Free The Trimoni Twins and the Shrunken Treasure by Pam Smallcomb Page A

Changing Coin?”
    â€œYes.” Hector grinned. “But I was sworn to secrecy, Uncle.”
    They soon came to Wiliken’s house and entered through Uncle Hoogaboom’s shop.
    Wiliken opened the door to the hallway. “Let’s go up to my grandpa’s apartment,” he said. “I think he’d love for us to be there when we sort this all out.” He grinned at Beezel and she felt her knees go a bit wobbly.
    â€œCome on, Uncle Hoogaboom,” Mimi said, grabbing his arm. “I want to know all about the Shrinking Coin.”
    They trudged up the steep stairway to the next floor.
    â€œHere we are.” Wiliken opened the door at the top of the landing, reached inside and flipped on a light.
    â€œIt’s beautiful,” Beezel managed to say as they walked in. Wiliken smiled at her. She sure hoped her cheeks weren’t going to turn that awful bright red color they sometimes did.
    â€œIt
is
nice, isn’t it?” He waved them into a small but elegant sitting room. “Grandpa had good taste, didn’t he, Hoogaboom?”
    The old man nodded and closed the door behind him. “We’ll need some privacy,” Uncle Hoogaboom said.
    The sitting room was paneled in dark wood. Paintings of ships hung on the walls in gold frames.
    Across the room on the far wall was a brick fireplace. On each side was a brown leather sofa. Between them was a walnut coffee table. Nestled around the room were tables loaded to the edges with antiques.
    â€œLet’s sit over there,” Wil said, pointing to the sofas. “We can get caught up on all this magic coin business. I want to hear about the Changing Coin.”
    Beezel sat next to Hector and Mimi on one sofa, and Uncle Hoogaboom and Wiliken sat on the other. Beezel explained how the Changing Coin worked to Wiliken and Uncle Hoogaboom. How you thought the five magic words, pointed at theperson or animal you wanted to change and imagined a different animal.
    â€œKa-poof!” she said. “They will become that animal until I think the words in reverse order and point at them again. Then they’ll change back into their original form. It works exactly the same way for Mimi. The Changing Coin is used to pass the magic down to someone else, but we don’t have to have it with us to use its power. And because we’re twins, we get to share the magic of the coin.”
    â€œWe have to stay near each other, though,” Mimi said, “or the magic doesn’t work properly. And you can never, ever say the words out loud or write them down, or the magic will die forever.”
    â€œSo it’s true that twins can share the magic of the coins.
Asjemenou!”
Uncle Hoogaboom exclaimed.
    Hector interrupted him to translate for the twins. “He’s not cursing—that just means ‘Well, I’ll be!’”
    â€œThat’s the way mine works,” Uncle Hoogaboom said, “with a few minor differences. As you saw with Mr. Slear and his car, the Shrinking Coin can shrink objects
and
people—although I can’t shrink myself, or for that matter, the coin itself. But it works inmuch the same way as the Changing Coin does for you girls. I think the five magic words, think of what I want to shrink and point to it. Then, zuuft! The object or person shrinks to one twelfth of its original size. If someone is six feet tall, they become six inches tall. If it is an object with things inside it, like a box of tools, everything inside the box shrinks proportionally.”
    â€œBut why the number twelve?” Beezel asked.
    â€œI’m not sure,” Hoogaboom said. “It has always been a magical number. I imagine the real reason has been lost forever.”
    â€œWow!” Mimi said. “That would be so much fun. Does that mean you can keep shrinking someone down to the size of a flea?”
    â€œThat’s right,” Hoogaboom said. “But you can’t shrink