TELL Me A StO77'

The Mysterious Key

"Tell Me A Story" is
designed to enhance
a child% imagination
and creativity. A par-
ent or caregiver
should read the story
below, then encour-
age the child to
complete it. Children
can read the story
again and again,
making up new end-
ings each time.

Elizabeth Applebaum
AppleTree Editor

nce upon a time a long,
long time ago in a place
far, far from here, there
lived a little boy named Michael.
He was a small boy with dark
hair and dark eyes and pale skin.
He was 9 years old, and he was
very smart.
David was an only child who
lived with his mother and father in a
large castle with a pear tree in the
front yard and a wondrous garden
in the back. Michael's father called
the garden magic because anything
planted there would surely grow.

There was cabbage, and corn, an
pumpkins, all of which the family
ate as often as they could. There
were flowers of every kind which
bloomed throughout the year, even
in the winter. And the fragrance —
it was like all the best smells of the
world combined in one space. It
was a perfume of sweet, ripe fruits
mixed with the clean, soft smell of
fresh flowers.
Michael loved to roam in the
garden. He was a lonely boy at
school, quite misunderstood,
though his teacher was fond of
him. He preferred to read rather
than play with friends. When he

returned home at the end of the
day, the first thing he did was
wander into the garden, where his
mother had set up a little white
table and chair just for him. He
would drop down his dark-blue
school bag, take out a book and
begin to read.
Often, his mother would bring him
sugar cookies and milk.
Michael was reading one warm
spring day when he noticed some-
thing shiny in the middle of the gar-
den where two paths crossed. He
set down his book and walked over
to see what it was.
"A key!" he exclaimed.

But a key like none other he had
ever seen. It was black and heavy
— so heavy in fact that he could
barely pick it up. And when at last
he did, he was surprised to see
what was underneath. It was a
large bottle, a very old bottle of
sea-green glass, and inside was a
message. Michael removed the top
and began to read:
"I have been waiting for you, and
at last you have come. You want to
hear my whole story, of course, but
first we must meet. Come to the syn-
agogue tomorrow at 9 a.m. Meet
me at the front door. Bring the key,
for it opens the door to ..."

8/7
199$

Detroit Jewish News

71

