Member-only story
Wishing On A Leprechaun
A tattered cardboard box sits upside down in a large field, propped up on one end by a large stick. The box is spattered with green paint.
A young girl patiently waits in the bushes, staring at the box with a hopeful but haunted look. For her, this box was no ordinary box. It was magic. It was St. Patrick’s day, and this year she was fiercely determined to catch a leprechaun.
It was a tradition shared by her father. The first time she remembered doing it she was four. Her father sat her on his lap and told her the story of how he caught a leprechaun on St. Patrick’s Day as a boy. She remembered the impish grin on his face.
“You know, Melissa, if you catch a leprechaun on St. Patrick’s Day, they have to grant you one wish”.
“Just one wish daddy?”
“Yep. Just one.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I caught one when I was a boy.”
“What did you wish for?”
“I wished for a beautiful little girl named Melissa.” Then he hugged her tight and kissed the top of her head.
He always told her the story the night before St. Patrick’s Day, and every year they got up before dawn the next morning and built their leprechaun trap. Every year, the trap was slightly improved from the year before, as…