey, Grandma?” I ask. “Is it a little hot in here? Or is it just me?”
        “I think it’s just you, I’m a little cold, myself.” she replies. She’s crazy is all I think. I walk across the creaking floorboards into the kitchen, where maybe I could find an ice pack, or something like that. I look in the freezer to find it completely empty, so I walk over to the stove to see what’s cooking. I see some soup on the stove, and just as I was about to stir it, it started stirring itself. I backed away slowly, almost toppling over my grandma, who just walked in.
        “Did you see that?!” I cry to Grandma, “That was incredible!” Grandma shakes her head and smiles. “I guess I have to explain now, don’t I?” She chuckles. “Follow me.” I follow her into the living room, and she gestures for me to sit down on one of the leather couches. The leather sticks to my hot skin.
        “Sweetheart, I’m about to tell you something that might be a little shocking,” She takes a deep breath. “Our family has magical powers.”
        “No way.” I laugh. “That would be fun, but there’s no such thing as magic. It would be nice though if I had the power to open the windo-” The windows swing open. I can’t believe it. I opened the windows just by talking. “Grandma? You weren’t joking, were you?” She just sits there and smiles.
        “I don’t need magic to tell me that dinner’s ready!” She chirps. We enjoy our magically created soup, and then I go up to the guest room and fall into a dreamless slumber.
        At about four in the morning, I wake to the sound of a firetruck wailing through the streets of our little town. I look out my window to see that the house across the street had caught fire. I rush down the stairs to get a better look. I see two men dressed in strange black robes running away from the fire. I run out the door, after them, and they don’t hear me coming. They run to the next house and stand in front of the door. They knock it down with some sort of magic, almost the same kind I have. I run after them in hopes of cutting them off, but I trip over some sort of, well, invisible magic thing they created. I hop back up and sprint towards the devious duo.
        “You won’t get away with this!” I shout between breaths. I just wish I could figure out how to use my magic. What can I actually do? I can stir things, and open things, but what does that mean?
“Maybe I could throw down a telephone pole on them or something.” I mutter to myself. I stop my running short because I almost get crushed by a telephone pole that started to fall. I grin. Maybe I can do this. I think of what’s on the path of the pair of villains. The advantage of living in a small town is that you know where literally everything is. A streetlight was in the perfect position.
“How about a streetlight? Can I tip those?” I say, and right on cue, the light started to fall right towards them. One man tripped over the light, and the other one was pinned underneath the pole. What now? I have them right where I want them, but now what do I do? I see a lone bicycle down the street, and start to pull it towards me.
“How about a bicycle? That’s a quicker mode of transportation than running, right?” I hop on the bicycle and use my head to pedal it. “If I keep talking about this bicycle, I can get right to the police. Bicycle. Bicycle. Bicycle...” I repeat that word until I reach the authorities.
“I found the arsonists!” I manage to say. “I threw a streetlight at them. They’re just down the street. We need to hurry!” The policeman laughs at me. “You threw a streetlight on them? Please! This is a serious case.”
        “If only I could transport you there.” I mutter. Next thing I know we’re standing right next to the arsonists, and a look of awe is on the face of the policeman. He handcuffs the pair of criminals, and hauls them away. “Thank you for all your help.”, he says to me. I wander back to my grandma’s house, up to the guest room, and fall back asleep.
“Good morning, sweetheart!” My grandma says the next morning, bringing in a tray of sausages and eggs. “Did you sleep well?”
        “Yeah, Grandma. I slept great, and I went on an adventure and stopped some arsonists from burning down the town and destroying-”
“You have some crazy dreams, Lulu. Crazy dreams indeed.” Grandma left, a smirk on her face. I know I’ll always remember this night.