A Tale of Two Tricksters

by Debbie Newcomb

  Just because she believed in magic, however reluctantly, didn’t mean she had to believe everything. She knew that lost people looking for answers were the easiest to manipulate. She did that all the time. So, Jenn took a moment to calm herself back down and go over what she knew about the world and the easiest way for Achi to fit into that. Achi could easily be magical and not be responsible for the creation of the world. That was just a story, while Achi was definitely real. Feeling a bit more settled, Jenn picked her phone back up.

  She did a little more surfing and found that the Pueblo people had several clans, including the coyote clan. Looking up Coyote, Jenn found that he was a character in many of their folktales, and a trickster. He pulled some pretty good ones too.

  Soon after that, Jenn came across Unktomi in the Lakota and Dakota Sioux tribes. He was also a trickster. In one of the stories, he saw a red cloud and convinced a few women to go try to pick the red plums that clearly had to be underneath it. While they were gone, he killed their babies, left their heads sticking out of the swaddling clothes, and cooked the rest. When the women came back, Unktomi served them the stew he had made and told them not to wake up their babies until after they were done eating. Once they realized what he had done, they chased him down, but he managed to slide away unharmed and live to trick someone else another day.

  Part of Jenn admired Unktomi’s trick. It was entirely needless, but it was clever beyond belief. Those women would feel the impact of that for a long time. Part of Jenn was horrified that he would kill babies and make their mothers eat them. “A different time, I guess,” Jenn thought, still uneasy. “Still, they had to have known he was a trickster. There’s so many other stories about him too!”

  Shaking her head, Jenn locked her phone and headed to the kitchen to get some lunch. While she was microwaving last night’s leftovers, Jenn considered what she knew. The Achiyalabopa seemed like a good bird in the stories, so that either meant that Luke was a good guy, or that Achi had been duped into believing he was. “Or that Achi doesn’t want to be good anymore and is willing to go along with whatever plan Luke cooks up,” Jenn thought, taking her food out of the microwave. All she really had were half-truths, and those were easy to twist and give someone something that was just true enough, while still being a lie.

  Jenn sat down at the table and started eating. “What would Luke want to trick me about anyway?” she wondered. It could be the existence of magic, but that had seemed pretty real, what with the bird with metal feathers, the abgal with a tail, and flying around the cavern. Then again, that had all happened while Luke was there. Jenn needed to get back into that cave when he was gone. Then she could look in a few of those other doors as well. Maybe that would give her some answers about what he was up to. “But how am I going to get in there?” Jenn wondered, finishing her food. “I can’t exactly pick the lock while the bar’s open, and I don’t think I can get in there after hours.” Jenn rinsed her dishes and put them in the dishwasher.

  Then it hit her. If Achi lost a feather in the park, then she had to be able to fly there. Maybe there was a way into those caves nearby. It would be hard to get into, since she didn’t have a pair of wings, but she did still have her climbing equipment from high school. Even if the cave were up high with a long drop back inside, she should still be able to climb it. Jenn tried to remember what all she would need for climbing. Definitely a helmet, some rope, and a crap ton of carabiners. Jenn pulled up the internet on her phone and started typing. After not too much work, Jenn came up with a list. She was pretty sure she had most of this stuff, but she knew there were a least a few things she would need to buy.

  All of her old climbing gear was in a tub in the attic. Of course, their attic was accessed by a pull-down door in the hallway. So, if Jenn wanted to get anything out of there surreptitiously, she would need to get it down now, while her parents were still at work. Jenn slid her phone into her pocket and got into the attic.

  There was more stuff up here than she remembered, and the single light didn’t go very far. Jenn didn’t remember which tub her equipment was in, so she started rummaging through boxes. She found her parents’ wedding album, and some of her old baby stuff before she found what she was looking for. The first thing she saw was her bright orange helmet. Jenn put it on and smacked the sides. It seemed to be in good condition, but she would have to paint it black before she could try a climb at night. Then she pulled out her quick draws, carabiners, harness, climbing shoes, and a few other odds and ends. The shoes had been bent into a weird shape, but Jenn was pretty sure they would flatten out after she wore them for a bit.

