by Geof Johnson
Mr. Folsom looked at Evelyn and nodded.
Mr. Folsom gave Jamie the job. He would walk Ralphie four days a week, Monday through Thursday, for fifteen minutes each day. The pay was two dollars per walk.
“That’s eight dollars a week!” Jamie said when they got home. “That’s more than my allowance.”
By dinnertime, two more customers called. Jenny wanted him to walk Sassy twice a week, and a lady down the street wanted her dachshund walked three times a week.
Jamie did the math at the dinner table. “With my allowance, that’s…twenty three dollars a week. I’m gonna be rich! I can buy lots of magic stuff.”
“Hold on, Buddy,” Carl said. “I don’t think you should spend all your money. You should save some.”
“Do I have to?”
“He should save half,” Evelyn said.
“Half?”
“How about if you save ten dollars a week,” Carl said.
Jamie reluctantly agreed.
* * *
On the bus ride to school the next day, Rollie said, “I saw something really cool on TV last night. A ventriloquist. You ever seen one?”
Jamie shook his head, so Rollie tried to describe what he saw. That afternoon, the kids huddled in front of the computer as Rollie hunted for a video of a ventriloquist.
“This is it,” he said after he found one. “Watch this.”
After a few minutes, Fred said, “Wow, that’s so cool. He’s not moving his lips at all.”
“He’s funny, too.” Jamie nodded.
“Yeah,” Rollie said. “I like it. I wanna do that.”
Evelyn, who was sitting nearby said, “You’d be good at that, Rollie. I think you have the personality for it.”
Rollie grinned ear to ear.
* * *
Four weeks later, Jamie had 92 dollars and was on his way back to the trick shop. “So, I can spend fifty two dollars, right Mom?”
“Right,” his mother said. “We’ll go to the bank and put the rest in a savings account for you.”
“What do I gotta save for?”
“College. We need to sock away as much as we can, and the sooner we start, the better.”
The first thing they passed inside the shop was a shelf that had books and instructional videos. Jamie stopped for a minute to browse. “Hey Mom,” he said. “They have a ventriloquist DVD.”
“They have dummies, too.” His mother pointed to the opposite wall.
“We oughta bring Rollie up here sometime.” Jamie looked over the magic merchandise carefully, but kept coming back to the book shelf. “Mom, if I buy this ventriloquist DVD for Rollie, how much money will I have left?”
“You’ll have about thirty-five dollars. Are you going to get that for him?”
“He’d like it.”
“If you get something for Rollie, don’t you think you should get something for Fred? You don’t want to hurt her feelings.”
“What am I gonna get her?”
“We’ll go to the gift shop next door.”
After paying for Rollie’s DVD, Jamie didn’t have enough money for a magic hat, so he settled on scarves and trick coins. They went to the shop next door and it didn’t take Jamie long to find the perfect gift for Fred.
“Mom, look.” He pointed to a small glass figurine.
“It looks like a fairy. It’s really pretty.” Rachel looked at the price tag. “Is this what you want?”
Jamie nodded and smiled.
* * *
Later that day, Fred and Rollie came over to get their gifts. Rollie wanted to watch his DVD right away.
“Let Fred open hers first,” Rachel said.
When Fred opened the little box that held the glass figurine, her eyes grew big and she gasped, “Oh, it’s beautiful!”
“It’s a fairy,” Jamie said. “The Dream Fairy.”
“Thank you!” Fred hugged Jamie fiercely and kissed him on the cheek.
“Ah, Fred.” But as he raised his hand to wipe away the kiss, Rachel grabbed his wrist. Fred was too excited about her glass fairy to notice. Rachel whispered in Jamie’s ear, “You can wipe it later.”
* * *
One Friday evening, the family was on its way home from talent show night at their church when Rachel said, “Jamie, don’t be so hard on yourself. It was your first show.”
“But everybody laughed at me.” On his first trick, he had dropped the whole deck of cards.
“Some of the best magicians get people to laugh on purpose,” Carl said. “It’s part of their act.”
