"A volcano in our backyard?!" William shouted. He couldn't believe his eyes! Moving to a new house was already exciting, but a volcano? That was a whole new level of awesome!
Yuna, William's furry, magical dog, wagged her tail excitedly. She loved adventures, and a volcano sounded like the best adventure ever!
William's mom laughed. "Not really, silly! It's just a big pile of dirt. We're going to make it look like a real volcano, though. It'll be our special project!"
William wasn't sure about that. It sounded a bit boring compared to a real, lava-spewing volcano. He decided to use his super strength and build a real volcano instead! He snuck away to the backyard, grabbed his toy shovel, and started digging. He dug and dug, deeper and deeper, until... "Whoa!"
The ground rumbled, and a giant plume of smoke shot up from the hole! William coughed and waved his hands. This wasn't a pile of dirt anymore, it was a real, live volcano! He quickly ran back inside and told his mom, "I think our volcano project just erupted!"
Mom rushed outside, her eyes wide with surprise. "Oh my..." she gasped.
Suddenly, a figure emerged from the smoke. It was a witch, but not a scary one. This witch had a bright pink hat with fuzzy dice dangling from the brim, and a big, friendly smile.
"Well, hello there!" the witch chirped. "Looks like you've awakened old Smoky! Don't worry, he's harmless... mostly." She winked.
William was speechless. He had a volcano in his backyard, and now a witch too? This was turning out to be the best move ever!
The witch, whose name was Hazel, explained that she lived inside the volcano and used its heat to make delicious cookies. "Would you like to try one?" she offered, holding out a plate of warm, gooey chocolate chip cookies.
William and Yuna happily munched on the cookies. Even Mom couldn't resist trying one.
"So," William asked between bites, "what do we do about the volcano?"
Hazel chuckled. "We can't very well leave it erupting, can we? I've got just the thing!"
She rummaged in her bag and pulled out a tiny bottle filled with shimmering blue liquid. "One sprinkle of this, and Smoky will be back to sleep in no time!"
She carefully poured a few drops onto the erupting volcano. The rumbling stopped, the smoke cleared, and Smoky the volcano was calm once again.
"There you go!" Hazel declared. "Problem solved!"
Later that evening, as William helped unpack boxes, he couldn't help but smile. He might miss his old home, but this new house, with its magical surprises and friendly witch neighbor, was shaping up to be quite amazing!
Yuna barked in agreement, her tail wagging excitedly. She couldn’t wait to see what other adventures awaited them in their new home, with a volcano in the backyard and a witch for a friend.
