The Magic Spinner

Once their eyes get used to the dim, windowless attic, they can see what Mom is talking about. The place is cluttered and filled with old and new junk. They walk through the piles of boxes and begin exploring the stuff.

Mom gives each of them a task. Parker is given the task of looking into a pile of boxes and telling Mom what's inside each one. Punky has a smaller pile of boxes to go through, but Mom doesn't expect much of her. In fact, as soon as Punky opens her box she finds a rag doll from when she was little and starts playing with it.

Parker sits on the floor and begins opening and sorting boxes. Now that he's started, it's actually kind of interesting. He finishes sorting and labeling the boxes, discards some, and gives the "question" boxes to Mom.

Parker then moves on to an old trunk which is at the end of the long, dusty room. He opens the trunk and takes out some old uniforms,

"Cool," he says as he unfolds them. "Mom, whose are these?"

Mom glances over at Parker. "It was your Grandfather's trunk. It's just a bunch of junk. Leave it for now."

Parker puts on an old navy hat.

"Hey, Punky, look at me." Parker shows off. Then goes back to unpacking the trunk.

He then takes out a long heavy box that rattles with what's inside. When Parker opens it, he sees some handles covered with black cloth. He removes the cloth pieces and sees that underneath them is a pair of Japanese swords.

Parker lifts up one of the swords. Luckily the blade has never been sharpened - it's a decorative sword. Basically, for looks only and not for fighting.

"Mom! Look!" Parker waves the sword above his head. "Can I have it?"

"Parker, watch out. That's dangerous!" Mom comes rushing over.

"No, it's not sharp. See." Parker shows her the unsharpened blade. "Can I have it?"

"I guess. If you promise to be careful with it."

Parker keeps unpacking his Grandfather's wooden box. He takes out four fighting stars, some scrolls, and a spinner board with old-looking symbols and writing on it.

"What does it say? What language is this?"

Mrs. Racoosin studies the writing on the spinner board which appears to be written on thin wood. "I think it's Japanese. Grandpa visited Japan when he was in the Navy. A long time ago." She hands the spinner back to Parker.

Parker lifts the strips of old black cloth. He realizes that they are six head sashes and he ties one around his head.

"Look at me. I'm a Ninja!" he shouts as he waves his sword above his head. "I'm a Ninja!"