by Geof Johnson
“Right. Mortally wounded him. But I couldn’t figure out what the advantage was supposed to be. I thought it was some new super spell I’d come up with or something, but now I know better. It was… everything. You, Gramma, the house, the yard…Fred and Rollie. I never would’ve made it without those guys.” Jamie smiled. “The situation I grew up in was my advantage. The old man sensed that. He knew it would be hard for me and I’d need all the help I could get.”
“And Fred and Rollie have been in on this the whole time?” his mother asked.
“Yes. They made me swear an oath not to hurt anybody or make money off it or anything. I think I did pretty good with that, except the time I set the minister on fire.”
“That was you?” his father said.
Jamie winced. “Probably shouldn’t have said that.”
His mother laughed. “No wonder Fred was so mad at you.”
“If you can’t make money off your magic,” his father said, “does that mean you can’t change lead into gold?”
“No, I don’t think anybody can. But I…wait!” He held one finger up. “Money! We have to go home.” He outlined a glowing doorway.
* * *
Jamie’s parents watched as he crept across their backyard under the light of his personal sun. He stopped. “Here. It’s right here.” He gestured and the ground buckled upward as a flat stone popped into the air and floated to his hand.
He brushed it off and showed his parents. “This is a map of Switzerland and these numbers are for a specific bank and account number. The old man took the money from the sale of the house and deposited it there.”
“All of it?” his father asked.
“Yeah, all of it. Oughta be a fair sized chunk of change by now.”
“I’ll say. A few hundred grand, I’d bet.”
His mother smiled. “That means we have enough to send you college.”
“More than that,” Jamie said. “You can take a nice vacation and still have a good retirement nest egg. You can go to Hawaii, if you want.”
“But how will we get to Switzerland?” she said. “The air fare will be expensive.”
“We’re not gonna fly. We’re gonna use a doorway, just like Eddan did. I can make one anywhere, practically. We can go to Hawaii right now. Want me to make a doorway?”
“Some other time,” his father said.
“We can go to other planets, like the one we were just on. They won’t have hotels, but you could camp out. That would be some vacation, huh?”
“Hawaii will do for now,” his mother said.
Chapter 51
Jamie and Fred were finishing a picnic dinner on a blanket under three full moons.
“You sure know how to show a girl a good time,” Fred said. “Most girls are lucky if their boyfriend takes them to the park.”
“There are a lot of places we can visit. I want to show you all of them.”
“I want to go. But first, we have to do something else.”
“Are you sure you’re ready?”
“Oh, yes.” She held out her hand and he helped her up.
“You’re not scared, even though it’s your first time?”
“I trust you.” She faced him and held both of his hands. “What do I do? Do I grab on?”
“I don’t think you have to. I’ve got this theory I want to try out.” He let go with one hand. “I think because of our special…bond, or whatever it is, that my magic will flow through you. So just think about being light, like a balloon.”
Fred closed her eyes and they rose from the ground. “Oh, I feel it!”
They rose higher, gracefully, 20 feet, 40 feet, higher and higher, the rocky ledge below becoming smaller. “This is amazing!” she said. “Let’s go higher.”
“Don’t let go, Fred, okay?”
“Never” She smiled and shook her head slightly. “Never ever.”
They floated about 1,000 feet above the rocky landscape and hovered.
“Can you make some music?’ Fred said. “Something slow.”
A slow waltz began to play as Fred put her other arm around Jamie. “Fred,” Jamie whispered in her ear, “are you the Dream Fairy?”
“Yes, didn’t you know?”
“Do you love me?”
“Yes.”
“I love you, too.”
“Dance with me,” she said, and pressed her cheek to his.
So, with a world to themselves, they danced in the sky, one silhouette, two lovers under three full moons.
About Geof
Geof Johnson is a writer, musician, and artist living in Atlanta with his wife. You can see videos of his children’s music and art on YouTube, and you can contact him at: [email protected]
Table of Contents
Front Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
About Geof