Sophie and the Mysterious Ring

Josh came running in and slammed the door shut. It scared Sophie so much that she jumped up and let out a scream. Josh is Sophie’s twelve year old brother He’s the athlete in the family. Her brother loves baseball and plays for his school. Josh has brown hair, green eyes, and lot of muscles. Grandma and Grandpa say he took his athletic ability after his Uncle Eugene. His uncle played professional baseball for ten years, until he fell and hurt his knee running around third base. He hurt it so badly that he couldn’t play the game anymore. Uncle Eugene told Josh that with lots of practice he just might be the next professional player in the family.
“Hi there, Punk!” he said.
“Josh, you scared me and stop calling me Punk.”
“OK, I’m sorry. How was your day with Grandma and Grandpa?”
“Good. But I want to tell you something that happened to me today. I found a ring, Josh. It’s magical!” Sophie was so excited to tell her brother all about the ring. Josh walked into the living room where Sophie was standing.
“What did you say, Sophie? I thought you said you found a magical ring? Sophie you know there’s no thing as a magical ring. Josh began to laugh.”
“Yes, Josh, there is and I have it right here on my finger.” She took the ring out of her pocket to show her brother and told him how she found the ring and what happened to her.
“Grandma even believes me.”
Josh wondered how Sophie could fool Grandma into believing the ring was magical. Since Josh is 12 years old he was sure Sophie wasn’t going to pull any kind of trick on him. He was much too smart for that! But he decided to play along with her and said, “Okay, then show me!”
Sophie was only too happy to make a wish for Josh. She said, “First, Josh, you need to tell me something you want. And when you get it you need to say thank you.”
“Huh? I need to say thank you to whom; to you? Okay, maybe I will. But first let’s see about my wish. Let me think. I want a new mouse for my computer. Mine broke last night.”
A little confused at Josh’s request, Sophie said, “That’s all? You want a new mouse for your computer? I thought you might want something that cost a lot of money. Are you sure that’s all you want?”
“Yes, that’s all I want.” Josh didn’t believe her anyway and knew it wasn’t going to work. He was just playing along with her trick.
“Okay, hold my hand and close your eyes.”
Josh took her hand, closed one eye but kept the other eye open. He started laughing.
Sophie said in a very commanding voice. “Josh! Be serious. If you want this computer mouse then don’t laugh. And don’t peek or just maybe I’ll make you disappear with my wish!”
“Ok, Sophie, I’ll try not to.” He said grinning. He closed both eyes.
“I wish my brother, Josh, could have a new mouse for his computer.” And POOF! A brand new mouse appeared right on the floor next to him! Sophie opened her eyes, looked all around and then looked down and next to her brother was a computer mouse.
“See, Josh! See I told you. Look, there it is on the floor next to your feet!” She pointed at Josh’s feet.
Josh opened his eyes and looked down. An amazed look came over his face. He was so stunned but then he said. “Okay, Sophie, how did you do that? Is there some other person here helping you? Who put this at my feet?” Josh started looking around the room. He looked behind the sofa and Grandpa’s chair. “Where are they Sophie? Where are your friends?”
“What are you talking about? Josh, I didn’t know that you were going to ask for a computer mouse. Did I? How could someone be hiding?”
Josh thought about that and said, “No, I guess you didn’t know what I was going to ask for. Well then, I guess this is great news! It’s like having our own personal genie in a bottle, only no bottle and no genie either. So you’ll be the “amazing Sophie with her wonder ring” who can grant me my heart’s desires! Wait till I tell the other guys. This is so cool! Keep that ring safe, Sophie. When I get back I’ll want to make lots of wishes, okay?” And Josh ran off to his room!
Sophie thought to herself, “My best friend didn’t thank me and now not even a thank you from my own brother! And what’s worse, he wants me to make more wishes for him later! Well, I don’t think so!”
She went into her bedroom and lay on her bed. Her bed felt soft and cozy with the big pink comforter and fluffy pillows that Grandma had made for her room. She looked at her favorite horse pictures that hung on the wall. They usually comfort her when she felt sad, but not today. All she wanted was to do the right thing with the ring, make people happy and be thanked. She wondered, “Does God feel sad when people forget to thank Him for His blessings? I’m sad God and feel all alone. Grandma and Grandpa haven’t even come to check on me. I’m going to make wishes for just me. Things I want. I’ll wish for things that will make me happy again.”
And that’s just what she did. She wished for a doll, some doll clothes, a doll house, jewelry, including more Doodle Earrings; new furniture for her room, money, games of all kinds and anything else she could think of. And it came true, all of it. When she couldn’t think of anything else to wish for the room was full, really full. Sophie said angrily, “There! Now I’m happy again.”
But she wasn’t happy. She was still sad, very sad. The beautiful ring with all its magic didn’t make Sophie happy.
“Why, God, why can’t I feel happy? I can have anything I want.”