The next morning, the Barth children were feeling much better.
Still, they missed their parents very much.
It was over a week since Mom and Dad had left.
Of course they called every night.
But it wasn't the same.
"I hope Mom and Dad come home soon," said Bobby.
"I miss them so much," Jane said, almost in tears.
"Dad has to find a job first," said Cy bravely.
Inside, he, too, missed his parents.
"I wish he would find one today," said Panther.
Almost at the same time, the children looked up.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" asked Cy.
"Huey," Bobby said under his breath.
"But we said no more wishes," argued Panther.
"Each of us got two wishes. That's it!"
"But this is different," said Cy.
"It's not for us, it's for Mom and Dad."
The children thought about this.
"And we didn't say good-bye to Huey," added Jane.
"That's true," admitted Panther.
So the children set out to see Huey once again.
Cy lowered the bucket as usual.
But it took longer to locate Huey's shell.
Finally Cy found him and pulled him up.
"Where were you, Huey?"
asked Cy when the magical creature appeared.
"Just busy with something,"
Huey answered, avoiding their eyes.
Huey seemed different from his usual self.
But the children were afraid to ask if something had happened to him.
"Whose turn is it today?"
Huey said, his voice back to normal.
The children looked at each other.
Then Cy answered, "Well, it's our wish."
He pointed to his siblings and himself.
Huey looked surprised.
"That's unusual. What is your wish, then?"
"We wish our dad would find a job," said Cy.
"And hurry and come home," added Jane.
"But you know the rules," said Huey.
He stared at the children's blank faces.
"The wish is granted for only one day, remember?" he reminded them.
"Oh, yeah," they replied sadly.
"But this is the only wish we really, really want," pleaded Bobby.
"The other wishes were for fun.
This is for real."
"Yeah, this is a real wish," said Jane.
Huey shook his head slowly.
"I'm sorry, children.
But rules are rules."
Huey's fins started to glow and shine.
The colors were more beautiful than ever.
But the children were too sad to notice.
"Okay, Huey. We understand," Cy said finally.
"Then we don't have any more wishes," said Panther.
Cy gently placed Huey back into the bucket.
"Cheer up," said Huey.
"I'm sure your parents will be home soon."
With that he disappeared into his shell.
Cy lowered him down once again.
With heavy hearts, the children walked back home.
They spent the rest of the day with long faces.
"I know what will cheer us up," Panther said.
The children were sitting on the porch eating a snack.
"We should bake cookies for everyone."
"What for?" asked Bobby, his mouth full of peanut butter.
"Well, after meeting Huey, so many things happened," Panther continued.
"Our wishes affected other people."
"Aunt Martha, Mr. Becker and Silver," Jane counted, "and Farmer Jenkins."
"And we made a lot of friends," said Panther.
"That's a great idea," Cy said happily.
So the children baked lots of cookies.
Of course Aunt Martha and Lamb helped too.
Outside it was getting dark.
"We can take the cookies to everyone tomorrow," said Panther.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door.
"I'll get it," said Jane.
"I wonder who it can be?"
asked Bobby as he took another cookie from a plate.
"Surprise!" two familiar voices shouted loudly.
Mom and Dad had returned.