  She still had her ropes, but they looked a little frayed and there was no way Jenn was going to trust her weight to those. She would need some belaying points, since she was probably going to be making this trail herself, and a belaying device, as well as some chalk to give her hands a better grip. With some mental calculations, Jenn figured it wouldn’t be too much money to buy all of this. She would take the money out of an ATM first so her parents didn’t know what she was spending the money on.

  Jenn checked the time. She would need to move quickly to get all of this into her room before her mom came home. Jenn scooped up as much as she could and brought it down and into her room. She had to make two trips, and she was just pushing the attic door back into place, when she heard the garage door open. Jenn dusted herself off and dropped onto her bed, with her phone in her hand.

  “I’m home!” Leah yelled.

  “Hi, Mom!” Jenn yelled back.

  There were a few seconds of silence while Jenn’s mom stepped out of her shoes and put her purse down. Then Jenn heard her walking over toward her. Leah knocked on the open door.

  “Hey,” Jenn said, putting her phone down.

  “What were you up to today?” Leah asked.

  “Oh, saving the world,” Jenn replied nonchalantly. “How about you?”

  Leah laughed. “Oh, putting out fires, giving people things they should have had already. You know, my usual day.” Leah worked at the big hospital in town, Lambert Hospital. She was in some sort of administrative role but from the stories, Jenn was pretty sure the hospital depended on Leah to keep running. She had asked and Leah had denied it, but that was Leah all over.

  Leah said something like this almost every day, but Jenn could tell Leah enjoyed her job.

  “So, what’s for dinner?” Jenn asked, looking for takeout bags in her mom’s hands.

  “Typical,” Leah said with a smile. “I got some chicken from the store, and I was thinking we could heat up some vegetables to go with it.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Jenn replied. “I’ll deal with the chicken.”

  “Great. Let me get changed and I’ll meet you in the kitchen.”

  Jenn went into the kitchen and was a little disappointed at what she found in the grocery bags. “Mom, you didn’t say the chicken was frozen.” Jenn put a bit of whine in her voice.

  “I know,” Leah said. “I also didn’t say it was rotisserie and ready to go. Sorry, dear. You’ve got to work for your food tonight.”

  Jenn stuck her tongue out but pulled out a pan and put it on the stove. She hated being beaten at her own game. At least she could look at her phone as she stirred the chicken in the pan. Every so often, she’d glance over to make sure it was all staying put.

  Once the chicken was almost completely defrosted, Leah dumped half a bag of frozen broccoli in a bowl, put in a bit of water, and put the whole thing in the microwave.

  “Taking the easy job,” Jenn sassed her mom.

  “Whenever I can,” Leah replied. “It’s been enough work raising you.”

  Jenn pretended to be offended, but she couldn’t help but laugh. She knew it was true and it was pretty funny.

  Just about the time everything was ready, Mark came home. “Smells great, ladies,” he told them. “Let me just get changed, and I’ll be ready to eat.”

  “Why doesn’t Dad cook for us anymore?” Jenn asked, mostly
to be a pain, but part of her did wonder.

  “Well, the Asian store near us closed, so it’s harder to get some of the ingredients, and he doesn’t always have time.” Jenn saw that Leah looked a little impatient with these excuses, but Jenn wasn’t sure if she should push this or not. It was no fun upsetting her mother.

  “And I’m not here to chop vegetables for him anyway,” Jenn pointed out. That was the main thing she remembered about when her dad cooked for them. All of his dishes were from scratch and required quite a bit of prep work. They were delicious in the end, but Jenn wasn’t always sure it was worth it.

  Leah laughed. “That’s true.” She took the broccoli out of the microwave and put it on the table. Jenn followed behind her with the chicken. Just after they sat down, Mark came into the kitchen.

  “What do you want to drink?” he asked them.

  Leah asked for water and Jenn asked for pop. Mark brought in their drinks and a beer for himself.

