Short Story: The Very Unusual Closet

Short Story: The Very Unusual Closet

This piece has not been edited by the ShortbreadStories team.

In a very unusual closet of a very ordinary house lived a pink umbrella, a pair of woolly mittens and an old boot. The pink umbrella was called Penny, and she was not very happy at all.

“Why is it,” she asked the mittens, “that I only ever get to go out when it’s raining? It’s just not fair!”

“Search me,” said Freddy, the right hand mitten.

“No idea,” said Teddy, the left hand mitten. “Every time we go out,” he added, “it’s freezing cold!”

“What do you think, Old Boot?” asked Penny.

“I never go out at all!” said Old Boot grumpily. Old Boot’s real name was Mr. Prissy-Wissy, but his friends called him Old Boot, and he preferred that. And wouldn’t you prefer it if your name were Prissy-Wissy?

“It’s different for you, Old Boot,” said Penny. “You can’t go out now, can you? Not since -”

“Not since Little Boot went away!” sobbed Old Boot, and his laces began to quiver. He always called Mrs Prissy-Wissy Little Boot, even though, being a pair, they were obviously both the same size. He was the Right Boot though, and Right Boots are funny like that. He hadn’t seen Little Boot for weeks, not since they had been left covered with mud on the doorstep and Rex, the neighbour’s dog, had run off with her. Old Boot had been in the closet ever since.

“Just left us, sitting there, he did,” said Old Boot of his careless owner. “And that animal came...” His brown leather skin began to go black with anger.

“She’ll turn up,” said Freddy brightly.

“Probably in Animal’s house,” said Teddy, but the thought of this just upset Old Boot all over again.

“Poor Old Boot,” said Penny, and the mittens agreed.

The coats hanging in the closet said nothing, because even in a closet as unusual as this one, coats are always quiet.

Suddenly the closet door opened, and two huge arms reached in.

“It’s her!” cried the mittens.

The huge arms picked up Freddy and Teddy, and put four jigsaw puzzles in a pile, right where they had been sitting. Next they put an old wooden tennis racquet in the corner next to Penny. Finally they dropped a big box on top of the jigsaws, put Teddy and Freddy on top of that, and shut the door again.

“What’s going on?” cried Teddy.

“Who does she think she is?” said Freddy. “Cluttering up our closet!”

“Where are we?” came a gruff, muffled voice. It was one of the jigsaws.

“I don’t know,” came the reply, “but there’s an old boot sticking in my side.”

“I can’t help it,” said Old Boot. “Who said you could come in here anyway?”

“She doesn’t want us any more!” It was the jigsaw at the bottom of the pile. “Just because some of my pieces are missing.”

“We seem to have been stuck in a closet,” said the wooden tennis racquet, who had been eyeing Penny. “And since we seem to be able to talk to each other, we’d better introduce ourselves. I’m Mac.”

“I’m Zip,” said the jigsaw at the bottom of the pile. “And I need some ROOM!”

“I’m Pip,” said the jigsaw above Zip.

“I’m Nip,” said the jigsaw above Pip.

“And I’m Elizabeth.”

There was something in the way that Elizabeth spoke that made Penny take an instant dislike to her. She sounded like she thought herself far too good to be put in a closet, even a very unusual one.

“Elizabeth,” said Penny. “What a funny name! Why have you got such a funny name?”

“Because,” said Elizabeth, in the same voice as before, “I’m a jigsaw of a rose. These fellows are of cowboys and steam trains. And beetles,” she finished, as though she didn’t want anything to do with them.

There was a pause. The big box up above was silent.

“Well anyway,” said Penny. “I’m Penny, and this is Old Boot. Don’t ask him,” she added in a loud voice, “for his proper name. There’s Teddy and Freddy who are around here somewhere. Whatever can have happened to them?”

Suddenly there came a thump from above. Thump! Thump! Thump! Something inside the big box was getting very angry indeed.

“Let me out! Let me out!” And again the thumping sound thudded around the closet, which was now very cramped. A moment later the lid of the big box came off, and a long black stick emerged. Teddy and Freddy slid off the lid and fell to the floor next to Old Boot.

Above, the black stick spun round, clattering against the side of the closet. “You are looking at the Great Wishtar!” the stick boomed. They all noticed that it had a white tip at one end.

“It’s a magic wand!” gasped Penny.

“He’s thrown out his magic set!” cried Zip.

“I don’t believe it,” said Nip.

“Believe anything of him,” muttered Old Boot.

Wishtar twirled again, and gave Zip a friendly tap. “Absolutely right, Zip,” he said. “The important thing is,” he went on, “how long have we been able to talk?”

“Ever since we were put in the closet,” said Mac. “Boy, for a magic wand you sure are slow.”

“It must be a magic closet!” Penny desperately wanted Wishtar to see how clever she was.

“Correct!” And Wishtar came to rest next to the pink umbrella, causing her to blush momentarily white. “You’re very smart, for an umbrella.”

There was hardly a pink spot on Penny when he said that. She had never been praised by a magic wand before.

“He’s right,” said Teddy.

“Why didn’t we think of it before?” said Freddy.

