One evening in October, James and Deanna were practicing trick-or-treating in their backyard, when they saw Dad standing near something as big and shiny as a crystal next to the old oak tree.

Dad said, "Kids, look, it's a time machine!"

James said, "Wow! How did you get it, Dad?"
    
Deanna said, "There's no way that there's a time machine. I mean what are the chances of a time machine being in our backyard?"
    
Dad said, "Let's take a cruise. We have to make it quick because we don't want to worry Mom!"
    
So, Dad, Deanna, and James hopped in the time machine, and ...

There was a flash of sapphire blue light. Twenty years passed by. The backyard
was now a beautiful garden. An exotic colourful flower bed surrounded a healthy emerald green lawn. The lawn was being mowed by a high-tech, compact, computerised lawn mower, following sensors in the ground. In the centre of the lawn a lone figure was leaning over a small fountain, gazing at a shiny marble plaque, which read, "To a dear husband and two loving children who went missing one dark chilly October night-who will never be forgotten." Suddenly a single tear drop fell from her eye into the fountain.

"Oh my gosh! Is tha..." Deanna said.

But before she could finish her sentence, Dad put his hand over her mouth and rushed both Deanna and James back into the time machine.

"We gotta get back!" is all Dad could say.

Dad was frantically pushing buttons when he bumped into Deanna's soda can.  It exploded all over the control panel and Dad.

"Who put this...Oh, forget it!  We just really need to get back to your mother!"

Suddenly, there was a flash of rose red light.  Seventy years had passed by.  The backyard was stark.  There were a few flowers in planters, ready to be planted. There was a small seedling of an oak tree with a gnome sitting on a mushroom at the base.  Next to the statue, sat a little girl, about 5 years old, playing with a doll. Dad looked out of the time machine and said...

Michele Ben
Grade 8
Ginsburg Haoren Junior High School
Yavneh,  Israel
Our school has six grades in it, from 7th through 12th with about 1250 students.
The town of Yavneh is about twenty minutes south of Tel-Aviv.
Yavneh was an important center of scholarship and government at the end of the first century BC.  
Now, Yavneh is a modern town with three shopping centers, a McDonald's, two community centers,
schools, a library, an arts center, tennis and basketball courts, a public pool and approximately
50,000 residents.  The people who live here are Israeli born, and are immigrants and refugees from all over the world: North and South America, North Africa, other Mid-East countries, Central European countries, Eastern European countries.  The newest immigrants and refugees come from Russia, other ex-Soviet countries and Ethiopia. People live in apartment buildings or private homes.

Dad looked out of the time machine and said, "Oh no!  We've gone too far back in time.  Look, kids, that must be your grandmother here in the garden."

Deanna and James looked out of the time machine.  James said, "Wow, cool!"

Deanna said, "Hey, I have an idea.  Let's talk to her."

She was about to leave the time machine when James grabbed her arm.
   
"No, Deanna," James said, "I don't think that's a good idea.
We don't know what could happen!  We could change the future!"

Dad said, "I think that James has a point.  We really must try to get back to when we were when we started."

"But the time machine doesn't work!  We were trying to get back but we ended up here!"

Deanna cried as she began to bang on the control panel.

James started to say, "Be careful, you'll break it when there was a flash of yellow light and...

...suddenly the machine was moving. It landed with a thud.
"Whatever I did, it worked because we're home!" said Deanna. "There's my bike right where I left it, see. It has my pink bike helmet hooked on the handlebars. I can see my name on it."
The family scrambled out of the machine and all ran toward the house. James looked in the window. "The TV is paused to that video game I was playing. It's like we never left."
"Come on kids, let's go inside," said their father. "I see your mother in the kitchen." He opened the back door and they all walked in.
"Mom! We're back,"James and Deanna cried as their mother approached them.
"Who are you and what are you doing in my house?" the woman asked....

Deanna, James and Dad all looked at each other.
"You're our mum", said James.
"No, I'm not!" said the woman. "I haven't seen you before," the woman explained.
"Well how come that is the exact bike and helmet with my name on it as before?" asked Deanna.
"And how come my video game was paused at the same spot as I was up to?" said James.
The woman laughed. "My daughter's name is Deanna and my son is James. I thought they had gone to the shops and they will be back any minute."
It was then that Dad and the children realized that they were still in their Halloween masks.
"It's us! Mum" they said as they took off their masks.
They all laughed.