Fred, sitting in the back with Jamie, said, “I didn’t laugh.”
“Thanks,” Jamie muttered.
“I thought you were great, especially when you made the little ball appear in that guy’s pocket.”
“How did you do that?” Carl asked.
“Can’t tell.” Jamie couldn’t tell because he didn’t know. All he knew was that by the end of his show, he was so flustered he could barely talk and realized he needed to do something amazing. When the volunteer tried to pick which cup the ball was under, Jamie thought about it being in the man’s pants pocket, and sure enough, it was. Jamie had gotten a nice round of applause.
“You just need to practice more in front of people,” Rachel said. “You can practice in front of us.”
“And you need to work on your act,” Evelyn added. “The magic tricks are just part of a good magician’s performance. I can help you with that. I took some theater classes in college. We’ll sit down and look at videos of good performers and get ideas from them.”
“Fred,” Rachel said, “when are you going to be ready to tap dance for us?”
“I have my first recital in March. Are you gonna come?”
“We wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
* * *
Rollie demonstrated his ventriloquism skills in Jamie’s family room, using a sock puppet for his dummy. “Okay watch.” He gritted his teeth in an awkward smile, moved the puppet’s mouth and said, “Hi, I’m Roscoe, Rollie’s puppet. How are you today?”
“That’s pretty good,” Lisa said. “I can see your lips move a little, but not too much.”
“I think if you had a real ventriloquist’s dummy it would help,” Larry said. “Then people would focus more on it than you.”
Rollie nodded. “I’m gonna ask for one for Christmas.”
“Have you been practicing a lot?” Lisa asked.
“Yes ma’am. I watch that DVD every day.”
“You need some jokes, too,” Larry said. “I can help you with that.”
“I already got one,” Rollie said. “What happens when a pregnant lady takes a really cold shower in the winter?”
“I don’t know.”
“She gets wet.” Rollie grinned broadly.
Larry paused for a moment, then said, “Actually, that’s kinda funny.”
You should use it, Honey.” Lisa giggled. “It’s funnier than yours.”
* * *
Lisa sat on the edge of Fred’s bed, tucking her in for the night. Fred held the glass figurine that Jamie had given her.
“Mom, why did Jamie call this the Dream Fairy?”
“His mom told me it’s something she used to tell him when he was little, something to help him go to sleep.”
Fred kissed the figurine and put it on her bedside table.
“Why do you always kiss it goodnight?”
“Just do,”
“I know, it’s because Jamie gave it to you.”
“Nu uh.”
“Oh, I think it’s because you’re sending kisses to Jamie.” Fred blushed and her eyes got wide. Lisa tickled Fred and said, “It’s true, don’t try denying it!”
“Stop!” Fred shrieked.
Lisa stroked Fred’s head. “It’s okay, Honey. I’d do it, too, if I were in your shoes.”
Fred drew her eyebrows down. “Do you think Jamie loves me?”
“He does, he just doesn’t know it yet.”
“You always say that! When’s he gonna know?”
“I don’t know, but he will. Boys are slower than girls at stuff like that.”
Chapter 20
Rollie, still in his pajamas, knocked on the Sikes’s door on Christmas morning. Evelyn let him in and he ran into the family room where Jamie and his parents were still looking over their presents.
“I got it!” Rollie said proudly, holding up his new ventriloquist’s dummy.
“Wow, that’s so cool,” Jamie said. “He even looks kinda like you.”
“My momma says we should dress alike, me and the dummy, to be more show businesslike.”
“I can help you with that,” Evelyn said. “I can sew you matching shirts and vests.”
“Yeah, that’d be great.” Rollie nodded. “We could have yellow shirts maybe, and purple vests.”
“Not purple!” Jamie said.
“Jamie hates purple,” Evelyn said. “How about green?”
“Whatcha gonna call it?” Jamie asked.
“Roscoe, maybe.”
“Nah, that’s the sock puppet’s name. Something better.”
“How about Rufus?” Carl said. “I went to school with a guy named Rufus.”
