Spelling Wonders

Joe stared out at the crowd in his school cafeteria. He wasnt used to so many people staring at him, his palms growing sweaty. He wasnt worried about the spelling-bee, spelling came naturally to him. It was almost as easy as breathing. At least with breathing you didnt have to have a hundred people waiting for you to exhale. Joe was in the nal round, he had almost won. Lizzy, the referee said grandly, talking more to the audience than to the thirteen year old redhead standing at the podium. Spell shakespearean. She gulped, her brown eyes zipping all around the room. S-h-a-k-s- Beep! Im sorry, Lizzy, thats incorrect, he shook his head and told her the correct spelling. The audience still cheered as she walked of the stage, her cheeks as red as her hair. Now, Joe, the referee said as he walked up to the podium, again talking to the crowd. Mr. Nickleson had always loved drama. Spell electrophoresis. Joe saw a few mean kids from he class snicker in the second to front row, and he swallowed hard. E-l-e-c-t-r-o-p-h-o-r-e-s-i-s, Joe said with ease, not having to think hard at all. A few people clapped, but he heard somebody yell, Freak! Weirdo! Why would they come to the spelling-bee if they expected people not to be able to spell in the rst place? Joe didnt understand. He heard a scream from backstage and went behind the curtain to see what happened, wondering why none of the teachers did the same. Suddenly everything melted away, he was in the sky, no it wasnt the sky, it was just an empty space of never ending blue. He saw Lizzy there, and she was laughing happily. Joe! she exclaimed. This is awesome! He frowned. What is this place? Joe turned around, but the stage was gone, the people were gone. There was him, Lizzy, and never ending blue. Spell something! Lizzy urged, watching a big blue rubber ducky oat past them. But what Just try.

He frowned, raising an eyebrow and trying out a small word. S-c-a-r-f. Suddenly his hand shot out to catch a oating blue scarf, descended in mid-air. Wow, thats. . .interesting. Lizzy oated higher. L-l-a-m-a, she tried. A baae went through the air as a llama appeared, freaked out, and started to ee away from their general direction. Now it was a game, who could make the weirdest words. F-i-s-h! T-e-l-e-g-r-a-m! Ha, a-i-r-b-a-l-l-o-o-n, beat that. R-o-b-e! Lizzy twirled her bright red hair on a nger, thinking hard. E-v-i-l s-p-e-a-r. Now that wasnt the best idea. Joe backed away as a glowing red spear formed, slashing at them. D-a-g-g-e-r! he spelt as fast as he could. Lizzy let out a whimpering noise. W-a-n-d! A tan stick appeared in her hand, she spoke franticly, jumping away from the spears general direction. Turn it into a f-l-o-w-e-r! The spear made a screeching noise and melted into a delicate lily. She wiped the sweat from her brow as Joe sat down his dagger in disbelief. He reached for the wand, not believing what he was about to say next. Take us back to s-c-h-o-o-l. And suddenly they were on their knees backstage, it looked as if no time had passed. And the spelling award goes to Joe Faney! He looked at Lizzy, werent they in the blue world longer than that? She shrugged and nudged him forward. Suddenly, the audience wasnt scary anymore. He smiled.

By Myca Nealon