Every time it was getting close to her birthday, Maggie went to bed at night and dreamt about the presents she might be getting.
She would get one from her mummy and daddy, and she would get one from grannie and granddad, too, but the present she secretly looked forward to the most was from Uncle Nathaniel.
Uncle Nathaniel was fun, and, well he was a little bit odd. He lived in the countryside in an underground house with a crooked chimney that poked out above the grass. He liked to invent new and wonderful contraptions, like a washing machines that turned all your clothes into hats, and a pen that could only write words beginning with the letter ‘g’.
Not everybody loved his inventions, and some people even thought they were silly, but Maggie thought that Uncle Nathaniel was brilliant - who else could come up with so many zany ideas and still have the time to climb trees and write poems? He was a fabulous uncle in lots of ways, but especially because of the birthday presents he gave.
One year, he gave Maggie a space rocket in a shoebox, and at night she’d zoom off to other galaxies and meet friendly aliens even stranger than Uncle Nathaniel. The next year, he gave her a magic bow and arrow that could shoot letters or drawings through any one of her friends’ windows and straight onto the floor in front of them.
So if she wanted to tell Ellie that she was her best friend, she’d draw a picture of the two of them on a piece of paper, fire it from the bow and arrow, and zoom - it would shoot through Ellie’s window and land right by her feet. It was a brilliant gift.
So on the night before her birthday, Maggie found it difficult to sleep. What would Uncle Nathanial bring this year? Would it be a submarine that let you down the plug hole? Or maybe a pair of sunglasses that let you see people’s dreams? With Uncle Nathaniel, the possibilities were endless.
Early the next morning, mummy woke her up with an especially big hug. “Happy birthday, Maggie,” she said. “Why not come downstairs for breakfast, there might be a surprise or two…”
Maggie knew that ‘surprise’ meant ‘present’ and when she got downstairs and into the living room she could see she was right. There were two presents there, one from Mummy and Daddy, and one from grannie and granddad.
She opened her present from Mummy and Daddy. It was brilliant, a train with enough carriages to carry all her toys all over the house.
“Thank you, Mummy and Daddy,” Maggie said.
Then she opened Grannie and Granddad’s present. And that was brilliant too - an easel that you could put the biggest piece of paper on to paint the hugest paintings.
Maggie wrote a thank you note on a piece of paper and put it into her magic bow and arrow.
Ping! It zoomed out the window, right across the town, through Grannie and Grandad’s window and landed on Grannie’s lap as she was doing the crossword.
But there was still one present missing. “Will Uncle Nathanial be coming over soon?” asked Maggie.
But before mummy could answer - BING BONG! The doorbell rang.
Uncle Nathaniel walked into the room wearing his long purple scarf and long green coat and wide red hat.“Happy birthday to my favorite niece!” he yelled and scooped Maggie up.
Then with one hand he took off his hat and flung it through the living room door where it landed perfectly on the coat stand.
Maggie’s Mummy and Daddy looked at each other. Uncle Nathaniel was almost like a big kid himself!
Then he put Maggie down and went and sat on the sofa.
Maggie was a little concerned. “Um… Uncle Nathaniel.. Because it’s my birthday… Do you have anything for -“
Maggie’s mum said “Maggie! It’s very rude to ask people for presents!
Well Maggie felt ashamed, but Uncle Nathaniel clicked his fingers.
“PRESENT!” he said. “I nearly forgot!”
Maggie’s stomach did a summersault in relief. He dug into the pocket of his coat and pulled out a small, slightly battered parcel, and threw it across the room for Maggie to catch. It was soft, and quite thin, and about the size of a fish.
“I wonder…” thought Maggie to herself. “I wonder if it’s like a special transporter to take me and my friends on holiday whenever I like?”
Mummy and Daddy looked at each other. They were always rather worried about Uncle Nathaniel’s presents.
Maggie tore back a corner of the yellow and red wrapping paper and opened the parcel.
It was - a pair of socks.
“Socks?” said Maggie.
Daddy nodded approvingly. “Socks are an excellent present! Keep those tootsie’s warm. Say thank you to Uncle Nathaniel, Maggie.”
“Thank you, Uncle Nathanial.”
It wasn’t like other birthdays. Maggie was pleased she had new, soft socks but - they weren’t a space rocket, or a submarine.
That night, she went to bed and closed her eyes. But she kept thinking about the new socks… it was as if they were wanting her to open her eyes again…
She got out of bed and walked over to the drawer where Daddy had put them. She took them out, and examined them. They were dark blue, with two red stripes. Not that unusual, but there was something… different about them.
Maggie took them with her and went and sat on her bed. “Maybe… Maybe I should try them on,’ she thought.
She slipped the left one on, and then the right. And her feet felt… tingly.
Something was the matter.
She took off her socks to find her feet had turned into two big, yellow ducks feet!
“Well they’ll be useful for swimming!” Maggie thought to herself.
She put the socks back on and felt her feet return to normal. But then she wiggled her toes, and the tinging came back. Her feet were changing again!
She took off the socks a second time and saw her feet were now two big long skis!
“Well these will be useful when it snows!” she laughed.
She put the socks on again and felt her feet go back to normal. But then she wiggled her toes, and her feet tingled, and she took the socks off to find her feet… were now two big springs!
“Well these will help me jump higher than ever!” giggled Maggie.
Just then, her bedroom window opened and a note flew through it, landing right by her feet. It had a ‘M’ for ‘Maggie’ written on it in orange writing.
She opened it up and read. It was from Uncle Nathanial - he’d used his magic bow and arrow to fire it all the way from the countryside.
“Dear Maggie. I hope you like your new socks. And I hope you have a lot of adventures in them. Perhaps you could even bounce, ski or paddle down to visit me one weekend soon? Yours forever, Uncle Nathanial.”
Maggie put on the socks, felt her feet go back to normal, and climbed into bed.
Good old Uncle Nathanial.
As she closed her eyes and smiled, she thought how about it wasn’t that long until Christmas. And Uncle Nathanial gave the best Christmas presents.
“I hope,” she yawned, “that this year he brings me - some gloves.”
