China loved Chocolate.

She loved chocolate in all its forms and all its flavours. China loved chocolate so much that she even made up a little song about it – the song went like this:

Chocolate bars and chocolate cake
And chocolate anything,
Chocolate whipped and chocolate chipped
And sprinkled on ice cream.

Buttons, bars and biscuits,
I like my chocolate lots.
I eat my chocolate every day,
My Mum says I'll get spots.

The bit about China's mum was all too true. Her mother had decided that China ate far too much chocolate and that it was unhealthy. She'd cut China's chocolate down by half, so that chocolate was very much on China's mind when she walked through the wood that day.

It was a warm day, a cool breeze in the trees day but China couldn’t feel it. It was a blue day, a cloud free fresh and new day but China couldn’t see it. All China could think about was chocolate.

As she walked through the woods everything reminded her of the chocolate she couldn’t have and the more she walked the crosser she got. She sang her chocolate song to herself:

Chocolate bars and chocolate cake
And chocolate anything,
Chocolate whipped and chocolate chipped
And sprinkled on ice cream.

Buttons, bars and biscuits,
I like my chocolate lots.
I eat my chocolate every day,
My Mum says I'll get spots.

China was so busy thinking about chocolate she didn’t see the old lady on the ground until she had almost fallen over her.

"Please help me up," said the old lady. "I fell down and my old bones won't let me get back up again."

But China wasn't listening. She was staring very hard at the old lady's basket. In the basket was a huge chocolate cake. It was topped with chocolate cream and chocolate flakes and was the most delicious looking chocolate cake China had ever seen. Her mouth watered.

Then she realised that the old lady was speaking to her.

"Could you help me up," said the old lady. "A big girl like you could easily lift me onto my feet." China thought for a minute...

"I'll help you up if you'll give me the chocolate cake in your basket," she said.

The old lady looked surprised, "But I made that cake for a special reason," she said.

"No cake, no help!" said China stubbornly.

"Then I suppose I must give it to you," said the old lady. "I don't want to be stuck down here all morning..."

China rushed over and helped the old lady to her feet. It wasn't difficult - the old lady was tiny and light as a bird.

"Now," said China, "my reward."

The old lady's eyes narrowed and she glared at China.

"I'll give you one more chance," she said. "I made that chocolate cake for someone in particular -- it's a very special cake. You won't find another cake like it."

"I can see that," said China greedily. "Now give it to me!"

The old lady handed over the basket with the cake in. China couldn't wait to take it home. She broke off a large piece with her hands and stuffed it into her mouth. It was delicious. The most delicious chocolate cake she'd ever tasted.

But as she chewed something odd happened. The cake in her mouth got stickier and sticker and China couldn't swallow it.The old lady watched as China's eyes grew wide with panic.

"I tried to warn you," said the old lady. "I baked that cake for someone in particular, I baked it for the woodland witch who put a curse on my cabbages. I added a special little ingredient of my own --glue!"

China's mouth was still crammed full of the awful sticky cake and she couldn't speak. She ran home as fast as she could. It was a while before she could make her mother understand what she was saying because the sticky chocolate stuck to the roof of her mouth.It took lots of glasses of water and several days before the taste of chocolate was gone completely.

And after that China couldn't even look at chocolate without feeling sick. She sang a different song after her chocolate shock. It went like this . . .

I love apples. I love pears
Grapes and cherries too,
I think plums and wonderful
Would you like a few?

THE END

"The Chocolate Shock"
Copyright © 2004
by Sharon Tregenza
All Rights Reserved.