How Not to Cast a Magic Spell

Beltane 2006 - Five year-old Sunshine had done her lessons and was bored. Mommy was supposed to finish the sundresses she was making for Sunshine and her sister, but she wasn't working on them. She was wasting her time reading e-mail instead. Sunshine needed a way to get Mommy off the computer and on the sewing machine! Just telling Mommy to do that didn't always work. Hmmm, maybe there was some magical way to indicate to Mommy what she was supposed to be doing. Maybe if she imitated Mommy sewing, Mommy would get the idea. Sunshine looked around Mommy's sewing table. There were Mommy's scissors and the fabric bias tapes Mommy had spent hours making yesterday. Perfect! Sunshine picked up the scissors and got to work.

By the time Mommy noticed the snipping sound and turned around, all the bias tapes she'd so carefully made were in half-inch pieces.

Mommy had a coniption.

Sunshine learned several valuable things. Among her lessons were:

Don't touch scissors without getting permission first.
Don't touch anything of Mommy's or Daddy's without getting permission first.
Don't cut anything without getting permission first.
If you want a scrap to cut, ask for one. Mommy has several, but you must ask to find out which one it's okay to cut.
All words are magic. Use them to tell others what you are going to do.
Mommy doesn't like surprises.