Chapter 1: A window of opportunity

Jim had always led a fairly normal life for a window. He had a wife called Double Glazing, who he spent most of his time flapping over. His mood had its ups and downs; sometimes he was closed, blinded to the rest of the windows, but most of the time he was open, feeling the sunlight beat down through his newly installed triple glazing. It is safe to say, Jim led a simple life and had no reason to dislike it. That was until the day, the day that should not be spoken of. The day that sent Jim into a rattling frenzy…

It was late afternoon; Jim was feeling shattered, and was grumbling to Double Glazing about Diamond – their new born. He was very concerned that their beautiful baby hadn’t inherited the Glazing family trait – she didn’t seem to dazzle as much as her mother had always done at such a young age. Fretting away he was all too tangled to realise what was happening around him. SMASH! Horrifying questions swirled around Jim’s head in a whirlwind of thoughts. Silence descended. “Double Glazing?” wobbled Jim. No reply. Momentarily Jim turned and saw what would haunt him for the rest of his days – his wife broken. He felt as if his ledge had fallen off, never to be repaired.

Rattling furiously he saw the source of this crushing crime, Josh-the fourteen year old in the family- holding a cricket bat, he was so pale he could have been transparent. Jim was horror struck, and felt closed off from the rest of the world. Dead…DEAD! The word echoed around his triple glazing, and the reality crashed down upon him, suddenly all in one moment, he was a widow. He always will be. Oh, the pane! Jim’s mind was scattered (rather like his wife!) and he was falling to bits.

Jim was feeling glassy eyed; his thoughts were smeared all over the place. Over the sound of his impending doom that was yet to come by the hand of his parents, he could hear Josh.  Although he probably couldn’t hear Jim because he was a boy and Jim was a window.

“You!” he shouted, glaring at Josh, and he begun to devise a plan in the smart head of his.

 

Chapter 2 Jim meets his old school friends

Jim had wondered for a long time now about what to do. Nothing seemed to make sense. He needed something really clever to make fourteen year old Josh sorry for what he did. After what had happened to his (now shattered) beloved Double Glazing, Jim felt as broken-hearted as ever.

Suddenly, a brilliant idea whizzed through his mind. It was so utterly fantastic that Jim, being a humble window, astounded himself. Glazing with excitement, Jim was sure his plan would pay Josh back for smashing his wife.

Way back, when Jim was at Casement Community High School, he had been part of a close group of friends: Storm, Wind, Magic, Prophecy and Skylight. Skylight was Jim’s best friend who coincidentally lived in the same house.

“Skylight!” Jim called in his piercingly high-pitched voice. “Skylight! Are you there?”

“Yes, what is it?” a distant voice replied kindly.

“Did you see what happened to my wife?” Jim questioned mournfully.

“No but I heard shattered glass.”

Jim told Skylight the whole story.

“I didn’t realise that smash was Double Glazing, oh how sad!” sobbed Skylight.

“I have a plan. Remember our marvellous old friend Magic? She could transform Josh into a window so he knows how it feels.” explained Jim.

“Wait! In high school, Magic said that the transformation spell was a dual spell. She could only turn Josh into a window if a window is metamorphosed into a human being,” Skylight remembered anxiously. “Which window would you swap?”

After thinking for a while, Jim came to a paneful decision: Diamond.

“I always felt that she was not fit to be a window. Maybe this will be an opportunity for her to have a better life.”

 

Chapter 3: A Paneful Dilemma

Jim had been pondering over his decision for a while, and although Skylight had been constantly reassuring him, he was not sure if he should go through with it… or how he should go through with it.

“Skylight, do you remember where Magic had been installed?” he asked hopefully.

“Wasn’t it in Glass-go?” thought Skylight aloud.

“Oh, that house on Sealing Road… I think so – that name does ring a bell.”

Jim and Skylight (now knowing Magic’s exact location) thought about how to contact him, though without any luck so far.

Hopeless.

They decided to call up on Wind who lived in the house opposite theirs. Wind had always been the lustrous one – always in with the Window-vine. He was the talker among the group and if there was one individual capable of communicating with Magic, it was him.

