Chapter Seventeen (part d)

When Moffat and the children arrived back home again, they found Jennifer's mother sketching in the back yard. She looked quite discouraged.

"I just can't seem to draw anything right!" she sighed. "We shouldn't have come here, I'll never get a job!"

"Don't worry mom, you're a real good artist!" Jennifer told her. "It'll all work out okay, you'll seel"

"But I can't even do a decent sketch anymore!" said her mother. "If only I could remember the feeling!"

"You will!" said Jennifer and she gave her a big hug.

"I hope so. Did you have a good time in the ravine?"

"We had a wonderful time!" Jennifer told her. "Just wait till you see what we've brought back with us!"

Everyone crowded around while Jennifer took out the source stone and showed it to her mother.

"It's very beautiful," she said. 'What is it."

"The source stone," Jennifer told her. "It's magic. You can keep it awhile if you want, it'll help you to draw."

"I can certainly use all the help I can get," laughed her mother. "You must be quite hungry from your travels today. I made some chocolate cookies while you were all away, so go in to the kitchen and help yourself."

Everyone was pleased to do just that, especially Moffat who was particularly fond of chocolate anything.

"Glad to see she has a sensible streak," he whispered to Jennifer. "Chocolate cookies beat cleaning by a mile! How's her cake?"

"The best!" Jennifer whispered back.

"What'd you give her the source stone for?" hissed Rachael. 'We need that to do all our magic stuff."

"I'm just letting her borrow it," explained Jennifer. "It'll help with her painting, you'll see! We can get it back tomorrow if we want to use it with the other stones."

"It won't work for her, she's a grown-up, " said Rachael.

"It's working just fine," said Moffat. "Take a look!"

They all looked. Sure enough, Jennifer's mother was suddenly quite hard at work. She was holding the source stone tightly in one hand while the other moved the pencil quickly across the sketching pad. She had a far-away look in her eyes as if she were seeing something entirely new about the everyday world that was bright and exciting and out of the ordinary. And Jennifer knew that despite what might happen, and although things might change, everything would turn out all right in the end.