Lesser-Known Ring

We had no idea why Ms. Frist invited us over after school.  She was our geography teacher, and she was a little eccentric, her frizzy gray hair always poking up at odd angles.  She invited the four of us over: Alexa, Lynn, Sara, and I.   When Ms. Frist made the invitation, Lynn suggested that she was going to fatten us up and eat us like the witch in Hansel and Gretel.  We laughed that off, but when we got into her yard, I saw Alexa self-consciously lick Ms. Frist's gate. 

Before I really get into this, I should describe my friends.  Alexa has blonde curls, a dimply smile, and is a little gullible.  Lynn has short, dark hair and cat-eye glasses that make her look even more mischievous than she is.  Sara is the smartest girl I know (she's much better at algebra than I am) and has long black hair.  I'm kind of normal. I have brown hair, brown eyes, and am average at everything. Which is why the turn-out of this whole escapade surprised me.

Anyway, we were standing in front of Ms. Frist's house, wondering what to do.  "Go ring the doorbell, Cassie," Alexa pleaded. "I don't want to."  I rang the doorbell and waited.

Ms. Frist opened the door a crack, and I caught a glimpse of her wild hair pushed back with an exotic green, orange and blue headband.  "Come in, girls," she said, opening the door wider.    We trooped in and were immediately greeted by the smell of fresh-out-of-the-oven cookies.  I felt right at home. 

"Here are some chocolate chip cookies, if you're hungry," Ms. Frist said, handing us a platter of cookies.  The platter was made of wood and had weird carvings on it.  But I was more interested in what was on the platter.  I bit into a cookie and entered into heaven. 

"Mmmmm..." I said, savoring the rich, melting chocolate. 

Ms. Frist smiled.  "I'm glad you like them."  She picked one up and took a bite.  "I've always had a soft spot for chocolate chip cookies myself."  We murmured in appreciation.    Who couldn't like them?

Ms. Frist chewed thoughtfully for a moment, swallowed, and remembered we were standing there.  "My goodness, girls, I almost forgot about you.  Come, come, let's go sit down and I'll tell you why you're here."  We followed her along a well-lit hallway, then to the right.  "This," Ms. Frist said, gesturing to the small room with satisfaction, "is my living room.  Please, make yourselves comfortable."

That was easy; the living room was packed with soft couches, pillows, blankets, cushions, easy chairs, and even a small bed.  I couldn't even see the floor.

"Wow," we breathed in unison. Alexa was the first to go in and sit on the bed.  She had to climb over two chairs and a couch to get to it.  "It's a water bed!" she squealed.  Lynn practically leapt over the chairs and couch to get to the bed.  Sara and I piled pillows and cushions on the couch and enveloped ourselves.    The pillows were all different.  Some were soft, some were rough, some were exotic, and some looked rather dull.   The couch seemed to be made of cloud.  I sank comfortably into it.

Ms. Frist sat delicately in a comfy looking chair, pulling a colorful afghan over her.    We looked at her expectantly.  "So," she began.  "You want to know why I invited you here."  We nodded.

"A long time ago, when I was about twenty-five or so, I was bored with life.  I taught here, at this school actually, but knew this wasn't why I wanted.   I didn't want to spend my entire life here.  I wanted adventure."   She paused to pull the afghan tighter around her.  "Now you know wishes don't often come true, but mine did.  One day, as I walked home from the school, I met an old man sitting on a bench by the sidewalk.  As I passed, he called my name.  I nearly jumped out of my skin." 

Sara interrupted from under a pile of pillows.  "How did he know your name?"

"I don't know," Ms. Frist said thoughtfully.  "I'd never seen him before.  But anyway, he old man asked what I wanted more than anything else in the world.  Of course I immediately answered that I wanted to travel around the world.  The old man smiled, then, and fumbled around in his coat for a minute.  Then he handed me this."  Ms. Frist held out a gold ring.  I sat up, spilling a cushion off my mound in the act.  The ring looked very plain and old.

"A ring?"  Lynn asked from the water bed.

Ms. Frist smiled and slipped the ring on the index finger of her right hand.  Then, suddenly, she disappeared.

We gasped.  "I thought Frodo destroyed that ring," Alexa whispered.

I heard a laugh from the kitchen.  Then Ms. Frist walked in from the hallway, and sat down.  "This isn't that ring," Ms. Frist said, and laughed again.  We stared at her, stunned.    "This ring will take you anywhere you want to go."

Lynn was the first to speak.  "Anywhere? Would that mean fictional places too?"

Ms. Frist raised her spidery gray eyebrows at Lynn.  "I never thought of that.  When I got it, I put the ring on and wished to go to the first place I thought of.  Can you guess?"

"Paris?" Alexa asked hopefully.

"The moon?" Sara wondered.

"Tatooine!"  Lynn said excitedly.  Alexa poked her.

"Home?" I asked with a smile.

Ms. Frist laughed.  "Cassie's got it!  I went home to pack, and then I went to the school to collect my check and quit my job.  After that… I went to Rome.

Everyone but Alexa sighed in disgust.  Alexa 'oooohed.'  "That's almost as good as Paris!" she said.  Lynn poked her.

Ms. Frist smiled dreamily, fingering the afghan.  "I had the most wonderful time those years.  I went to Spain, Scotland, Egypt, France, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and Italy."  She stood up suddenly and I almost fell off the couch because her chair was right next to me.  "I never went to a fictional place though," Ms. Frist continued.  She looked right at me and held out the ring.  "Here, Cassie, use it well."

"The ring?" I said, my mouth wide open.  "You want me to take the ring?"

"Yes.  Take it."

I gulped, took the ring, and put it on.  My friends immediately bulldozed me.  

"Let's go to Paris!"

"Can I pleeeeeeze touch it?"

"Let's go to Tatooine!"

"Come on, Cassie, let me see!"

I wished I could be out from underneath them, and suddenly I was.  I was on the other side of the room watching them spring back from where I'd been.  I grinned.  This was cool!  Sara laughed.  "Cool," she said. 

I looked around the room.  Ms. Frist wasn't there anymore.  I wished to be in the kitchen, and there she was, measuring flour into a bowl.  Without turning, she spoke.  "Neat, isn't it?" 

"Yes!  Except I can't go to exotic places like you did.  I'm a highschooler for goodness sake!   My parents wouldn't let me."

"You'll work something out.  You're smart.  I know you are.  Maybe you can take your family to Venice some summer." She turned and winked at me.  "No traveling expenses."   She turned back to her work and added a teaspoon of salt to the bowl.  She began to hum a strange tune.  "China's national anthem," she explained, and continued to hum.  "It was nice having you girls over.  Feel free to leave anytime."

"Hmph," I heard Alexa say from behind me.  I turned.  Sara, Lynn and Alexa were standing behind me.  "Let's go."

"Bye Ms. Frist," we said in unison.  We all held hands, then I wished ourselves outside.  That's when I discovered the ring was picky.  I hadn't said where outside, so I landed in Ms. Frist's neighbor's yard.  Unfortunately, Ms. Frist's neighbor owns a dog.  And we happened to land in a freshly made pile.   Actually, I landed in a freshly made pile.  Lynn landed on the dog.

The End

Comments, Questions, Criticisms, Compliments?