It all began when I was walking in the tidepools one day. It was high tide, and the waves were up to my shoulders. As I shivered and started to wade back out of the chilly water, something hard struck my shoulder. It was not flexible, like the reddish seaweed that drapes around your feet, dragging your toes down into the sand. I whirled around (as much as I could in the swirling water) and tried to get hold of it. I missed. I tried again, but my fingers could not catch hold of the slippery object. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes tight and went all the way in the water, groping about for the hard thing.

Finally, my hands closed on it. It was a bottle! I swam up to the air, took a deep breath, and shook my hair. I shivered harder, and walked out of the water. My towel was on the beach, and I wrapped myself in it, thinking about the bottle. What was in it? Who was it from? I had often dreamed about finding a bottle, maybe finding buried treasure. Now, my dreams had been realized. I hurried to pick up the bottle, my cold hands trembling as I fumbled for the cap. POP! The noise was loud, and surprised, I jumped. I took out the slightly yellowed paper that was inside. I held it close to my eyes.

It said, "Brownies. 2/3 cup butter, 2 eggs, 2 cups cocoa..." "WHAT?" I exclaimed, my incredulous voice ringing through the rocky beach. But, looking closer at the recipe, there was writing that looked like "Please enter this recipe in the next County Fair contest. Guaranteed to win!" The signature had a water mark on it. I could not read it. Shrugging my arms, I put the recipe back into the bottle and went home.

After a hot shower, I settled back into a warm, plush couch, munching a carrot. Reading the recipe once again, I said to myself, "Mmm. It sounds good. Maybe I'll try it!" An hour later, the brownies were done. Cutting myself a big square, I lifted it into my mouth, smelling the delicious smell. "YUMMY!" I exclaimed, cutting more. In minutes, half of the big pan was gone. "I think I really will enter this in the next big county fair. It will probably win!"

So, a week later, at the county fair, I stepped into the dessert tent. The air was filled with excited noises, and delicious smells. But the smell that crowned them all was my brownies. The next day, I came home with a blue ribbon and a trip to Hawaii! The judges had liked my recipe so much, they awarded me the grand prize! I was so excited, I went to the beach to swim. As I was swimming, my foot brushed something hard. Reaching down, my fingers clung to another bottle! Popping the top off as fast as I could, I hastily read the writing. "Apple Pie. Guaranteed to win your Fame and Fortune...