  “Tough day at work?” Leah asked.

  “No, actually. Tom finally unbent enough to listen to my proposal.”

  “That’s great!” Leah said.

  Jenn tuned out. There was often a new idea her dad had to make his company better, but it was hard to get people to change, so he got frustrated when no one would listen to him. Jenn wondered why he didn’t change jobs, but she supposed part of him liked the challenge.

  “How was your day?” Mark asked Jenn.

  “Oh. It was good,” Jenn replied. “The internet is still there. I checked.”

  “You are getting an internship next summer,” Mark stated.

  “Yes,” Leah agreed. “Next summer.” She turned to Jenn. “You’ll be working the rest of your life. Enjoy the freedom while you can.”

  “If you save enough, you can retire early,” Mark pointed out.

  Leah shook her head with a small smile. “Just like you’re doing?”

  Mark looked for words, and then shrugged. “I didn’t work hard enough to make that happen, but I could have.”

  Jenn got impatient when her parents started talking about grownup stuff like that. She wouldn’t have to worry about that for awhile yet. “I’m going to go see what my friends are up to tonight,” she said.

  “Okay, sweetie. Don’t stay out too late.” Leah smiled at Jenn.

  “I promise to be back before you leave in the morning,” Jenn replied.

  “A few hours before that, please,” Mark said, raising an eyebrow.

  Jenn mock sighed and put her dishes in the dishwasher, then headed to her room. She wanted to try her lock picks against that lock in the Velvet Tango Lounge one of these days, but she would have to get into the bar when no one was in it. Otherwise someone would definitely see what she was doing. Jenn wandered to her room and decided to look up the bar hours on her computer. Then she could at least see when it would be possible to get in there. When she pulled up their Facebook page, she saw they would be closed for repairs tomorrow. The timing couldn’t be better. Jenn smiled, and grabbed her purse. Years ago, she had modified two bobby pins to serve as her lock picks and they hadn’t failed her yet. They were in her wallet, where she had left them. Jenn put them back and smiled.

  That took care of what she would do tomorrow, but what about tonight? Jenn pondered and realized she hadn’t seen Julie in awhile. Jenn wondered if her classmate had forgotten to take everything Jenn said with a healthy dose of skepticism. There was only one way to find out. Jenn texted Julie, “You wanna see a movie?”

  Jenn didn’t have to wait long for a reply. “Sure.”

  They haggled about a movie for a bit before deciding. Jenn had just enough time to swing by the dollar store and get some candy before she had to get to the theater.

  Jenn headed to the door. “I’m going to see a movie,” she told her parents as she walked by.

  “Bye, sweetie,” Leah replied.

  “Don’t stay out too late,” Mark told her.

  “I’ll be back before sunrise,” Jenn teased. Then she was out the door.

  **

  Jenn got to the theater a bit early, so she waited for Julie in the lobby. Then she waited some more. Eventually, Jenn had to go in the theater or risk missing the beginning of the movie. Decidedly annoyed, Jenn went in the theater and took a seat. This was the kind of thing she would have done a few years ago. Maybe Julie did remember how Jenn liked to play tricks. Jenn was just figuring out what she was going to do to pay her back, when someone walked into the theater. It turned out to be Julie, who quickly found Jenn and sat down.

  “Sorry I’m late,” Julie whispered. “My dad had to put in overtime and he was late bringing the car back.”

  “No worries,” Jenn replied. Julie was too nice to think of a lie like that, so Jenn believed her.

  It was a decent movie, but it bothered Jenn that right when the villain was about to win, he caved and turned off his doomsday device.

  While the credits rolled, Jenn complained about this to Julie.

  “But if he hadn’t turned it off, he would have blown up the woman he loved,” Julie argued.

  Jenn snorted. “Love? He barely knew her. What a terrible reason to abandon such a complicated plan.”

  “Sometimes I forget how you see the world,” Julie replied, shaking her head.

  “What do you mean?” Jenn asked.

  “You value winning more than you do people.”

  “Hey, it’s a dog eat dog world,” Jenn replied. Why bother to care about people who didn’t care about you anyway?

