Excerpt from THE WISH LIST
by Eoin Colfer
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...Four items were circled and numbered. Meg read them slowly, not believing what the spectral images told her.
At last, a puzzled soul looked up from the page. "I don't get it," she said simply.
"It's not too late for these," said Lowrie, his face shining. "They can still be done."
Meg snorted. "You're not serious."
"Oh, but I am, young lady. Regret is a powerful incentive."
"I don't even know what you're talking about. I'm only fourteen, you know."
Lowrie rubbed his scarred calf. "With your help, I can accomplish these things. I never could before..."
"But these! I mean, what's the point? It's crazy."
Lowrie nodded. "To you, maybe. To everyone else on the planet. Bu these were my greatest failures. Now I have a chance to put them right, even if no one cares but me."
Meg was running out of arguments. "But what will it change, running around the country like a crazy man?"
"Nothing," Lowrie admitted. "Except my opinion of myself. And that, young Meg, becomes very important to a person as they grow older."
Meg felt scowl wrinkles settle across her forehead. She hated that "you'll understand it when you're older" chestnut. Especially now, as she wasn't getting any older. Ever.
She waved the flimsy sheet at him. "It has to be this? We have to travel the length and breadth of Ireland to complete four idiotic tasks? Nothing else will do?
"That's it," replied Lowrie. "That's the deal. That list is the only way to heaven," he paused pointedly, "for either of us."
From The Wish List. Copyright © 2004 by Eoin Colfer.
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