Free The Wish Giver by Bill Brittain

recollect standing on the balcony that runs around the underside of that dome and—”
    “Sam, you’re being silly.”
    “Shhh, Rowena. This ain’t Sam talking. It’s Henry. So I whispered against the dome, and the whisper was heard only by the person way across on the other side. Nobody else heard a sound because the words followed the curve of the dome. Someday, Rowena, you and I willstand on opposite sides of that dome, and I’ll whisper—”
    “This is nonsense, Sam.”
    “No, it ain’t. It’s true. And for now, my name’s Henry. In China there’s a wall clear across the whole country. It’s so big you could be on the moon and still see it. And there’s islands where bugs build homes higher’n your pa’s barn, and people shinny up coconut trees by tying their feet together. If we was to walk along the beach of one of those islands, Rowena, we’d see fish in the water that are every color of the rainbow. Away out in San Francisco they’ve got trolley cars without motors, and they’re pulled by a cable buried in the street and—”
    “Sam Waxman, you stop this instant!” cried Rowena. “None of that stuff you told me is real.”
    “Oh, it’s real, right enough.”
    “How do you know? You’ve never been to any of those places.”
    “Nope,” said Sam. “I ain’t. And neither has Henry Piper!”
    “Sam, you don’t have to start lying about Henry just so I’ll feel better—”
    “It’s the truth, Rowena. The lady at Neverfailsaid Henry has an Aunt Bertha down in Bridgeport, Connecticut, who’d want to know about his being sick. So I called her, too. She told me a few things about Henry that were real interesting.”
    “What did she tell you?”
    “It seems Henry works for the Neverfail Company fifty weeks a year, selling in the state of Maine and a little part of New Hampshire. On his two-week vacation, he stays with Aunt Bertha, painting and fixing her place up to earn a little extra money. So he never had the time to visit all those fancy places he talks about.”
    “Then how’d he find out so much about them?” asked Rowena in astonishment.
    “Same way I did. Wait here a minute. I want to get something from the barn.”
    Sam returned a few moments later carrying the leather case he’d found at Henry’s feet.
    “I looked inside,” Sam said. “There’s more than catalogs and order blanks in here.”
    He opened the case and pulled out…
    “Magazines!” Rowena exclaimed.
    “Yep. Here’s Travel Topics , and an old copy of Our Country in Pictures . I read in TravelTopics about London and China and all those other places I told you about. The story about New York City is the humdinger. It tells all about the night life and how everything’s as bright as day, and all the fine restaurants, and…”
    “You mean Henry’d just read about all those places he said he’d been to? He was never really in any of them?”
    “Looks that way, Rowena.”
    “Why, that no-good, sweet-talking…mule!” she sputtered. “To think I mooned about, making calf eyes at him, and all the time he was lying through his teeth. Oh, Sam, I feel so…so stupid.”
    “Don’t be too hard on yourself,” said Sam. “Henry’s paying a high price for his foolishness as it is. I just thought knowing the trick he pulled might make you feel easier, seeing as there doesn’t seem to be any way of changing him back right soon.”
    For a moment Rowena just sat quietly. Then suddenly she pounded her fist hard against the arm of her chair. “No!” she exclaimed. “No! No! No! I’ll not have Henry Piper cluttering up that grove of trees for all the years to come and reminding me always of my own foolishness.There’s a way out of this fix. There must be!”
    “But Rowena, you said Thaddeus Blinn only gave you one wish.”
    “You don’t have to remind me, Sam. I remember it like I was sitting on that bench in his tent right now. Him in his white suit and red vest, handing out those red-spotted cards.