You're Too Young! (ap)
by Drakkenfyre
"No way, Duncan! You and your 7 little dwarves will just have to wait until you're 18, if you want to go out on the Houseboat."
That was the same message each of the young boys got when they pleaded to join their bros on the Houseboat trip. Their brothers had been talking about it for months, and it sounded like great fun.
Over at Steve's birthday/pool party, the eight boys sat around lamenting the situation, and wishing they were all grown up. They all really wanted to go on the Houseboat.
Steve's mother sighed.
"What's the matter, Deedee?" her mother asked.
"Oh, it's Steve's birthday cake. I forgot to buy candles. Now what? Maybe I can have him blow out a lighter?"
"No, dear, he needs a candle. A real candle. And I think I have just the thing," said Steve's grandmother disappearing into her bedroom. She emerged a few minutes later with an odd brass candle holder with barely an eighth of an inch of candle left in the base.
"Your Uncle Harry - God rest his soul - sent it back from his world trip. He called it a Magic Wishing Candle. I'm sure Stevie will like it."
"Well, it beats the lighter, and that story is a clever idea."
"It's the truth, that's what Uncle Harry wrote. I've got the letter right here!"
"Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, dear Steve, happy birthday to you," sang the kids as Steve's mother brought out the cake. His grandmother followed her carrying a lit candle.
"Steve, your Great Uncle Harry sent this candle back from his trip to the orient over 60 years ago, " she waved the yellowed letter in her other hand, "He said it was a magic wishing candle, and we saved it for you. So think carefully of your heart's desire, make a wish, and blow out the candle."
Steve was a bit disappointed that he didn't have a cake covered with candles, but then he decided this was neater. All his friends were whispering about magic candles and if it really worked. He hushed them by saying loudly, "I wish my friends and me were all 18, so we can go on the houseboat trip on Saturday!" and he blew out the candle. The candle flared like a firework, and went out. The wax was all gone only black char and smoke drifted from the old brass candle holder.
Grandmother gasped and stuck her hand in the cake. Mother dropped the plates and silverware.
All eight boys had suddenly shot up from children into adult young men. In seconds they shot up from 4 feet to over 6 feet. Their chests expanded. Muscles developed that they didn't even know they had. Their baggy swim trunks clung tightly to their new bodies. The boys were thrilled with their transformation, and laughed in their new deep voices at what had happened. It took Steve's mother and grandmother quite some time to convince the other boys parents about what had happened to their little boys.
Duncan's mother sighed, "They grow up so fast anyway." The withering glance she gave Steve's family as she picked up now 6 foot tall Duncan told she blamed them for taking her little boy away from her.
Of course, all the boys got to go on the houseboat trip with their brothers, and they had the time of their lives.
Attempts at using a regular candle in the brass holder proved fruitless. Secretly, Steve's grandmother lamented that she had never believed the story of the candle herself, oh what she would have wished for....
