ONCE upon a time, a very long time ago, there was a little boy named Derek. Derek lived with his mother in a small cottage at the edge of the deep woods.

One day, Derek was fishing down the stairs. So far he had caught two fish. One was so little that it would fit on the end of his finger and it could talk to him. It had asked him to put it back so that it could grow up, so he had. The other was so big that its head was by the stairs and it stretched across the room, out the door and across the front yard and its tail was flopping in the street.

That was when his grand daddy came in the house holding his arm. Derek's mommy asked his grand daddy what was wrong and Granddaddy said, "A horsefly bit me on the arm."

Derek said, "Granddaddy, I didn't know that horses could fly."

Granddaddy laughed. "It isn't really a horse, Derek. A horsefly is just a very big fly."

"Can I go see the horsefly, Granddaddy?" Derek asked.

"Well, I think that he is gone now, Derek," Granddaddy said.

Derek decided to go look anyway. Just to be on the safe side, he took his magic stick with him. His stick was a very magical thing. He had found it at the edge of the deep woods one day and it could be anything that he wanted it to be, a space ship, a boat, a walking cane or anything else that he could think of.

Derek went outside and looked all around, but he couldn't see the horsefly anywhere. So Derek came back inside and said, "The horsefly is gone, Granddaddy. Will he come back tomorrow?"

"I don't know, Derek. He might," his grand daddy said.

Derek looked out back several times that day to see if the horsefly was back, but it wasn't. When he went night-night that night, he dreamed about the horsefly.

When Derek woke up the next morning, his mind was made up. He was going to be ready for that horsefly when it showed up. He dug all of the toys out of his toy box until he found his piece of magic string in the bottom of the box. Every one else thought that it was just a piece of string, but Derek knew that it was almost as magical as his stick. He could wrap it around his arm like a bracelet, or use it to tie up bad guys or even Granddaddy. It could make a swing for his little teddy bear and do all sorts of other things. He also got his stick, just in case.

While he was eating the oatmeal that his mommy made for him, he told her that he was going to catch the horsefly.

Mommy laughed and said, "All right, Derek. Just be careful." Derek could tell that Mommy didn't really think that he could catch the horsefly. Mommy always said that Derek had a good imagination, whatever that was.

When Derek finished his breakfast, he heard his puppy, Griffin, barking. So he went out in the back yard. Griffin was hiding under the steps, barking. And Derek could see why. There was the horsefly eating grass in the back yard. It was as big as a horse, just like Derek had thought that it would be.

Derek's magic string became a cowboy's lasso and Derek whirled it around his head, just like a real cowboy. Then he threw the lasso and it landed around the horsefly's head. Derek had him!

The horsefly tried very hard to get away. He pulled and ran and tried flying, but Derek was too strong for him. Slowly Derek pulled the horsefly to himself. He pulled slowly because he didn't want to hurt the horsefly.

When Derek got the horsefly close enough, he jumped on its back. The horsefly jumped and bucked just like a wild horse, trying to throw Derek off, but Derek was too good of a rider for that silly horsefly. The horsefly flew in circles and triangles and rectangles and even flew upside down trying to throw Derek off, but Derek hung on real tight.

After a while, that silly horsefly got tired of trying to throw Derek off. So Derek rode the horsefly all around the neighborhood. Then he rode the horsefly around town, and then flew a long way off to see Grandma. Then he flew all around the world. While he was flying over the ocean, he saw some whales and some big ships. When he flew over Africa, he saw some elephants and lions.

When they were flying back over the ocean coming back home, the horsefly got tired, so Derek let it rest on a cloud for a while. Derek was very considerate that way.

Finally, Derek flew the horsefly back home and tied it up in the back yard. Then he went inside and told his mommy all about his adventures with the horsefly. Mommy just smiled and said, "That is nice, but now I think that it is time for lunch."

When Derek told her that his horsefly was tied up in the back yard, she looked outside, but all that she saw was Derek's magic stick with his string tied to it. Mommy didn't have a good imagination like Derek.

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© 1999 Charles H. Grooms