The children sat huddled under a tree.
They were cold and hungry and had no place to go.
"I want to go home" Jane shivered.
"It's no fun being pretty if no one knows who you are."
"It's getting dark," Bobby said, pointing to the sky.
"What are we going to do?"
The children watched miserably as the sun began to go down.
"Wait a minute," Cy blurted.
"Do you feel that?"
They all felt a light mist on their faces, just as they had felt when they were with Huey that morning.
They looked at each other cautiously.
"Panther! It's you!" Cy shouted joyfully.
Exactly as Huey had said, the wish had ended as soon as the sun was set.
"Oh, I'm so happy to be me again!" Panther cried.
Bobby added, "Me too.
Now let's go home and get something to eat!"
Aunt Martha was waiting by the door when the children got home.
"Am I ever glad to see you," she said, giving them each a big hug and kiss.
She told them about the strange kids who had broken into the house.
"I nearly had a heart attack," she exclaimed.
"How they knew my name, I'll never know."
Dinner that evening was unusually quiet.
The children were careful not to say anything about Huey or their wish.
But once they were alone, they all spoke at once.
Cy held up his hand.
"Wait, wait," he said. "Panther, you go first."
"I want to say that I'm sorry about today," she said quietly.
"And I don't think we should go see Huey anymore."
The others disagreed.
"That's not fair," complained Bobby.
"I haven't had my wish yet."
"Yeah, I want a wish, too," whined Jane.
"I think it's only fair for each of us to have at least one wish," Cy agreed.
"So tomorrow, I'll go first─ "
"Hey, why do you get to go first?" interrupted Bobby.
"Because I'm the oldest," said Cy.
"Next will be Bobby, and then Jane, okay?"
The others nodded their heads.
Bright and early the next morning, the children set off to see Huey.
"Well, well." Huey grinned.
"How did it feel to be handsome and beautiful?"
"Fine, thank you," Panther answered quickly and untruthfully.
"So what will you wish for today?"
he said, shaking out his fins and swiveling his head.
"I wish," Cy said excitedly, "we were rich."
"How rich?" Huey asked.
Cy scratched his head. "Uh, well . . ."
Huey pointed to the bucket.
"Enough money to fill this?" he asked.
Cy rubbed his hands and said, "Twenty of those buckets, please."
"And would you like gold? Silver?" asked Huey.
Cy scratched his head again.
"Gold," he answered.
Huey spread his fins and they turned bright gold.
"Wow," Bobby whispered under his breath.
Like magic, twenty buckets appeared, and then gold coins showered down from the sky.
"It's raining gold!" squealed Jane.
"How are we going to carry all this?"
Cy asked, pointing to the buckets now filled with shining coins.
Closing his fins, Huey said, "That's your problem."
He ducked back into his shell.
"Don't forget—it'll all be gone by sunset," he added.
Cy lowered Huey down the well, and the children started to fill their pockets with the gold.
"Take as much as you can," Cy urged.
"The more the better."