Amazing Stories: Twinkle Dust

"Please!"

"Promise not to call me shorty any more?"

"We promise!"

"And no more jokes about my height?"

"Yes! We promise!"

This was good. I'm beginning to feel very powerful. Very tall, you might say.

The Principal was waiting for his turn. He looked funny with just his head sticking out of the blob.

"Do you promise to be nice to me from now on?"

"Yes!" he said.

This was so easy.

"No more detentions?"

"No more detentions!"

"Or homework?"

"No - I'll never give you homework again!"

"And you won't force me to do running?"

"No more Physical Education!"

I hated having to run. I was so short I had to make my legs go twice as fast to keep up.

"OK," I said. "That sounds like a good deal."

Now I had to get them all home. But how? I didn't want to walk round to all the homes and say to their mums and das "Excuse me, I've got your son/daughter in this soggy matchbox. Would you like him/her back now?"

No, that wouldn't be very good. Some Mums or Dads might want to belt me. And I wouldn't blame them.

That's when I had the brain-wave!

The telephone!

I could send all the kids home by telephone! But then I thought, wait a minute! The twinkle dust might not work down a very long, solid metal wire. It worked on tubes, but wires are different. Maybe if there was electricity going down it that might help, but I didn't know.