Mike Smith

1
No One Else

Mike Smith has blond hair, blue eyes, white skin, and dirty nails. Anyway, he has a deep dark secret. I will reveal It...well the secret’s out – he’s a wizard. Yes, I did say, "wizard"! But, what is bad about the secret is, he doesn’t know it himself.

The amazing thing about him is no one else could escape the dark wizard called Dialan. He is the only dark wizard that anyone talks about anymore. But, they vow never to say his name. You will hear the story of Dialan’s defeat, later.

Mike is also different from most people because he lives in the City Dump. It was awful. Even he thought so. When he defeated Dialan, he got a scar in the shape of an eye in the middle of his forehead. Now and then it hurts. Mike never thinks about it,

His scar, I mean. Of course, his hair is pretty long, not having any scissors, you know. When they see Mike on the street, most people go "yick" in a mean and snobby way. Whenever this happens, he just looks down at his feet and runs to his little hut, sobbing.

2
Mike’s Treasure

One day Mike was tending to his uncle’s house. Since both of his parents died, he was under his cruel uncle’s power. Mike went to his uncle’s house each day to clean and to be, "home schooled."

One day, when his uncle was out, Mike came upon a box that said, "Things that I want to keep away from Mike." He quickly turned around to see if anyone was looking. "Good," said Mike, with a sigh of relief. Then he opened the box and found a lot of golden things that had been stolen by his uncle-whose name was Max Pijigler(pidge-ig-ler). Mike took two of the necklaces he found. One was labeled "History of the Oldest People". The other one was called "Beware of these Monsters". First he picked the one marked, "Beware of these Monsters" and to his horror, what was at first a locket, turned into a disaster on the wall...

3
When Mike’s Uncle Arrives

At the same moment he was opening the second locket, he heard footsteps and saw a huge shadow of a horrifying creature. Mike could hardly speak. To his surprise, it turned out to be his uncle...(okay, okay. It’s not as horrifying as I made it sound.) Where was I, oh, I was here. When his uncle came in, he grabbed Mike by the shirt-half strangling him, half carrying him. Mike’s heart stopped, while still going 500 beats a minute. Mike managed to take up the locket called "Beware of these Monsters." He had no idea why it was so named or what the name meant.

In the midst of all this, Mike’s uncle, Max Pijigler, told him to go back to the Dump and go to bed, even though it was only 1:00 in the afternoon. Mike was also told to brush his teeth, even though his uncle hadn’t brushed his own for five months. Uncle Pijigler also said, "Do five times the homework!"

4
What Seemed like a Dream

That was the mean side of Uncle Pijigler- but, don’t worry, he has a softer side. Now that I think about it, that was his softer side. Mike kept to his chores-too nice a thing to call them. And believe me, he wasn’t working for an allowance, like you or me, he was working for his life!

5
Twitching and bewitching

Mike was back in his hut when his uncle came in. "I want you to mop my floor, now!" he said. So Mike did. Mike was mopping the floor of his uncle’s house, when he thought to himself, "I’m so scared of my uncle, why was I given to him?" After his uncle left the house, Mike continued to think, and he began to shiver. Then he began muttering to himself in a language that he had never even heard before. He must have cast an evil curse on his uncle because his uncle had turned to stone. So had everything else in the whole wide neighborhood! From the window, Mike Smith saw his uncle, frozen stone cold, waiting at the crosswalk.

Mike stopped mopping. He locked up the house and went to the candy store across the street. He took all the candy he wanted, but wondered if it had been turned into stone as well. He took some bubble gum, stuffed it into his mouth, and, yup, bye-bye teeth. Next, a toothless Mike, went to the clothes store down the block. He picked out all the clothes he wanted to replace the rags he wore. The clothes were very heavy, since they were all made of stone. In trying to undo the spell, Mike quickly wrote down what he remembered of the gibberish he had spoken. But, fortunately, ended up saying another spell instead.

6
The Next Spell

This next spell, undid the stone, and Mike jotted it down as well for the future. He put on his new clothes and went back to his uncle’s house. Then, he heard his uncle trying to get in. Uncle Pijigler was so angry that he kept on yelling at the door like a lunatic. Because Mike had been wise enough to write down the first spell, he chanted it through the front door’s peephole, and turned his uncle into stone again. Mike was a smart fellow. He went down to the basement and got some paint. After a while, the front yard of the house had a new lawn ornament that looked exactly like his uncle, Max Pijigler. The statue became famous throughout the neighborhood.

7
Freedom

Mike Smith was free of his cruel uncle, but he still had no teeth. He remembered the golden locket he’d picked up with the name, "Beware of these Monsters." When Mike had opened the locket before, he had heard the same gibberish that he had spoken . Then, Mike remembered that it was his ninth birthday. Maybe that was why all these strange things were happening. He had left the locket open. Without warning, a huge monster came out of the locket and towered over him. Mike was terrified. Then, in a comic voice, the monster said, "Ain’t you the feller that de - feeted the wicked Wizard, Dialan? Well speak up!" Mike tried to speak, but it sounded very odd, because of his toothlessness. The monster was repelled, and said, "Hey, little feller, you ain’t got no teeth!" As luck would have it, Uncle Pijigler had left his false teeth behind. Mike put them on, and, after rinsing his mouth, went on to say, "Who the heck are you, and who is Dialan?"

"They call me and my family monsters because we look hideous, but being ugly, doesn’t make us evil. The real evil one was Dialan, who would lure innocent victims with his charm and beauty. When you were a baby, you played with a reflecting toy. The handsome Dialan tried to lure you to his side with smiles and baby talk. In play,
you held up your reflecting toy, and Dialan saw his reflection, which was repulsive. The mirror and Dialan both cracked into a thousand pieces. It was then that you got a scar in the shape of an eye. It was in the shape of an eye because you were the only one to have seen the truth."

8
The Second Locket

Mike Smith was astonished. The so-called monster smiled and went back into the locket he had come from. Mike picked up the second golden locket. He was so surprised by his story, that he found himself speaking more of what he thought was gibberish. The locket labeled "The History of the Oldest People" opened and said, "Mike Smith, you can come home now. Max Pijigler was not really your uncle, he was a hoax. He had been Dialan’s assistant, who stole you away after his master’s defeat. He kept you as his servant and made you live in the City Dump."

9
Home Again, Home Again

In an instant Mike Smith was home. He was home in a Palace filled with light and love. And there were his parents alive and well. Mike Smith, whose real name turned out to be Mike Smith, discovered that he was actually a wizard. Because he turned out to be a wizard, he cold conjures himself a new set of teeth. Mike Smith went on to live a long and happy life among his own kind, and finally became part of "The History of the Oldest People"- who are, of course, wizards!

Nora Fritsch is nine years old and lives in the oldest house in the Chelsea Historic District of New York City. She has attended the local Public School, P.S. 11, since Pre-Kindergarten. The curriculum of the school is literature-based, and this has greatly contributed to her interest in words, books and writing. Nora loves animals, bike riding and spending time with good friends. She also loves to read, watch and know about anything to do with witches and wizardry...including the Narnia series, Harry Potter, The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings books, Merlin and, of course Mike Smith.

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