“A magic closet!”

“Fantastic!”

The closet was filled with the babble of excited voices.

“Really, this is all very well,” said Elizabeth, as though a magic closet was nothing for her to get excited about. “The question is, can we do anything about it?”

“I can,” said Wishtar, giving a little spin.

“Really? What can you do?” Penny was going white all the time now.

“Anything you want,” said Wishtar. “I’m a magic wand, remember? What would you like most in all the world?”

“My pieces back!” yelled Zip.

“A tiny glimpse of the sun would be nice,” said Penny.

“Yes! A dry sunny day and a trip out.” Freddy and Teddy wriggled their fingers in delight.

The jigsaws began babbling to themselves about pieces, when just then a sad voice cut through the excitement.

“All I want,” said Old Boot, “is to get out of this closet and go for walks like I used to. And get that Animal and find Little Boot...” Old Boot’s laces began quivering again, and his voice shook. Everyone was quiet.

“That’s right,” said Penny. “We’re all so selfish. Do you know what happened to Old Boot, Wishtar?” And she told him the whole sorry story.

“Right!” Wishtar took to the air again. “We’re getting out of here!” He spun around faster and faster, until all they could see was a greyish whirl above them. Finally he gave a sudden cry, and touched the closet door.

Boom! The door of the very unusual closet flew open, and Wishtar shot out into the hallway of the very ordinary house. Right behind him came Penny, determined not to let him out of her sight. Behind her was a scramble of jigsaw puzzles, with Freddy and Teddy clinging on to Elizabeth for all they were worth.

“Our advantage, umpire!” said Mac, as he followed them.

“Wait for me!” shouted Old Boot, hopping after them, rather unhappy at being at the back. It was his adventure, after all.

The big box dropped to the floor with a thump, and stayed still; without Wishtar it was just a big box. The coats were as silent as ever. But in the hallway of the very ordinary house there was pandemonium as Wishtar spun around and around again, and smacked the front door very hard.

Boom! The front door flew open and a twirl of wands and a dance of mittens led the way down the garden path. Wishtar and Penny spun around together. Mac smacked at imaginary tennis balls and shouted “game, set and match!” The jigsaws were the last to leave, followed by Old Boot.

“Over the fence!” he shouted.

With Wishtar and Penny still leading the way the odd assortment of friends leapt over the garden fence into the neighbour’s garden. Rex began barking madly, and snapping at Wishtar as he circled in the air. He growled and snarled at Teddy and Freddy, and even tried to bite Mac. But at the sight of Old Boot he knew the game was up and fled whimpering towards the house.

“Aha! A guilty conscience!” said Wishtar. “Come on - there’s his kennel. Let’s get it tipped up.”

He and Penny whacked the sides of the kennel. Teddy and Freddy tried to lift it. Mac nearly smashed the roof in, but it still didn’t budge. The jigsaws shouted encouragement. Last of all came Old Boot.

“Leave it to me,” he said, and with one huge kick lifted the kennel into the air. Tumbling out and landing on the flower bed came Little Boot, the kennel crashing alongside her.

“It’s Little Boot!” he cried happily.

Little Boot sat in silence. Realising that she had not been inside the very unusual closet, Wishtar touched her tongue, and she found a voice.

“Prissy-Wissy!” she cried. “About time too. I knew you’d be here eventually. I said to that animal ‘you wait until Prissy-Wissy hears about this’ I said. I’ve given it a right old time, believe me.”

Mrs Prissy-Wissy almost never called Mr Prissy Wissy Old Boot, and when she did it made his laces quiver in a most peculiar way. Together they danced around the garden. The jigsaws cheered - even Elizabeth shouted “hurrah! Hurrah!” in a very ladylike fashion. Freddy and Teddy clapped loudly. Mac kept saying “champion!” over and over. In the midst of all this came voices from the other side of the fence.

“Mummy! My boots are running away!”

“Mummy! My umbrella’s dancing in next door’s garden!”

“It’s him1” cried Zip.

“It’s her!” said Penny. “What are we going to do?”

“Time to go,” said Wishtar. “Follow me and Penny, everyone.” And he and the umbrella spun round and round together and high up in the air, over the top of the very ordinary house, “Come on gang!” he cried, his voice seeming a long way off.

Freddy grasped Nip and Zip as tightly as he could, while Teddy caught hold of Pip and Elizabeth - who complained loudly. Mac shouted “champion!” once more, then gave the two mittens a whack that sent them soaring up into the air after Wishtar and Penny. Then, with a swoosh, he followed them. Together, they all set off in search of adventures. “Come on, boots!” someone shouted, from far away.

But the Prissy-Wissys stayed on the ground. “I’m not keen on this flying lark,” said Mrs Prissy-Wissy. “Boots were never made for flying. I want to go for a walk.”

“Like we used to! Yes!” cried her mate happily, and as the sound of voices got nearer the fence the pair of boots turned, and in great long strides, far too fast for anyone to catch them, were away down the garden path and out through the gate.

They soon left the very ordinary house, and its very unusual closet, a long way behind, and set off for adventures of their own…