Magic Writing

        Hal was at a friend's party, and there was a lucky dip at the end. The prizes so far hadn't been any good, though - a book with no pictures, a spoon you could only used for eating eggs, and something for making star-shaped holes in apples. When it cam to Hal's turn, he wasn't expecting anything good.
        He was very surprised, then, when he pulled out a magic writing set. It was a thick, blue pen and a pad of green paper.
        "This looks interesting," he thought, and he wrote his name on the paper using the pen.
        When he got home, the writing had gone!
        "Aha!" he said to himself. "This pen has disappearing ink! I can write all sorts of things, and no-one will know!"
        First, though, he had to get rid of his mother. She was hunting around for something to write her shopping list on, so he gave her the green pad and helped her to the door. She always took ages at the shops.
        The moment his mother was gone, Hal took his blue pen and wrote "MUM IS FAT" on the wall. It looked great! Of course, it would be gone long before she returned, so he wrote it again in the bathroom.
        Next, Hal wrote "DAD HAS NO HAIR HA HA HA" on his bedroom wall, and drew a picture as proof. What wonderful fun! Then he wrote "TEACHER SMELLS FUNNY" in the kitchen. Ten times.
        He kept this sort of thing up until the walls were covered.
        But after half an hour or so, the writing hadn't disappeared. Hal suddenly began to get worried. Surely it would be gone before his mother came back from the shops? He hadn't pressed that hard.
        He was trying to wash it off with a cloth when his mother did return. "She'll be cross when she sees all this," he sighed.
        She was already cross. Very cross.
        "My shopping list disappeared in the grocer's," she shouted. "If your idea of a joke is giving me magic paper..."
        And then she noticed the writing on all the walls.
        Hal didn't hear exactly what she said next, because by that time he'd jumped into a wardrobe and shut himself in.

So

It's unfortunate that they don't make magic wallpaper.

Illustration by Roy Bartle
Image size: approx. 37K.