Speaker 1: The magic backpack. Alex disliked his new backpack before he
Speaker 1: had even used it. It was bright red, with silver
Speaker 1: buckles and a front pocket, shaped like a grin. His
Speaker 1: old backpack had a broken zip and three ink stains,
Speaker 1: but it knew where everything belonged.' Bags do not know things,'
Speaker 1: Mum said.' Exactly. This one looks too pleased with itself.'
Speaker 1: On Monday, Alex put the red backpack beneath his desk.
Speaker 1: During maths, something bumped against his chair. He opened the
Speaker 1: front pocket and found a green mitten. It was not
Speaker 1: his mitten. It belonged to Priya, who had lost it
Speaker 1: beside the football field the previous week. Where did you
Speaker 1: find that? she asked. In my bag. Why was it
Speaker 1: in your bag? The silver buckles gave a tiny click.
Speaker 1: At lunch, The backpack produced a library card, a toy dinosaur,
Speaker 1: and one muddy shoe. Each belonged to someone nearby. Alex
Speaker 1: returned the card to Mr. Bell, the dinosaur to a
Speaker 1: first grader, and the shoe to Owen, who had somehow
Speaker 1: reached lunch wearing only one. Your backpack finds lost things,
Speaker 1: Priya whispered. Then it can start with my science worksheet.
Speaker 1: The bag produced a banana. On Tuesday, Alex and Priya
Speaker 1: tested it. They placed the backpack in the empty music
Speaker 1: room and waited. Nothing happened. Priya announced that magic probably
Speaker 1: required dramatic lighting. Alex turned off one lamp. The front
Speaker 1: pocket bulged. Inside was a brass key with a round
Speaker 1: blue tag. The tag held a faded number, 14. They
Speaker 1: asked at the office, library, gym, and caretaker's room Nobody
Speaker 1: recognized it. The key did not fit classroom cupboards or
Speaker 1: the old display case in the hall. Maybe it belongs
Speaker 1: outside school, Priya said. The backpack tugged hard against Alex's shoulder.
Speaker 1: They followed the pool down the corridor. It grew stronger
Speaker 1: near the auditorium, then stopped beside a wall covered with
Speaker 1: framed photographs of former school plays. One picture... showed students
Speaker 1: performing a space adventure in 1986. Behind them stood 14
Speaker 1: small lockers painted like rocket doors. There aren't lockers backstage,
Speaker 1: Alex said. There aren't lockers backstage now. Their drama teacher, Ms. Chen,
Speaker 1: remembered a row of storage lockers removed during renovations. One
Speaker 1: had been left because a new wall was built in
Speaker 1: front of it. Please tell me we aren't knocking down
Speaker 1: a wall for a magic backpack, Alex said. They did
Speaker 1: not knock down a wall. His chin found an old
Speaker 1: access panel behind a curtain. With a caretaker present, she
Speaker 1: opened it. Beyond was a narrow storage space and one
Speaker 1: dusty metal door marked 14. The brass key turned. Inside
Speaker 1: sat a cardboard moon, three silver helmets, a bundle of
Speaker 1: handwritten scripts, and a wooden control box covered with switches.
Speaker 1: A note on top read, For next year's space crew.
Speaker 1: There had never been a next year's space crew. A
Speaker 1: leaking roof had closed the auditorium, and the props had
Speaker 1: been forgotten during repairs. Ms. Chen carried the box into
Speaker 1: the light. One switch made the cardboard moon glow. Another
Speaker 1: played a recording of thunder, followed by somebody whispering, Wrong button!
Speaker 1: Alex laughed so suddenly that he dropped the banana, which
Speaker 1: he had forgotten was still in his pocket. The discovery
Speaker 1: gave Ms. Chen an idea for the spring play. Students
Speaker 1: repaired the helmets with tape and wrote a new story
Speaker 1: around the old moon. Alex did not want to act,
Speaker 1: but he volunteered to run the control box. Priya joined
Speaker 1: the sound crew. She labeled every switch, including one that
Speaker 1: seemed to do nothing. During rehearsal, that switch released a
Speaker 1: shower of paper stars from above the stage. The cast
Speaker 1: spent 20 minutes picking stars from their hair while Ms.
Speaker 1: Chin added the effect to the final scene. The backpack
Speaker 1: kept returning lost objects. Most were ordinary. Pencils, gloves, lunch containers,
Speaker 1: a recorder that everyone wished had stayed missing. Alex and
Speaker 1: Priya made a lost and found sign and stopped conducting
Speaker 1: experiments during lessons. Then the backpack began producing things that
Speaker 1: were not lost at all. It gave Alex Priya's ruler
Speaker 1: while she was using it. It swallowed his spelling book
Speaker 1: and returned it to the teacher. During rehearsal, It grabbed
Speaker 1: the astronaut captain's silver boot ten seconds before she needed it.
Speaker 1: It has become too enthusiastic, Priya said. Alex opened every pocket.
Speaker 1: Beneath the lining, he found the blue tag from Key
Speaker 1: 14 caught around a loose silver thread. The thread ran
Speaker 1: into the front pocket like a tiny fishing line. He
Speaker 1: carefully freed the tag. The backpack sneezed out six pencils
Speaker 1: and became still. After that, it only returned things that
Speaker 1: had truly been forgotten. Alex never learned whether the key
Speaker 1: had awakened the bag or whether the bag had simply
Speaker 1: been waiting for the right mystery. On opening night, the
Speaker 1: cardboard moon rose perfectly. Alex pressed the thunder switch. Thunder
Speaker 1: rolled across the auditorium. Then the old recording whispered, Wrong button!
Speaker 1: The audience laughed. Ms. Chen kept it in the show.
Speaker 1: When Alex packed up, the backpack's front pocket curved into
Speaker 1: its usual grin. He no longer minded. His science worksheet
Speaker 1: was inside at last, along with a note from Priya.
Speaker 1: Check for bananas. The end. As always, visit us at readthetale.com
Speaker 1: for all your favorite tales and stories.