  They watched the credits roll.

  “Do you think there’s anything after them?” Jenn asked.

  Julie shrugged. “I’m not sure, but if we don’t stay and watch, we’ll never know.”

  This wasn’t quite true, but Jenn didn’t have any other plans for the night. As it turned out, there was a scene at the end. The villain broke out of the maximum-security prison. “I’ll be back, and this time no mercy!” he vowed.

  The lights came on and Jenn and Julie stood up. “So, the subtitle of the sequel will be No Mercy,” Jenn predicted.

  Julie laughed. “Probably.” They left the theater and stopped. “Okay, don’t look now, but this hot guy is looking at you,” Julie said.

  Of course, Jenn turned to look. She shouldn’t have been surprised that it was Luke. “You think he’s hot?” she asked Julie, curious.

  Julie shrugged. “I like guys a little older. Then they’re finally grown up.”

  “This one isn’t,” Jenn replied.

  “You know him?” Julie asked.

  Jenn nodded.

  “That’s a little weird, then,” Julie replied.

  Jenn nodded again. They didn’t have time for anything else because Luke stopped next to them. “Taking in a movie?” Jenn asked him sarcastically.

  “Yes,” Luke replied. “I didn’t know you liked movies too. Who is your charming friend?”

  “Luke, Julie, Julie, Luke,” Jenn replied. Luke offered his hand, and Julie shook it. Jenn looked back at Luke. “Why are you following me?”

  “Following you? I simply wanted to watch a movie,” Luke replied, pretending to be hurt. “I’m a big fan of this sort of film, but I do wish the villain hadn’t thrown everything away at the end. It’s rather out of character for him.”

  “That’s what Jenn said,” Julie told Luke.

  Jenn gave her a dirty look. “And you left just after us because…?”

  “I wanted to see if there was a scene after the credits, and there was. I’m guessing there will be a sequel.”

  “Whatever,” Jenn said. “We’ve got somewhere to be.” She dragged Julie away with her.

  “Well that was rude,” Julie admonished after they’d gotten a few steps away.

  “I think he’s stalking me,” Jenn told her.

  “Like you’re so stalk-able,” Julie replied, jokingly.

  “No, for real.”

  “Oh. Oh shit. What do we do?”

  Jenn noticed Julie was including
herself in this, and she smiled without realizing it. “Let’s go somewhere else,” Jenn said. “Somewhere really public.”

  “There’s a new bar downtown that sounds interesting,” Julie offered.

  “Downtown? Perfect. I’ll meet you there.” Jenn didn’t want either of them to have to come back to the theater to get their car because then Luke would know where they were going to go. Jenn managed to get to the bar and park her car before Julie, so Jenn waited for her outside the bar, trying to look inconspicuous.

  “You know, one of these days you’re going to get caught with that fake ID,” Luke told her.

  Jenn looked up from her phone with a jump. “God damnit. What do you want?”

  “I’m just here to drink at,” Luke looked up at the name of the bar, “Andrew’s.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “So crude, and after your friend thought so well of me.” Luke was really good at pretending to sound hurt.

  “What. Do. You. Want?” Jenn spat out.

  Luke sighed. “Usually people have questions after their first time seeing magic. I wanted to be around to answer yours.”

  “I know where to find you,” Jenn snapped. “You even made the bouncer give me your card. That’s not why you’re here. Why are you stalking me?”

  Luke sighed. “It’s an issue of trust.”

  “Yeah, I don’t trust you at all now,” Jenn said. “How did you even track me down?”

  “I mean, an issue of trust for me,” Luke replied, ignoring her question. “I can’t be sure you’ll keep my secrets to yourself. I’m keeping an eye on you in case you try to tell someone and ruin this for me.”

  “Who the hell would I tell?” Jenn snapped. “You’re talking about magic! I don’t even really believe in it, and I saw it. No one else will believe me if I just tell them. Your secrets are safe, now leave me alone.”

  “Do you really want me to leave?” Luke smiled seductively.