Stephanie Longstop was the most popular girl in school. She was always the top grader in the class. Everyone used to like her, but gradually they had stopped liking her. This was because she was so popular and intelligent that she had become boastful and rude. Every time someone talked to her, she would start talking about how clever and popular she was.

One day, she was returning from school when suddenly she heard someone calling her name. “Stephanie!” she heard.

She noticed that the sound was coming from a turn ahead. So she decided to follow that voice. She turned the corner and walked down the street. She stood still to carefully listen to where the voice was coming from.

“Stephanie! I’m here behind the bush.”

Now that she could hear it properly. It sounded like a shrill voice of an old person. She parted the bush behind which she though the voice was coming from. She saw that it was a small creature, about the size of her leg.

“Don’t be frightened!” said the creature, “I just wanted to talk to you. Follow me.”

She followed it through the forest and into a field. The creature then bent down and lifted a door and went in. Stephanie followed. Inside, it was like a burrow but it was a little room. There was a soft, comfortable bed, stacks and stacks of books and a small kitchen and a small fire. Stephanie sat down.

The creature also sat down and said, “My name is Nomey. I know that you are clever….”

“Oh, so you know how clever and popular I am!” Stephanie rudely interrupted.

“Yes, and I also know how boastful and rude you are,” said Nomey.

On hearing this, Stephanie got so angry that she shouted, “I am not boastful or rude!”

“I knew that you were going to say this,” replied Nomey, “so I made you a small gift that might help you.” He took out something very unusual. It was a tiny door.

“What am I supposed to do with that?” Stephanie asked.

“Take this with you. It can stretch into a normal door. Place it in front of a wall in your bedroom. Then let it do the rest.”

Stephanie got excited and quickly snatched the little door from Nomey’s hands. She was about to go out of the burrow, when, suddenly, Nomey stopped her.

“Wait!” he shouted, “What do you have to say to me for the present?”

“Um … nothing?” Stephanie replied rudely.

“How rude!” Nomey said.

“Ok, fine. I’ll say it! Thank you!” Stephanie said restlessly.

“You’re welcome,” replied Nomey.

Stephanie hurried out of the burrow and ran home, the small door still in her hand. She burst through the front door of her house and went up to her bedroom. She put the small door on the table, and changed her school clothes, grabbed the unusual door and sat down to examine it carefully. She tried to see where the small door had to be pulled from to make it bigger. Finally, she found a small tag nailed to the side of the door. It said, “PULL.”

She quickly placed the door next to a wall and pulled the tag from the side of the door. The magic door started becoming big in size. Stephanie kept on pulling with all her strength until she knew that it was the right size.

“Oh wow! It really is amazing,” she exclaimed in excitement. “But what is going to happen next?” she thought impatiently.

Then she noticed that the magic door’s sides were glowing. She quickly closed her bedroom door, switched off the lights so that she could see the glowing door clearly.

“Oh! When is this glowing going to stop?” Stephanie wondered. Suddenly, just as she said those words, the glowing stopped. Stephanie curiously opened the door to see what was inside. Behind the door, there was a big school and a small yard.

“This is magic!” Stephanie thought, “And this seems like a very nice place. So if I’m going to school, I’ll need my school bag.” So, she went back into her room and grabbed her school bag, opened the magic door and went in. As she entered the yard, the door became smaller and fell on the ground. It was now the same small size as it was the first time she got it. Stephanie picked up the small door and walked towards the huge school.

It seemed like her own school. She walked up the stairs to her usual classroom. When she went in and looked around, instead of her 23 classmates, there were 23 girls looking exactly like her! Stephanie became so surprised that she tripped. When she tripped, all the girls looked at her and started laughing. None of them got up to help her.

Stephanie gathered up some courage and said, “Well, are you going to help me or not? I think I sprained my ankle.”

“No, we’re not!” one of the Stephanies answered. Then they all continued to talk to each other. The real Stephanie got up and went to an empty seat. She remembered how badly she used to treat her classmates if something like this would happen to anyone of them.

Suddenly, the teacher came in. Thankfully, she was not Stephanie’s look alike, so Stephanie relaxed. The day went perfectly fine until recess came. Stephanie reached into her bag to take out her lunch box, but it was not there!

“Oh no! And I’m so hungry!” Stephanie thought sadly.

She went out of her classroom and looked at the rest of her classmates. They all had their lunches and were munching on them greedily in front of her. Finally, she went to one Stephanie and asked, “Hey, can I have a bite of your sandwich?”

That Stephanie stared at her with a glare and said, “No! This is my sandwich!” and she went off stomping her feet.

“What a rude girl!” Stephanie thought.

She again asked another Stephanie and that girl said, “Excuse me? Do you know who I am? I am the cleverest girl in this school! I don’t just go around giving people like you my lunch!” and then she pushed Stephanie away.

Stephanie fell down, but thankfully she was not badly hurt she pulled herself together and sat up. She thought that these girls were very rude. Then she remembered that she was just like them! She treated other kids in her school like that when they asked for a bite or even for a bit of her lunch!

Feeling ashamed of herself, she went back in her class. Finally, it was time to go home. Stephanie followed the others outside in the yard. She dropped her bag on a bench and sat down next to it. After sometime, one Stephanie came and sat down next to her. The real Stephanie thought that this girl might be kind to her.

The girl said, “Hi! You must know who I am!”

Stephanie looked at her with wide eyes and shrugged her shoulders. “What! You don’t know!” the other Stephanie shouted. The real Stephanie shook her head. “You don’t know me! Then I’m going to chase you every time I see you! And I will make your life miserable until you actually learn to respect me and always be in awe of my popularity!”

Terrified, the real Stephanie quickly grabbed her bag, and rushed to the spot from where she had entered the school through the magic door. She looked back and saw that Stephanie was coming towards her. She quickly took out the magic door, stretched it, opened it and entered her room, then closed the door behind her. Looking around her room, she sighed in relief.

“Thank goodness!” Stephanie said, “I better return this to Nomey. I have learned my lesson.” Suddenly, there was a puff of smoke and Nomey appeared out of nowhere.

“I knew it would teach you a lesson,” he said. “Now I would like it back. Promise me you won’t be boastful and rude.”

“I promise!” Stephanie replied and gave him the tiny door and he disappeared.

From that day, Stephanie was a completely changed girl. Every time she was rude, she remembered Nomey, the magic door and her horrible adventure, and she would stop being rude. From that day on she was the cleverest and kindest girl in school, and to her surprise, everybody started liking her and appreciating her more than she could ever imagine.

Published in Dawn, Young World, August 8th, 2020