I was waiting and waiting to see if I would receive any phone call from the wizard. I did not go out for even a second. Many hours passed. Still, there was no sign of the wizard’s phone call. Feeling very disappointed I  went to bed at 11:00 pm. I could not sleep so I ran back to my study table, opened my favourite storybook and started to read.

Totally engrossed in my reading, I did not hear the phone which was ringing. It had rung three times before I stepped out of my book. It was exactly 12:00 midnight, one hour from when I’d started my book. I ran to pick up the receiver. “Hello” I said excitedly. “Hello” replied a kind old voice. “Is this Siso?” he asked. “Yes, yes” I said, not able to control my excitement. “Ok” he said. “Siso Macoti, you have been selected to go to Calypso as one of the five chosen ones.

“Wait a sec” I said, interrupting. “Where should I be and when will you come to pick me?” I asked curiously.

“Just wait at your house. Meanwhile, pack whatever you want to take. I’ll be there in another ten minutes”

“Ok” I said.

I was very excited but also quite disappointed because, now, since I was chosen from Macawi, Kiko wouldn’t be as they chose only one child from each place. Anyway, I packed whatever I wanted as the wizard said and waited patiently. After a few minutes, I heard a knock on the door. I knew it was the wizard, so I opened the door.

A bright light hit my face. But it was 12:00 in the night. How?... I noticed that this luminescence was present only around my house. Wow! Nice show Wizard. I thought. The sky was dark as usual but the yellow of my house showed out so well and the lush green grass sparkled under the light.

“Hello Siso” he said. “So are you excited?” he asked.

“I sure am.” I said.

The wizard was wearing a long, purple robe with silver, glittering stars. Typical of wizards ain’t it? He also had on a pointy cap with silver stars, matching his robe. He did not carry any wand, he just had something peeping out of his pocket. I did not have the guts to ask him.

“Get in Siso, What are you gawking at?” he said noticing that I was trying to peep inside his pocket.

“What do I get into?” I asked

“That” he said pointing to a door in the air a little above the ground.

“What’s that?” I asked, not noticing it before.

“Just get in quickly, I’ll tell you later” he said. “We have 4 more children to pick”

“Ok, I said as I put one leg into the door.

I felt really funny and then realization dawned on me that I was inside a bubble. It was even funnier as the bubble was really slippery and I could see everything under me.

The moment I entered the bubble, the door dissolved behind me.

Astonishingly, the bubble was furnished. There was a sofa all around and a small fridge inside. I sunk into the comfortable sofa. As I was relaxing, I noticed the wizard come in.

“Having a good time?” he asked.

“Sure” I said. “Who’s next?”

The bubble had already started floating by that time. I was a little scared as I had never flown in a bubble before. I had heard the magical word used. No Abracadabra etc, just a plain old “elevate”

“Surprise!!!” said the kind, old wizard.

“Oh…….” I said.

Soon, the bubble came to a stop. I thought that maybe the wizard had to refuel the bubble like we fill petrol or diesel to make our cars move. It was silly of me. But, I saw that a girl was coming out of her house, waving her hands as if to say “I am coming, Wait for me!”

When we landed a little closer, right next to her house, I shouted “Kiko, How nice to see you!!” I don’t know if she heard me but when the wizard brought her inside the bubble, all set and ready to go, she gave me her usual bear hug.

(So I guess my assumption that the wizards chose only one person from one place was after all wrong)

Then she said “It is so nice to see you and know that we both got selected.”

“Yeah!” I said. “It will be so much fun, especially going to Calypso together.”

“What did you get?” she asked me, changing the topic. “Clothes?”

“Yeah, and also some bubblegum, my notebook and pen if I feel like writing a poem on Calypso and a rope and binoculars if we go trekking. You?” I asked.

“The same usual stuff, my clothes, storybook, art book, pencil and binoculars.”

“Good” I said.

……..

I didn’t realize that I had fallen asleep. The wizard shook me lightly. I woke up with a jump. Where were we? Even Kiko had woken up. Then I noticed that we had left Macawi far behind. We were in the Fashion Capital of the World, Paris.

“Hey Kiko, we have an advantage because we got picked up first.”

“What?” she asked sleepily.

“We get to see even other parts of the world”

That’s when she rubbed her sleepy eyes and ran over to where I was standing and looked at the scene outside.

“Wow” she said “This is Paris!”

“Duh…….” I said.

“ I’m going to observe the beauty of Paris” she said.

“What else do you think I’m doing?”

“Oh la la” she exclaimed. “I can see the Eiffel Tower and l’Arc de Triomphe”

“Cool!” I said. “You know a lot about Paris”

“Yeah, because that is my third language in school! They taught us about the various monuments!

“Wow!”

 “Yeah” she said.

“I don’t know anything about France”

“Oh silly, then just watch and learn from me!”

The bubble landed in an open grassy meadow in front of a huge, lovely mansion.

 A little girl, probably a year younger to us, looked out of her balcony, came running to the wizard and said “Allo, allo, es-tu le sorcier? Avez-vous viens prendre moi à Calypso?” in a total French accent.

“What is she saying?” I asked Kiko. “Can you understand?”

“Yeah, Literal translation is Hello, hello, are you the wizard? Have you come to take me to Calypso?”

“Oh…..”

The French girl was wearing a light green satin top with black capris. She had sky blue eyes and blonde hair. She had left her hair open. She wore a cute smile on her face. Tutored at home, she had not seen much of the outside world. She hardly stepped out of the gates of her palace-like house, being born to a rich family.

She came to join us in the bubble. She was not very comfortable as she didn’t know how to speak English. She was quite shy. But when Kiko started talking to her in French, she felt a little better. It all sounded Greek and Latin to me, but anyway I listened and tried to learn a few easy words. Now Kiko had become somewhat like a translator if either I wanted to tell Madeline something or she wanted to talk to me.

The wizard knew every single language so there was no problem for him. Though being very old (I don’t know how many years, probably 150 or more), their outer appearance reminded you of a college-going student excepting the long beard. I found Madeline’s name a little awkward as I was used to Zambezian names (Maybe she would have found mine weird too!) but I got used to it.

Madeline was a very well-mannered and sweet girl but felt a little left out of place as she was the only French girl in the bubble.

The wizard again told the bubble to elevate. We had two more children to pick up. I wondered where we were going this time. Srilanka? My guess was close.

I couldn’t sleep this time. I felt that the bubble was traveling at a super-fast speed. Then we reached the I.T capital of India, Bangalore. The bubble landed in front of an independent house.. The wizard rung the bell and softened the tune with his magic so that only the children could hear it. The door opened revealing a fair boy (but not fairer than Madeline) and his shocked brother staring at us. I didn’t feel nice to be looked at as if that boy’s stare would bore holes into me.

Then the two boys entered the bubble. The wizard said that he didn’t have place for himself so he created another bubble. Now, our bubble had five kids including me. The Indians had very identical features so I guessed that they must have been twins.

“Twins?” I asked one of the boys, who looked braver.

He nodded and spoke in excellent, fluent English “My brother thinks that this is a dream” he said, very politely. “He does not believe in magic. Please excuse him if he talks rudely.”

“No problem” I said