The Magic Moonstone

a story by Ms. Joyce's Class

Sam Murphy is a first year student in Knockbeg College. His favourite subject is science. He loves experiments and explosions. Sam didn’t always like science. It wasn’t until he met Mr. Doherty at the open day that he changed his mind. Mr. Doherty was a kind, funny teacher. He was always in good humour. He was a short, thin man, who always wore a hat for a reason Sam and his classmates never knew. The children used to call him Dockers.
When Sam first started science in school his little sister Sarah used to beg him to show her all his experiments. Ten year old Sarah had long blonde hair and blue eyes. She was in 4th class in Leighlinbridge N.S. One day when Sarah was bored she decided to do an experiment of her own. She gathered together sodium chloride, citric acid and an unusual looking bottle filled with a strange fluid from Sam’s collection. Their cat, Fluffy, was sitting above the table beside Sam’s moonstones, which he received as a reward from his teacher.

All of a sudden Sam’s alarm clock buzzed. Fluffy sprang from the shelf onto the bed, knocking one of the moonstones as she went. The stone landed in the mixture of chemicals Sarah had prepared. The mixture started to bubble. There was a sudden puff of smoke and the stone flew out into Sarah’s hand. It was hot, very hot. It had also turned a very bright blue colour.
Sarah started to panic. Quickly she hid all the evidence as best as she could. She ran into her room and put the stone under her pillow, hoping that Sam wouldn’t notice it was missing. Suddenly she heard Sam’s voice downstairs. She started to think about what she might tell him. However she didn’t have any need to worry. Sam was in a very good mood. He had a letter in his hand. It said that Sam’s class would be going on a field trip to Dunsink Observatory on Thursday night. Mr. Doherty had organised it.

Ever since the explosion with the moonstone, things had been more than a little strange for Sarah. She was having trouble sleeping and kept having the same dream every night. It was like someone was trying to call her from very far away. She kept seeing a short, thin alien in a transit van, laughing hysterically. Every night the dream seemed to get stronger, but never strong enough to hear what was being said. UNTIL NOW!!

It was Thursday night. Sam and his classmates were on their way to Dunsink Observatory with Mr. Doherty, in the school’s beat-up transit van. Conditions were perfect. Suddenly there was a loud bang. It felt like the van had hit a brick wall. In fact, when Sam looked out the window he realised there was no road either. The van was floating upwards, pulled from the road by an invisible force.

That was when Sarah opened her eyes. The stone was glowing bright blue and in her mind she clearly heard screaming. She heard a deep gravelly voice saying “Mwuhahahaha, finally my plan is in action.” She took the moonstone in her hand and started shaking it to make it stop. Next thing she knew she was sitting next to Sam in the transit van with the moonstone in her hand.
She felt something at her feet. It was a book. During the crash the contents of Mr. Doherty’s briefcase had spilled out over the floor of the van. The book was entitled ‘Personal Diary; World Domination.’ Sarah was curious. She opened it and read the first page. Sarah discovered what Docker’s plan was and knew she had to get help immediately. She grabbed the stone and it transported her back to Earth.

When Sarah got back home she tried to tell everyone what she had seen, but no-one would believe her. They told her that she must have been dreaming. Sarah decided that she would have to do it herself. She jumped onto her bicycle and cycled as fast as she could to Docker’s Lab in Knockbeg College. Sarah mixed together all the chemicals that she found. The mixture glowed green and smelt of rotten eggs. She poured it into a hipflask.
She grabbed onto the stone and it transported her back to the van. She decided to pretend that she was on Docker’s side, that his plan was great, that it would work. She offered him a drink from the flask. No-one else could hear or see her. Docker drank a small bit and immediately froze. Sarah could see his body being drawn towards the stone. With a loud thunder crackle, he was trapped within the blue stone. His spell had been broken and the van landed safely back on Earth.

Home		The Magic Moonstone

		a story by Ms. Joyce's Class Sam Murphy is a first year student in Knockbeg College. His favourite subject is science. He loves experiments and explosions. Sam didn’t always like science. It wasn’t until he met Mr. Doherty at the open day that he changed his mind. Mr. Doherty was a kind, funny teacher. He was always in good humour. He was a short, thin man, who always wore a hat for a reason Sam and his classmates never knew. The children used to call him Dockers. When Sam first started science in school his little sister Sarah used to beg him to show her all his experiments. Ten year old Sarah had long blonde hair and blue eyes. She was in 4th class in Leighlinbridge N.S. One day when Sarah was bored she decided to do an experiment of her own. She gathered together sodium chloride, citric acid and an unusual looking bottle filled with a strange fluid from Sam’s collection. Their cat, Fluffy, was sitting above the table beside Sam’s moonstones, which he received as a reward from his teacher. All of a sudden Sam’s alarm clock buzzed. Fluffy sprang from the shelf onto the bed, knocking one of the moonstones as she went. The stone landed in the mixture of chemicals Sarah had prepared. The mixture started to bubble. There was a sudden puff of smoke and the stone flew out into Sarah’s hand. It was hot, very hot. It had also turned a very bright blue colour. Sarah started to panic. Quickly she hid all the evidence as best as she could. She ran into her room and put the stone under her pillow, hoping that Sam wouldn’t notice it was missing. Suddenly she heard Sam’s voice downstairs. She started to think about what she might tell him. However she didn’t have any need to worry. Sam was in a very good mood. He had a letter in his hand. It said that Sam’s class would be going on a field trip to Dunsink Observatory on Thursday night. Mr. Doherty had organised it. Ever since the explosion with the moonstone, things had been more than a little strange for Sarah. She was having trouble sleeping and kept having the same dream every night. It was like someone was trying to call her from very far away. She kept seeing a short, thin alien in a transit van, laughing hysterically. Every night the dream seemed to get stronger, but never strong enough to hear what was being said. UNTIL NOW!! It was Thursday night. Sam and his classmates were on their way to Dunsink Observatory with Mr. Doherty, in the school’s beat-up transit van. Conditions were perfect. Suddenly there was a loud bang. It felt like the van had hit a brick wall. In fact, when Sam looked out the window he realised there was no road either. The van was floating upwards, pulled from the road by an invisible force. That was when Sarah opened her eyes. The stone was glowing bright blue and in her mind she clearly heard screaming. She heard a deep gravelly voice saying “Mwuhahahaha, finally my plan is in action.” She took the moonstone in her hand and started shaking it to make it stop. Next thing she knew she was sitting next to Sam in the transit van with the moonstone in her hand. She felt something at her feet. It was a book. During the crash the contents of Mr. Doherty’s briefcase had spilled out over the floor of the van. The book was entitled ‘Personal Diary; World Domination.’ Sarah was curious. She opened it and read the first page. Sarah discovered what Docker’s plan was and knew she had to get help immediately. She grabbed the stone and it transported her back to Earth. When Sarah got back home she tried to tell everyone what she had seen, but no-one would believe her. They told her that she must have been dreaming. Sarah decided that she would have to do it herself. She jumped onto her bicycle and cycled as fast as she could to Docker’s Lab in Knockbeg College. Sarah mixed together all the chemicals that she found. The mixture glowed green and smelt of rotten eggs. She poured it into a hipflask. She grabbed onto the stone and it transported her back to the van. She decided to pretend that she was on Docker’s side, that his plan was great, that it would work. She offered him a drink from the flask. No-one else could hear or see her. Docker drank a small bit and immediately froze. Sarah could see his body being drawn towards the stone. With a loud thunder crackle, he was trapped within the blue stone. His spell had been broken and the van landed safely back on Earth.