Rollie scrunched his mouth, looking thoughtful. “Yeah. Rufus is good. We could be Rufus and Rollie.”
“Try him out for us,” Rachel urged.
“Okay.” Rollie fixed a grin, moved the dummy’s mouth and said, “Hello, my name is Rufus. What’s your name, dummy?”
Rollie got his first big laugh.
* * *
Two little boys were being tortured. Not only were they forced to be inside on a beautiful spring Saturday and wear their Sunday suits, they had to watch Fred’s dance recital.
“This is dumb,” Rollie whispered. “It’s so dumb it’s killing me. Death by dumbness.” He grabbed his throat with both hands in a choking gesture, rolled his eyes up in his head, and let his tongue hang out of the corner of his mouth. Jamie snickered loudly.
“You boys behave!” Evelyn hissed. “Or no pizza.”
Pizza was the bribe for going to the recital and behaving. They’d made it to the recital but were having trouble with the behaving part. Lisa, sitting a few chairs over, had her hand over her mouth, trying not to laugh.
“You’re certainly getting a kick out of it,” Rachel said, sitting next to her with her new camcorder.
“I can’t help it,” Lisa said. “Those boys are so funny.”
“Please don’t encourage them,” Carl said.
“I won’t.” She leaned forward and looked down the row of chairs. “If you guys are good, I’ll give you some quarters for the video games.”
“They got video games?” Rollie said.
“Sure, all pizza parlors do. So whaddya say? Can you do it?”
For video games, they could certainly try. Both boys sat up straight and did their best to be good as Fred and the other dancers took the stage.
* * *
Summertime and the living was easy for Jamie, Fred, and Rollie. They lay on their backs in Jamie’s backyard, looking at clouds.
Rollie pointed at the sky. “That one looks like a whale.”
“Nah, it looks more like a hippo,” Fred said.
“I say it’s whale, too,” Jamie said. “A humpback whale.”
“You been watchin’ your dumb ol’ nature shows again?” Rollie said.
“You should try ’em sometime. They’re really good.”
“Really dumb, you mean.”
Jamie knew how his friends felt about the nature shows. He decided to drop it. “Wouldn’t it be great to be a cloud?”
“And float across the sky all day,” Fred said. “That’d be great.”
“I could float right now,” Rollie said.
“Let’s close our eyes and pretend we’re clouds.”
“I got mine closed,” Rollie murmured. “I’m floatin’.”
“I’m lighter than air,” Jamie said. “I’m a balloon.”
It did seem like he was floating. He couldn’t feel the ground, he was so light. There was a slight breeze on his back. He was a feather on a gust of air.
“Do you guys feel as light as I do?” Jamie asked.
“Uh…uh…uh!” Rollie babbled.
“Jamie!” Fred yelled.
Jamie dropped about three feet and landed hard on his back, knocking the air of his lungs. Rollie jumped to his feet, backing away with a look of horror on his face.
Fred knelt beside Jamie. “Are you okay?”
“Huhhh,” he said through the pain. He could only breathe in shallow gasps.
“Do you want me to get your Gramma?”
He shook his head.
“I gotta go home,” Rollie said.
“You can’t.” Fred looked up. “Nobody’s there. Jamie’s Gramma’s supposed to be watchin’ us.” She looked back at Jamie. “How’d you do that?”
Jamie didn’t answer.
“This is bad,” Rollie said. “You were floating in the air. This is really bad.” Rollie paced back and forth at the edge of the yard near the camellia bushes, as far from Jamie as he could get. “That was magic. Real magic.” Pace. Pace. “Real magic’s bad. My dad said so.” Pace. Pace. “It comes from Satan.”
Jamie managed to sit up, but breathing was still painful. “C’mon, Rollie.”
“No…I can’t be your friend no more. That was real magic, and that’s the Devil!” He paced faster.
“Rollie, don’t be a dope,” Fred said. “Jamie’s not the Devil, he’s your best friend. He goes to church and everything.”
Rollie stop pacing for a moment. Fred continued, “Besides, you know he’s a good person. Have you ever known him to do anything devilish-like?”
