Tuesday, February 27, 2007, my mother, Barbara Ann Hess Hershey Becker, turns 80 years old. I tried to think of the best gift I could give the woman who has surrounded me with unconditional love from the day I was born, and decided what I would love to give her is the gift of her own story—shared with the divine moms of DivineCaroline.com.
When she was a high school student, my mother wrote a children’s story called “The Little Gold Key.” She used to tell it to me and my brother Henry and then to all five of us children, her thirteen grandchildren, and, now, her four great grandchildren.
Mother tells the story in a way that mesmerizes her audience. So, if you choose to read this story to your child, you can’t just read it. You need to become each of the characters, especially the man no bigger than a raindrop who speaks in a very high, squeaky voice. Put love in your voice and make believe the whole thing is actually happening, and, I promise, your child will grow up to have a vivid imagination and the ability to help make his or her own dreams come true.
The Little Gold Key
By Barbara Ann Hershey Becker
Abby and Richie were cousins who loved to stay and play at Grandma’s house.
One warm, sunny day Abby had an idea. Richie thought it would be fun too, and so they asked Grandma. Grandma’s eyes sparkled as she listened to the secret idea.
“All right,” she said, smiling.
Abby and Richie jumped up and down with joy. Grandma packed a lunch for them and helped them across the road.
“Have fun!” she called as she watched them walk through the meadow down by the creek. “I’ll be waiting for you to come home.”
Abby and Richie enjoyed their lunch and had fun splashing in the creek. Then they decided to play hide-and-go-seek. Abby walked deeper and deeper into the woods, looking for Richie. She hunted and called. Then she stopped.
“Richie,” she screamed as loud as she could. “If you don’t come, I’ll have to go home without you and tell Grand. . . .” Before she could finish the sentence, she heard Richie answering her.
“Abby! I wanna show you something!”
Abby forgot her anger and ran towards Richie.
“See!” Richie exclaimed.
Abby looked puzzled. “It’s just a big tree in the woods.”
“Yes, but . . .” said Richie. “. . . but around on the other side, it’s hollow, and there’s something inside the tree. See this door?”
“Yes,” said Abby excitedly. “Look, Richie, here’s a little gold key.” She grabbed it off a hook in the tree trunk and stuck it inside the keyhole in the door.
Together they opened the lock, pushed the door open, crawled inside, and found themselves in a small room full of mirrors and panels.
“Oh, won’t this make a neat playhouse!” said Abby.
But Richie, who was looking at the row of buttons on the wall, said, “Do you think we would go up to the top of the tree, like an elevator in a store, if we pressed the button?”
Just like that, he pushed the blue button, and immediately they felt themselves moving up—right out of the treetop and into the sky.
“Oh!” said Richie. “Ohhhhhhhhh! I think we’re on a rocket, and maybe we’re going to the moon.”
“I don’t want to go to the moon,” Abby cried. “I want to go home to Grand. . . .”
Before they could say anything else their speeding room landed.
Once again Abby opened the door with the key. They both crawled out into a very strange placed indeed, with mountains and valleys that looked like puffy white marshmallows. Through the middle of the white mounds was a path.
