The Mayor
The grand Mayor of the town stood in the middle of the town hall looking at tables spread with every type of lovely food you could imagine. He was a kind man and was looking forward to later in the evening when the carol service was finished and the town gathered in the hall for the grand party. Every year the Mayor threw a party and every year there was fine food and dancing. Every year the decorations were more impressive than the year before. Every year there was a Santa Claus to give out the Mayor’s presents to the children of the town.
This afternoon the Mayor had received two phone calls. The first told him that there would be no fine decorations as the man who made them could not get through the winter snow on the mountains. The second told him that there would be no Santa Claus as the man who was to play him was ill. It was five o’clock on Christmas eve and the mayor was very sad. There would be no fine decorations to cheer the eye and no Santa Claus to hand out the presents.
The Mayor was a kindly man and a jolly man, but he was also the sort of man who does not believe in wish stars. His little granddaughter had told him that a wish star will always make your dream come true, but he did not believe in them himself.
Tonight, though, he was in such a fix that he thought anything was worth a try. After all, he thought, Christmas is a time for miracles.
So, after checking that no-one was around to see him being so silly, he squeezed his eyes tight shut and wished.
‘Wish Star, Wish Star,
Brightly shine
Grant tonight
This wish of mine
Every girl and every boy
Needs a party full of joy.’
The wish star heard him and she thought ‘That is the fifth wish, and the night is moving on. I must use my wish soon, but who to choose.’ The truth was that the little wish star wanted to grant all the wishes she had heard that night. But she only had one small wish to spend on the people who needed her help.
‘If only there was a way that one wish could help them all,’ she thought.
And then she saw a way.
Sarah Todd Taylor 