“No.”
“Rollie, you gotta keep being my friend,” Jamie said. “What if I swear something on the Bible, like I swear to only use my powers for good? Then we could still be friends. You gotta keep bein’ my friend, you just gotta.”
“Powers?” Fred said. “You can do something else?”
Jamie remembered one of his dreams. He stood and looked around the yard until he found a rock. He picked it up and threw it high in the air, pointed his finger at it, and released a searing bolt of energy that pulverized it into dust.
“Whoooaaa.” Fred said.
“Oh no,” Rollie moaned.
“Rollie, calm down. It’s okay,” Jamie said.
“Jamie, stop doing that,” Fred said. “You gotta swear an oath, and you gotta do it soon, ’fore Rollie goes bananas.”
“You gotta swear it right now!” Rollie said.
“No, we gotta do this right,” Fred said. “We gotta have a ceremony and stuff. We gotta dress up.”
“Ah, c’mon, Fred,” Jamie said. “Don’t make us dress up.”
“It’s gotta be done, so quit whining. You can pick your own outfit.”
* * *
After rummaging through Fred’s dress-up trunks, they settled on their appropriate costumes and returned to Jamie’s backyard, climbed up to the clubhouse, and prepared for the oath-swearing ceremony. Jamie brought a Bible from his house.
Each of the boys had managed to keep it simple. They both wore regal-looking capes, and Rollie wore a crown. Fred wore a shiny, party store costume dress, with plastic high heels and a tiara.
They sat around the little table with the Bible in the middle.
“Before I swear anything,” Jamie said, “you guys have to swear to always be my friends.” He gave Rollie a meaningful look. “Or I’m not doin’ it.”
Rollie nodded. “Let’s all put our hands on the Bible.”
“All right,” Jamie said, “Say: We swear to always be best friends.”
They put their hands on the Bible and said the oath in unison. Jamie felt a warm, tingling sensation from his hand, rising up his arm.
Rollie jerked back. “What was that? Jamie, stop doing that!”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Is
it bad?” Rollie asked.
“No, I don’t think so,” Fred said. “It was like that time at the pool, you know, when we floated together without kickin’?” She gave Rollie a hard look. “Now quit being a baby and put your hand back on the Bible so we can do Jamie’s oath.”
Rollie put his hand back and the tingling returned, but he managed to keep still. “It feels kinda good.”
“So what am I going to say in my oath?” Jamie said.
“Okay, repeat after me,” Rollie said. “I, Jamie —”
Fred shook her head. “That’s not proper. Use your whole name.”
“Okay. I, James Evan Sikes….”
Rollie continued, “Do solemnly swear in the eyes of God and my best friends….”
Jamie repeated the line.
“Never to…what? What should he say?” Rollie asked.
“To never use my powers for bad.” Fred nodded firmly
“No, he should say ‘never use my powers for evil’.” He pronounce it ee-ville, like it was a small town in Iowa.
Jamie said it. “Now what?”
“And to never hurt nobody….”
“Anybody,” Fred said. “And to not let somebody get hurt…no, to always help people.”
“Yeah, that’s good,” Rollie said. “Say that.”
Jamie did.
“I know,” Fred said. “And to never use my powers to make myself rich. That’s real oathy sounding.”
Jamie repeated that, too.
“One more thing,” Rollie said. “And to never tell anybody else, especially our parents.”
Jamie repeated the line.
“So help me God,” Fred said.
“So help me God,” Jamie said. “Let’s say amen together.”
“Amen,” they said solemnly. Their hands, still on the Bible, got warmer, and started glowing. The kids looked on wide-eyed as the glow grew to a blinding flare and subsided.
“Wow, that was something.” Rollie laughed nervously. He looked at both of his friends. “Let’s see if it worked. Let’s test you. What can we try?”
“Change this table into gold,” Fred said. “See if you can do that ’cause that’d be making yourself rich.”
“I don’t think I have that power,” Jamie said. “I remember not being able to do that from before.” From before what? he thought. Why did I say that?