“Squish, squash,” Millie sang, jumping up and down in a puddle. Luckily, she was wearing her bright green boots so her mum knew her feet would be dry.
“Me and Granddad are gardening today, ” she said to Mum.
“Granddad and I,” mum said.
“Not you,” Millie chuckled. “Me.”
“Remember to be gentle, Millie. Plant your seeds with care, like Granddad.”
She frowned. “But I do. I cover them up and tuck them in.”
“Jumping on them isn’t being gentle.”
“But my plants grow much better, and today, the magic words are squish, squash,” Millie said. Everyone knew that Granddad’s plants had to fight their way towards the sun, making them thin, tired and weak. Hers shot out of the ground like rockets.
Granddad’s fat cat, Brandy, arrived.
“He might as well live here,” mum grumbled. “He loves you but hates Granddad.”
“I wonder why?” Millie asked as she rubbed his tummy and pulled a treat out of her pocket. Brandy sang as he crunched on the treat.
When Granddad arrived, Millie was in the garden talking to Bob (their dog), Brandy and a fat blackbird were sitting on the fence.
Millie said, “Brandy, you are to catch the biggest mouse in the whole world.” He looked at her and then went back to washing his paws.
“Mr. Blackbird, you will sing the best song ever.” The blackbird flew away.
“Bob, you will learn to smile,” Millie said. Bob put his paw over his large head.
“And what will you do, Millie?” Granddad asked.
“I will plant my ideas in the garden, and they will bloom.” Granddad looked at his vegetable patch. It was neat, “but perhaps not in the vegetable beds, Millie.”
“Okey, dokey.” Millie went searching for ideas to plant.
She found a cupcake recipe, folded it over, and sprinkled it with sugar. She picked the sunniest spot in the garden and dug a large hole. Millie tucked the paper into the hole. On top of the paper, she placed a red cherry.
“I love cherries.”
At the bottom of the hall press, she found a hat belonging to her granny. “I love hats. But you need a scarf,” she murmured, carrying it outside. With a soft ‘plonk’, the hat landed on top of the cherry and recipe. Millie filled the hole with soil and patted it firmly with her sandcastle shovel. She looked around and said, “Magic happens here when I say squish, squash.” And with a wave of her shovel, she saw sunlight dancing about her.
After lunch, Millie went to help her Granddad with his digging.
By five o’clock that evening, she was tired. She sat on an old bucket and looked at the blackbird. “Did you learn a sweet song?”
He sang a long song. She smiled at her granddad. “See, asking someone to work a little magic is.. magic.” She went in search of Brandy. She discovered he had found and eaten her two chocolate mice. “Don’t be sick,” she warned him, feeling a little sad that he had not caught a mouse but had eaten her chocolate.
“Millie, come and look at this,” Granddad shouted.
Down in Millie’s special flower bed, she discovered a sad Bob wearing a straw hat with a floaty red scarf tied about it. Millie frowned. “You are supposed to smile; the hat was for me.” She told him. Bob didn’t listen. He was busy eating a large cherry cupcake.
Granddad was sitting beside him on the grass, minding four cupcakes for Millie. Beside him was a large pink hat.
“I will mind these for you, Millie, while you try this hat on.”
She did with a sigh.
“Don’t be sad, Millie. If you hadn’t worked your magic, we wouldn’t be enjoying such a delicious treat, and although Bob is not smiling, he looks happy now that he has got a cherry cake.”
Millie thought about this for a moment. “Yes, and I suppose that my magic words, Squish, squash, worked in a squishy way.”
“I am happy that they did,” Grandad agreed.
They sat wearing big smiles for a long time as they ate cherry cupcakes in the evening sun.