A Tale of Highly Unusual Magic by Lisa Papademetriou Page A

out the fire while it was still burning. And some said that it was impossible to burn a house made cold by the heart of Melchisedec Jonas.
    Let me tell you about him.
    Melchisedec Jonas spent eight years as the foreman at American Casket Company.
    â€œHe’s the best foreman I’ve ever had,” his boss, Mr.Pickle, would say as he slapped Melchisedec on the back. Of course, Melchisedec was the only foreman he’d ever had. It didn’t matter.
    Melchisedec was tough, and when he was on the line, the caskets were always perfect. Anything less would be torn apart and tossed into the rubbish bin. But folks said that he cared more for the dead than the living—that was how badly he treated the workers. There were no breaks. There was no sympathy. There was only work.
    But the factory flourished. And when the factory’s owner and his wife died in a mysterious fire, few people were surprised to hear that Melchisedec was to serve as the president of American Casket Company until the owners’ oldest child, Edwina, should come of age. Folks were also not surprised to hear that Edwina Pickle and her little brother, Parker, were to be cared for by their new guardian, Melchisedec Jonas. Mr. Pickle always had trusted him.
    But Ralph did not know this as he waited patiently in Melchisedec’s yard. His parents had been called to Mr. Jonas’s house for a meeting. Ralph was now thirteen years old, for five years had passed since Mrs. Flabbergast sprinkled the powder from the vial into her pot of cabbage.Since that night, all sauerkraut made in the pot had tasted stunningly delicious. Ralph’s father began selling Flabbergast’s Famous Kraut, and they simply could not keep it on the shelf. For once, Ralph’s family was able to save a bit of money.
    Now, Melchisedec Jonas wanted to buy the factory, even though there was no factory. He wanted the name, and he wanted the recipe, and he wasn’t taking no for an answer.
    â€œPick a card, any card,” Ralph said to the wide-eyed girl who sat across from him. She was shy, with long dark hair and eyes that looked like a deep ocean on a stormy day—blue and green and gray.
    â€œI don’t like tricks,” the girl said.
    â€œI’ll take one!” Her brother grabbed a card. He was taller and livelier than his sister, though he was younger, but not by much.
    â€œDon’t show it to me,” Ralph told him. He had the little boy put it back in the deck, and amazed him by pulling it from behind the boy’s ear.
    â€œEdwina!” the boy squealed with a grin. “Look, it’s magic!”
    â€œIt’s just a trick, Parker,” she said. “That’s not real magic.”
    â€œHow do you know?” Ralph asked.
    Edwina looked him dead in the eye. “Because I know what real magic looks like.”
    Ralph’s head felt light. “Do you?” he said, holding her gaze. He thought of his vial, which he had hidden in his pocket. He had not opened it in five years.
    Not since the day he sprinkled some powder on the tree, and several hours later, it was hit by lightning but did not die. (In fact, the weeks that followed, it sprouted leaves more lush than ever before.) The same day his mother had sprinkled some into the sauerkraut pot, and changed their lives. Two wishes were gone already, thoughtlessly, and Ralph did not dare to use the third.
    Ralph believed in real magic, too, and he longed for it, although it frightened him. This was why he learned tricks and kept the vial in his pocket—he wanted to come as close to magic as he could, without actually touching it. He didn’t want to waste his last bit of it, and he didn’t want to let it out of his sight.
    Ralph tried to read what Edwina was thinking of, tosee what was hidden in the depths of those eyes.
    The door opened and three adults stormed in.
    â€œRalph, we’re leaving,” Mr. Flabbergast announced, holding his hat over