Chapter 1: Orko Finds Furaha
Orko's Life
Oh hi there! Glad I saw you. My name is Orko, and I live quite a pretty shoddy life. By shoddy, I meant, just look at my house. It desperately needs some Spring cleaning, which means it hasn’t been cleaned in about 4 or 5 months. The paint is peeling, my room is stacked to the bone with cardboard boxes and stuff, and all the Spring cleaning was wearing my little arms and bones away.
Today, I started off by cleaning the windows and mirrors with a duster, until I could see my shadowed face in it. Then I set to work on brushing the floor, which was a shiny vinyl. But then, the head of my sweeping brush fell off. “Aw nuts,” I grumbled, and set to work on cleaning and dusting the rest of my house. It was tiring work for a little wizard like me, and when I got to work on whitewashing the walls, I had taken everything down but the house looked a mess. Also, the heater wasn’t working so my house was unbearably cold. As I whitewashed the walls, I started thinking to myself: what if my life wasn’t always so shoddy and hardworking?
No sooner had I finished whitewashing than I found my hand was caught in the bucket of white paint. Angered, I shook, twisted and lifted the bucket off my hand, until it flew all across the room, getting paint everywhere, even on the walls and curtains. “Dammit,” I said, looking at my paint covered hand. It took a lot of handwashing before I could wash all the paint off my hands.
Tea
With my back aching from all the hard work, I decided to settle down for a mug of hot cocoa. But it was too sweet, so I decided to add some more milk into it. Still into all the hard work, I saw a little smidge right where there was no whitewash on a part of the wall. As I painted it, I marvelled it in admiration. “That’s better,” I said. Then I got back to my cocoa. But as I sat down, instead of using the spoon, I used the thin paintbrush. Cocoa didn’t taste very good when you put whitewash into it. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” I cried, and threw my mug against the wall, smashing it and sending tea flying all over the place.
I hid my shadowed face in my hands and cried. It was hard trying to renovate my house, even when you’re a wizard who doesn’t want to work hard and just wants to relax. So, I decided to visit the local bookstore. On the way into town, a businessman told me that the local library had been closed to make room for a mysterious new shop, and from what the shopkeeper told him, I think there was a big surprise waiting for him inside every time he visited. “Sounds like my kind of place,” I smiled under my shadowed face, so I waved goodbye to the man and set off the the…Enchanted Bookstore.
The Library
When I approached the enchanted bookstore, I looked up at the sign. It read: “Troddly Trinkets, Inc”. “Troddly Trinkets?” I said. “What was the owner on when he named this store?” Suddenly, I heard some screeching from the trees surrounding the library, and out poured a dozen of spider monkeys, all swinging from the trees and screeching at the tops of their little monkey voices. They were looking around seeing if I had any bananas or checking each other for fleas to eat. I was amazed! No library had kept spider monkeys as pets before!
I curiously entered the library and got a big surprise! The library was massive! It was ten storeys tall (no pun intended), and people had come from far and wide to read lots of magical books, some of which had pictures which came to life before their very eyes. There were lots of toys which came to life and played together, and everywhere you looked there were animals everywhere, zebras and rhinos, elephants and hippos, giraffes and tigers, and almost every other animal you could think of. It was amazing.
After seeing a book on magic spells, I went to the quiet corner in the middle of the library and started to read. It had all sorts of spells - tricks and trades and tringles, slips and slides and swindles. Anything you could ever want in this library was all here. Just then, I heard a little squeak, much like a kitten meowing. I looked around, then I looked at two mice - a grey one and a brown one - who were cooking on the third shelf of the quiet corner bookshelves. They shrugged and continued cooking their cheddar cheese pies. As I got back to reading, I heard the squeak again. I looked around at a mouse wearing a red cape who was looking at her human self in a magical mirror. When I gazed at her, she shrugged too, but then she saw a huge green warty ogre and ran away squeaking like a frightened child.
As I got back to reading, I heard the squeak again, and looked over to a little white mouse practicing ballet. “Do you know who’s squeaking?” I asked her. The mouse shrugged, but just as she was about to continue dancing, a small yellow lioness cub toddler leapt out and started to roar a tiny, fierce roar. The mouse squeaked and ran away, screaming for a friend she might’ve named ‘Alice’. I was amazed by what I saw, and floated over to the little cub. “Hello, little one.” I said, tickling her under her chin, and causing her to giggle. Then, I saw the note tied around her neck. It read:
“Please look after this lioness cub. Thank you.
P.S., her name is Furaha.”
“Furaha eh?” I wondered. “Well, it won’t hurt to buy her.” To my surprise, she followed me all the way to the counter, where a man in a red cloak was working on a spell over a cauldron. “Excuse me!” I called, “I want to buy this lioness cub.” Seeing me, the man put the lid on the cauldron and rubbed his boney hands. “Ah, so it is this lioness cub you are looking to buy? Let me tell you: all our animals are for sale, and they pay nothing at all, just like my books, but if you want the lioness cub, you can buy her right away. She has magical powers, and she can make all your wishes come true. Get down to eye level with her, and she’ll grant your greatest wishes.” “Thanks!” I cried, and I dashed off out of the bookstore. But as I turned to leave, I heard a magical noise. When I turned around, the shop had vanished before my very eyes. “Wow….it must be a magical store!” I gasped.
Taking Furaha Home
When I took Furaha home, she wasn’t too pleased by the amount of mess caused. The whitewash flung everywhere, the tea flung everywhere, the smashed mug, the amount of boxes piled up…everything was a right mess. I remembered what I had done before the whole business with the magic store…then I had an idea. I got down to eye level with the toddler cub, who concentrated fully and looked into my eyes. Then, I said:
“I wish my house was neat, tidy and cozy - just how I like it.”
But Furaha didn’t even respond. I didn’t tell her off or anything, but I was very disappointed. After a noisy dinner, where I immediately got into the whole friendship situation with Furaha, we went to bed at about 9:00PM. Feeling tired, I gazed into Furaha’s eyes when she got up onto the bed, and wished again.
“I wish my house was neat, tidy and cozy - just how I like it.”
With Furaha snuggled nearby, I instantly fell fast asleep. What I didn’t notice, was that a warm glow had enveloped the entire house, and something miraculous was about to happen when I woke up the next morning…
August 16, 2002
Orko's Wish Comes True
When I woke up the next morning, all the cardboard boxes were gone. But how? I looked all around. My bedroom was clean and tidy as it should’ve been - the walls were a bright blue, there was a potted plant in the corner and there were neatly compiled bookshelves full of all the books I forgot to put up. Nearby on my desk, it was also neat and tidy, with my computer fully arranged.
Then I looked towards Furaha. Her wish granting powers had worked! “HOORAY!” I shouted, jumping out of bed, “It worked! Your wish granting powers work! Hooray!” Furaha immediately woke up hearing this, and jumped up and down on my bed, squealing wildly. I hugged her and said, “Oh, Furaha, what am I gonna do with you? You’re so magical!”
.jpg)
.jpeg)
.webp)
.png)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
