Chelsea Chockford’s Chocolate
by Tracy Helixon
Chocolate. Chelsea Chockford liked it. No, wait. She didn’t just like it. She really liked it.
No, wait. That’s not quite right.
She didn’t just really like it. She really, really, really, really liked it. Times ten.
In fact, every day at breakfast, Chelsea ate chocolate puffs. Every day at lunch, she drank chocolate milk. Every night at dinner, Chelsea ate chocolate cake. Once, at the state fair, she even tried a chocolate covered pickle. And liked it.
In short, Chelsea Chockford cherished chocolate. So when the candy shop advertised super-duper-mega-sized chocolate bars, Chelsea saved her money, and she bought one.
As Chelsea walked out of the candy store, she could hardly believe how heavy the bar was. It weighed more than a bowling ball and took two hands just to hold! She grabbed the shiny gold wrapper and made one tiny peel. Then, she took one tiny bite. MMMMMM. Perfect! Chelsea carefully replaced the shiny gold wrapper and began to walk home.
On the way home from the candy store, Chelsea saw her best friend, Milly.
“Wow!” said Milly, “That’s the biggest chocolate bar I’ve ever seen!”
“I know,” beamed Chelsea. “Isn’t it grand? It’s a super-duper-mega-sized chocolate bar.”
Milly asked Chelsea for a bite. Chelsea’s smile fell.
“Well, you see…I haven’t…exactly opened it…all the way…yet. I’m waiting ‘til I get home. You can have some later after I open it, okay?”
Chelsea gulped as Milly walked away. It wasn’t exactly a lie. After all, she had only opened a very small corner. And by the next time she saw Milly, the bar would probably be all gone.
At home, Chelsea peeled back the wrapper and took one more small bite. MMMMM. Perfect!
At lunch time, she brought her chocolate bar to the table.
“What’s that?” asked her brother, Ike.
“Only a super-duper-mega-sized chocolate bar,” bragged Chelsea.
Ike asked for a bite. “Um, no,” said Chelsea. “I wouldn’t want it to ruin your dinner.”
Ike pointed out that he had already finished his dinner, and he was still feeling just a bit hungry.
Chelsea started at her plate. “Oh,” she said. “Of course. I’ll share my broccoli if you’d like.”
“No thank you,” said Ike.
By bedtime, Chelsea had eaten about a hundred bites of that chocolate bar. And hardly a square was gone. “I think you’ve had enough,” said Dad. “No more tonight, or you might just turn into a chocolate bar yourself.”
Chelsea agreed–no more chocolate. But when Dad left the room, she couldn’t sleep. She reached under her bed and pulled out that chocolate bar. Just one more bite, she thought. To help her sleep, you know.
She peeled back the gold wrapper and took one tiny bite. MMMMM. Perfect!
Suddenly, everything went POOF! The Cocoa Fairy appeared, waved her wand, and with one colossal, cloudy swirl, shrunk Chelsea down and hid her right in the middle of that chocolate bar.
Chelsea did not like it. Not one little bit. I mean, as much as she really, really, really, really liked chocolate (times ten), being stuck inside a chocolate bar was truly no fun at all.
The Cocoa Fairy turned to leave. “Wait!” called Chelsea. “How do I get out of here?”
“Easy!” chimed the Cocoa Fairy. “Someone just has to take a bite.”
“Can they hear me?” asked Chelsea.
“Of course not, silly!” said the Cocoa Fairy. “Everyone knows chocolate can’t talk!”
The next morning, Dad saw the chocolate bar, but no Chelsea. Hmmm, thought Dad. She must have left early for school.
“Wait!” called Chelsea. But Dad couldn’t hear her. After all, everyone knows that chocolate can’t talk.
After school, Chelsea’s brother walked into her room. He saw the chocolate bar lying on the floor and picked it up. He even peeled back the wrapper. But then, he remembered last night’s dinner. Surely, if Chelsea didn’t want to share
then, she would not want to share now, either. He wrapped the bar back up, put it down, and walked out the door.
Later, Milly came over to pick up a book she had left in Chelsea’s room. She spied the chocolate bar on the floor. “Yum!” She grabbed it to take a look. But the bar was still wrapped. Disappointed, Milly placed it back on the floor. Sheremembered their talk from yesterday, and she knew Chelsea wanted to be the first to open it.
“Wait!”cried Chelsea, as Milly walked to the door. But Milly could not hear her. After all, everyone knows that chocolate can’t talk.
Milly stopped as she reached the door. Wait a minute, she thought. I know Chelsea, and there is no way she hasn’t opened that candy bar! And she did say that after she opened it, I could try a bite. She peeled back the wrapper. Sure enough, some of the bar was missing.
She took a small bite, wrapped the bar carefully back up, put it back on the floor, and left the room.
Suddenly, everything went POOF! The Cocoa Fairy appeared, waved her wand, and with one colossal, cloudy swirl, popped Chelsea right out of the middle of that chocolate bar. And then, just as quickly as she had appeared, the Cocoa Fairy was gone.
Chelsea stood up straight. She stretched. She touched her face. She studied herself in the mirror. Amazing, she thought. By looking at her, no one would ever be able to tell.
But Chelsea could.
She picked up that chocolate bar, marched straight to her brother’s room, and handed over half of it. His eyes opened wide and lit up like fireworks on the Fourth of July. “Wow! Thanks!” said Ike.
Chelsea thought his reaction might even be better than chocolate – just maybe.
Then, she walked to Milly’s house. Her friend was sitting on the front steps. “Chels!” said Milly. “I stopped by your house earlier. Where have you been?”
“You wouldn’t believe it if I told you,” answered Chelsea, pulling out the last half of her giant chocolate bar. “Hey, do you still want some of this?”
“Of course!” answered Milly. “I tried some before, and it was really, really good.”
Chelsea sat down, broke off a giant piece of chocolate, and handed it to her friend.
As they sat together on the steps, Chelsea watched her friend smile. Chocolate can’t exactly talk, thought Chelsea. But it sure taught me a thing or two.
Milly took a bite. “MMMMM,” she said.
“Perfect,” Chelsea agreed. And for once, she wasn’t just talking about the chocolate.
3. What did the Cocoa Fairy do to Chelsea?
4. Who finally took a bite of the chocolate and freed Chelsea?
5. What did Chelsea do with the chocolate after the Cocoa Fairy’s spell was broken?