The boy was on the ground on his hands and knees.
"Meet my young helper from Camelot," saidMorgan.
The boy glanced up. He had a friendly freckled faceand twinkly dark eyes. His hair was the same colorthat Teddy's fur had been. He looked a bit older thanJack, about ten or so.
"Am I back?" he asked.
"You're back," said Morgan.
The boy leaped up and hugged her. "Thank you!" hecried.
"And I hope next time you'll ask before trying thespells in my spell book," said Morgan.
The boy grinned sheepishly.
"I promise." Then he looked at Jack and Annie. "Iaccidentally changed myself into a dog," he said.
Annie laughed.
"But at least I got to have exciting adventures as adog!" he said.
"You were a great dog," said Annie. "We liked youas Teddy. What's your real name?""If you like, you can keep calling me Teddy," theboy said. "Or how about Ted?""Okay, Ted," said Annie.
Jack just nodded. He was still in shock.
"Ted is training to work in my library at Camelot,"said Morgan. "He has a rare gift for magic.""Cool," said Annie.
"You--you helped us a lot, Ted," said Jack, finallyfinding his voice.
"Oh, no, it was both of you who helped me," saidTed. "You helped break the spell. And I found newstories to take home.""You did?" said Annie. Ted nodded.
"The story of the Titanic, the story of White BuffaloWoman, the story of the wounded tiger, and the storyof the Rainbow Serpent," he said. "I'll write themdown as soon as I get home. So people can read themin Morgan's library.""And home is where we must go now, I'm afraid,"said Morgan.
"Oh," said Annie sadly.
"That's too bad. Yeah," said Jack. He was sad, too.
"I know we will meet again someday," said Ted.
"I hope so," said Jack.
"Me, too," said Annie. "Bye!" She started down theladder.
Jack pulled on his pack. With a heavy heart, hefollowed.
When they got to the ground, they looked up.
Morgan and Ted were at the window. They bothseemed to glow in the late afternoon light.
"The magic tree house will return for you soon,"said Morgan. "I promise.
She waved, and they waved back. "Good-bye, Jackand Annie," she said.
Arf!." said Ted.
In a flutter of time... in the spin of a whirlwind...
the magic tree house was gone.
For a long moment, Jack and Annie stared at theempty tree.
"Ready for dinner?" Annie asked softly. Jacknodded.
He felt dazed as they walked silently through theFrog Creek woods.
When they came to their street, the sun was setting.
A flock of black birds flew through the silvery pinksky.
Annie broke their silence as they headed for theirhouse.
"We had great adventures with Teddy--I mean Ted-didn't we?" she said.
"Yeah," said Jack. "It was like..." He searched for theright words.
"Like... Like living in Dreamtime," said Annie.
"Yeah," said Jack. He smiled. That was exact in whatit was like.
The End |