The Power of Magic

James could still hear the baby wailing as he locked the door behind him. His wife’s words were like an obnoxious alarm clock buzzing in his ears.

You need to do something James.

Aren’t you tired of living like this?

What kind of man are you anyway?

He pulled his wool hat over his ears. It muffled the baby’s cries. But his head still echoed with all the insults and insinuations. It infuriated him. He wrapped his hand around the pistol he hand in his jacket pocket as he pushed open the door of the corner store.

Instead of the normal sleigh bells that would bang against the glass. He heard a twinkling. James frowned slightly and pushed his hat back off of his ears. He took a deep breath and was startled by the aroma of newborn clouds and cotton candy James’ eyes darted around the store, but he saw no one. Then he heard the twinkling again; he whipped around quickly.

And came face to face with Magic.

Magic looked like just what one would imagine him to look like. His dark clothing flowed from his body and had its own aura surrounding it that glimmered like shooting Stars. He had the face of a cherub except with a long ivory beard with strands of silver woven within it.

As he went to place his hand on James’ shoulder, his arm left a trail of indigo in the now completely dark store.

More twinkling before Magic spoke.

“Your rent and utilities have been paid for a year. Groceries will be delivered once a week .At the end of the year, they will start building along the waterfront and will need a foreman at the site.”

The only condition is that you let me train you for a year…

“Train me?” James looked almost disgusted. “A year?” He shrugged off Magic’s arm and attempted to exit the same way he came in. But Magic snapped his fingers, the lights of the store came back on. At first James squinted from the brightness, then his eyes widened when he saw the reflection in the door. The man in the black robe was face down on the floor, and a puddle of blood was forming beneath him. James was standing there aghast with the gun still in his hand. His mouth dropped when off in the distance he saw the infamous blue and red swirling lights.

Magic snapped his fingers again.

The twinkling was heard yet again.

The lights went back off.

And Magic was right where he was before James thought he was in control.

“Or in a snap, I can let you go back out there and seal your fate.”

The twinkling became louder and louder. James’ head started to spin, his knees became weak, and before he could ask what was happening to him he fell face down on the floor.

“Great,” Magic huffed under his breath. “No matter what I say, or how I say it, this kind always seems to be petrified to accept me.” He then floated behind James and wiggled his fingers. “I’m just glad I don’t have to do manual labor. Because I would so retire and move to Wonderland where I would be appreciated.”

James began to levitate and then float into a room hidden in the back of the store. Since Magic was also resourceful, he had a comfy cot in the room awaiting James to rest upon.

With another wiggle of Magic’s fingers, James floated like a feather onto the cot and sunk into slumber. He slept like a man who hadn’t had a day’s rest in over a year. When he woke, he was refreshed but very sore. James was also confused about his whereabouts. He was half expecting to be on the couch in his living room. That was where he had been sleeping for over a year. He couldn’t bear to sleep in the bed with his wife anymore. If she wasn’t verbally abusive she was trying to sleep with him, and the thought of that made bile rise to the back of his throat.

Imagine his surprise when James woke up on a cot in a room he didn’t recognize. He sat up as quickly as he could in his condition and attempted to get his bearings. The last thing he remembered was a conversation with a man who had glittering eyes, hearing wind chimes and blacking out. James shook his head and stood up carefully. That’s when the gun fell out of his jacket pocket onto the floor.

The events of the evening came rushing back into his mind.

That’s right.

He was going to rob the corner store.

Someone must have caught me and put me in here.

Until the police arrived.

James grabbed his gun, reached for the door to the storage room and pulled it open. He expected it to be locked, so it shocked him when the door swung open so easily. Imagine his ultimate shock when waiting on the other side of the door for him was Magic.

“Are you feeling better James?”