Damien was pleased. He had never won anything in his life ‘A gift?’
‘Certainly. Something that will improve your life’ The old man reached for something below the counter and came up with a small yellow box
‘Here it is. This should work for you’
‘What is it?’ asked an eager Damien
‘Our special day to a page desk calendar’ he handed the box to Damien who flicked it open to look at the contents.
‘But it only has one month’ said a dismayed Damien
‘That’s all you should need’
‘What’s the point of a calendar that lasts only one month? Calendars should be for a whole year’
‘I assure you one month should be more than enough. This is a magical calendar. It’s for next month so you should start tomorrow night’
‘Magical? Like you’re really a wizard?’
‘Exactly. Now there a few things you should know. You need to write out a wish each night on the page for the next day, tear out the page out and place it under your pillow. Your wish will be granted the next morning. Makes sense? Good! Just remember to keep the wishes short. More than 4 words can cause problems. Got that? Good! Oh if you don't like the outcome just write 'Revert' the next night. That undoes the previous wish but counts as the next days wish. Its all quite simple really. Well you had better head off. Your bus is about to arrive’
Damien was totally confused. However he glanced at his wrist watch. His bus was due. He put the lid on the box muttered thank-you to the wizard and departed. Even if a single month calendar was useless, a prize was a prize and Damien had never won anything in his life
.
On the bus Damien had plenty of time to inspect his prize more carefully. It was just for a month April 2022. His Calendar had 30 pages. Each about 3 inches square. There wasn’t anything on each page except the date. The first page just had Friday April 1 2022 printed on it which filled half of the space. There wasn’t a lot of room left to write a wish on. Still a prize was a prize. Damien felt pretty chuffed. It wasn’t often he was accosted by pretty girls - Never in fact. What sort of name for a girl was Brad?
He arrived home and enthusiastically explained to his mother how he had been the thousandth customer for the store and showed her the gift he had been given.
‘Oh you idiot Loser! (Even his Mum had adopted that nickname) Look at the first date! April 1. It’s not called April fool’s day for nothing. A normal person would go back and give that storekeeper a piece of their mind’
Damien’s mood quickly evaporated. He really was a loser