Page 14 - Book one - Flipbook

He pulls out the necklace to make sure it’s still there. Then he thinks, Really, this is what I get?
Hey, will I get my stuff back?
Freaked out, Jaxon runs down the stairs, two at a time. When he gets to the bottom of the
stairs, he scans the living room to see if anything is missing. The lamps are missing and his Gran’s
phone is gone.
“Raimy! Raimy!” he shouts running back to the stairs. He looks upstairs towards his sister’s
room.
“Come here! Please, Raimy. Come downstairs.”

His sister walks down the stairs with that see I toldja look, amused and controlling a laugh.
“What’s the matter, Jax? Why are you so excited?” She gives him a sneaky-looking smirk.
Jaxon paces back and forth at the bottom of the stairs. He crosses him arms over his head.
“Look Raimy, the lamps and Gran’s phone are missing. And some stuff in my room is missing too.”
“Okay, Okay. Jax, relax. Stop pacing. Be still.” She starts walking down the stairs and looks at
him. “Well,” she says, with a sparkle in her eyes, “now you have a good idea of how the powers
of the necklace work.”

He starts pacing again in front of the staircase. “Powers?” Okay, but…wow! I totally didn’t expect
this. Why are things missing?”
“It must have to do with the magic. Remember your question, ‘what if there were no Black
people?’ Well, here’s your answer. I think you’re getting a taste of what it would be like. Look
over there.” She holds her hand up and points to where the lamps were and where the telephone
was sitting.
“Now I get it!” she says excitedly. “You’re gonna find out about the things Black people did
that touch our lives. This,” still gesturing at where the lamp and phone are missing, “is what
happened because of what you wished for after saying, ‘just imagine.’”

“Are you kidding? No way! Really?” Jaxon stops pacing, but keeps looking around the house.
His heart is beating a bit faster.
Looking at him sternly, his sister warns him, “This is no joke, Jaxon.” He knows she’s serious
because she used his full name. “Even though you can have a lot of fun with your new power,
you still need to remember to be very careful and not to make a wish that could put yourself or
anyone else in danger.”
She moves closer to him, “Jaxon, don’t even think about testing this. I know you. Listen, if

you wish for the wrong thing, it could backfire on you. Don’t go saying or wishing for something
crazy. And you know what crazy is. Just be smart about whatever you wish for. And remember,
you already used one wish. Like I said last night, if you want to put things back the way they were,
that’s considered a wish too. So in a way, you only get two wishes. Mom can explain that as well.”
“Ah man, this is w-w-way more than anything I could have imagined. This is like,
like…unbelievable. I dunno, Black people must have invented a lot of stuff and some of the stuff
that’s in this house.”