After consulting Wind, Jim became a lot more optimistic about their plan. Thanking Skylight, he closed up to do some thinking about the next stage of their plot. That was when he realised. NO! He had forgotten to talk it through with Diamond! How would he break it to her? Dear, you must become a human… No, maybe: sorry Diamond but you’re going to have to give up your window life and switch with a human. Would that work?

The result came the following day when Jim was polishing up. Wind reported that Magic would write down the method of the spell in the next fogged up window – their cunning plan had been successful so far; the only part left was to show Diamond all the benefits (even though he was pretty sure she would agree).

 

Chapter 4 The plot thickens

Jim knew that he had to convince his daughter Diamond that their plan was beneficial to her – after all, she wasn’t a successful window but she could succeed as a human. As the stars twinkled in the velvety, midnight sky above, Jim and Skylight hatched their plot. After an exhausting night of planning, they knew they had come up with a perfect solution.

When the family left the house the next morning, Jim called to his daughter in his crystal clear voice: “Diamond my love; I have a truly exciting proposal for you!”

Diamond had often been ignored by her father; however, on hearing his excited voice, she rapidly opened her blind and listened attentively.

Panestakingly, Jim unfolded his and Skylight’s devious plan. “So you see, you’ll be able to move from being a window on the world to being a part of the world. Isn’t that an amazing opportunity?” he concluded. Diamond, who wasn’t too bright, agreed readily to her father’s scheme and the wheels were set in motion, the panes began to slide into place.

Later that day, the windows in the house began to rattle as the wind howled ferociously outside. Gradually they began to mist up and the stage was set for Magic’s spell to be revealed. With a bang, the front door closed and Josh came storming in flinging his school bag along the hall aggressively. Jim saw all this and smiled:  little did Josh know that his life was about to change forever – no more indoor cricket, no more careless shattering, just a life spent gazing out as the world passed by. Alone.

Magic’s spell slowly began to reveal itself and Jim felt mounting excitement. He and Skylight began to chant the strange words of the spell. Beside him, Diamond felt a strange tingling in her panes. A noise like the sound of breaking glass echoed around the house. Jim opened his curtains wide and stared in fascination as a blinding flash filled the air. Where Josh had stood a moment ago, there was…

 

Chapter 5: A less paneful end

… a new but rather poorly fitted double glazed window and standing in the garden was a dazzling young girl that looked nothing like the window, Diamond. This was the ‘new Diamond’. She had lovely long blonde hair and glistening green eyes. Around her neck she wore a shiny blue necklace with a locket containing two fragments of splintered glass – one from her beloved father, Jim, and one from her much loved, now shattered, mother, Double Glazing. Diamond tentatively opened her eyes and glanced at her reflection of a human version of herself – from head to toe. She wondered if what she saw could be possible – could she have turned into this beautiful girl?

On the contrary, Josh was feeling absolutely distraught. He was frantically opening and closing his blinds, curtains and lastly – himself. Tears were cascading like a waterfall over his pane. This was starting to irritate Jim, but once Josh had calmed down, Jim was able to explain to him just why he had been transformed from a fourteen year old boy into a rather awkward looking window.

After an hour of explaining the many delights of being a window – keeping an eye on everyone’s comings and goings and only needing a wash once in a while, being just two of these, Josh began to see the benefits. Jim looked down on him and smiled. He had had his revenge – no more cricket and no more broken windows!

Time passed and both Josh and Diamond had become accustomed to their new lives. It was going very well for Diamond, but it wasn’t going quite so well for Josh. However, reading the book ‘How to Adjust to Your New View’ helped him. Diamond became a renowned actress and won an Oscar for best actress in ‘Room with a View’.

If you are wondering about Double Glazing, then worry no more. Miraculously, an expert glazier fixed her and added some very stylish purple and blue stained glass panels which were the envy of all. Jim was delighted to have her back and Josh? Well, Josh grew to be a highly respected and admired member of the local window community and, without doubt, had learnt the error of his ways.

by Year 6 pupils from Stanley, East Sheen, Heathfield Junior, Hampton Hill Junior and St. Edmund’s primary schools