Archive for June, 2024
The Magic Shop…Part Five
Jade appeared and waved at Jack. “Come with me,” she said, already turning to leave the room.
“No.”
“What?”
“I said, no.”
“No?”
“No. I’m not going anywhere until I get some answers and make up my OWN mind as to what I want to do.”
Jade turned to Sam, who held up his hands and said, “Hey, don’t look at me.”
“How is this my cat?”
“That’s your first question? How is that your cat?”
Jack nodded, holding the cat in his arms.”
“The cat has been with you the entire time. I dropped her off when I traded you for the human baby.”
“I never saw her.”
“You weren’t supposed to see her. She was there to protect you, not be a pet.”
“So that feeling of always being watched was real and my father was coughing, rubbing his eyes, and getting allergy shots for years because he was allergic to cats, and he didn’t know he had one?”
“I guess,” she said.
“No wonder he got better after I moved out.”
“Juice anyone?” asked Sam. Everyone said yes, including the cat.
“Look, I know you have no idea what’s going on but you don’t have a choice in this matter. Come with me now.”
“There are always choices,” said Jack.
Sam shook his head. “Your choices seem to be limited to being a prince in fairy, or being dead.”
“Still a choice,” said Jack.
Jade started pacing. “Remember Julie Smith, the girl who sat next to you in third grade? Or Marcy Lin, in fourth?”
“Yes.”
“They were fairies, watching over you. Fairies have ALWAYS watched over you, to keep you safe. Are you going to throw all of that away and die, instead of accepting your birthright?”
“My parents are Judy Karn and Jerry Jons. I’m their son. My life and birthright is in the human world. You made sure of that. I might be a fairy, but my life has been human.”
“Sam,” said Jade. “Say something. Make him understand.”
Same poured everyone more juice and said, “I’ve been watching over this shop for three hundred years. I didn’t choose to do it, still don’t want to, but I guess it’s my job. It’s not so bad, you know. I meet interesting beings and I get to read all the time. Now and then we just have to do things we haven’t chosen for ourselves.”
“Three hundred years?” said Jack, horrified. “You’ve been doing something you never wanted to do, for three hundred years?”
“Our lot lives a long time,” he said.
“Unlike humans, who last a few years and then fall apart, rot, or just drop dead,” added Jade. “Weaklings. Bad design, if you ask me.”
“Sam,” said Jack. “You need to quit this job and have the life you always wanted.”
“Maybe. One day.””
“Just walk away,” said Jack. “Don’t wait. Do it now.”
“Fairies rode dinosaurs. We’ve been here forever and we practically live forever too,” said Jade, still pacing. “You are going to live a very long time, Jack. When was the last time you were sick?”
“I’ve never been sick.”
“And you never will be. You aren’t one of them.”
“There’s more to being someone than genetics, Jade. I’m one of them because it’s all I know and I’m happy.”
“We won’t be able to protect you, if you walk away.”
“I know.”
“Do you want to die, Jack?” she asked.
“No. But I also don’t want to live a life I didn’t choose for myself.”
“You don’t even know what fairy is.”
Suddenly, the most beautiful woman Jack had ever seen was kneeling in front of him. Tears were running down her face.
“My son,” she said. “At last.”
“You shouldn’t be here Rose,” said Jade, quickly moving to her side. “They’ll know you’re out of the castle.”
“I had to see my son. I’ve waited long enough.”
“What about the son who took my place?” asked Jack.
“You’re my son,” she said, holding his hands.
“I’m not,” he said. “I don’t even know who you are.”
“Juice, anyone?”
No one answered.
“Humans may not be that bright,” said Jack, “They lie a lot, not just to others, but to themselves. They’re violent, crazy, mean, beautiful, kind, loving and a lot of other things as well, but I like that world. I know that world. I can be whatever I want to be in that world. I have friends and family there. I love what I do.
“No!” said his mother. “You can’t do this. You have to come home. I did what I had to do to protect you.”
“I’m sure you did what you thought was right. But I’m leaving now. I’m going home. Sam, will you take care of my cat?”
“I will,” he said, taking Baby from him.
The cat struggled and hissed, but Sam held onto her.
“I’m not afraid to die,” he said, smiling at them. “I am afraid to live a life I don’t want to live.”
His mother was sobbing as she watched him walked through the crowded bookstore, toward the front door.
“I just wanted to buy a magic trick for my nephew,” said Jack. “Funny how things work out, isn’t it?” Then he stepped outside.
He never reached the street. They were waiting for him, just as Jade said they would be.
The cat tore from Sam’s arms, ran through the open door and laid on top of Jack. She licked his face and purred. When anyone came near him, she snarled, her red eyes vicious, her claws out. She snuggled under his chin and told him stories about a cat who loved a boy. An arrow flew through the air and the cat stopped purring. She stopped telling stories.
Sam came out of the shop and looked at Jack and Baby, bloody, and dead on the sidewalk, arrows piercing their bodies. Then he looked toward the rooftops across the street. Fairy archers stood there, bows at rest. They did what they came to do. The prince was dead.
“I quit,” said Sam, wiping at his eyes, as he walked away.
While everyone stood in silent horror, Jack and Baby’s spirits were running down the street, laughing, as they headed for the Light.
Some happily ever afters aren’t what people expect them to be. Humans know that, even if fairies don’t.
Finis
FIGHT BACK…
I made this a long time ago
but nothing has changed
in fact
things have gotten worse
I’m tired of women oppressing
other women
women need to stand together
they need to stand up
they need to say
NO
and not back down
rerun
Follow the leader…
Cat: “You’re not lost. I know the way home. Just follow me.
Boy: “Okay, but go slow because my horse can’t go very fast.”
Cat: “Humans. They could never get along without us.”
Photo: Pixabay
The Magic Shop…Part four
“My head hurts,” said Jack, cradling his head in his hands.
“I’m sure it does,” chuckled Sam, handing him a glass of juice. “Drink this and you’ll feel better.”
“Said no one ever…who had good intentions,” muttered Jack, taking the drink, while petting the cat, with his other hand. “What happened to me?”
Sam went over the events of yesterday, until he caught up to the present moment.
“I had weird dreams,” whispered Jack. “I was riding a flying horse and people were shooting arrows at me.”
“That would be a pegasus.”
“Of course, how silly of me. It was a pegasus.”
“You have a lot to learn,” said Sam, kindly.
“I don’t want to learn anything. I’m going home. I don’t want to be part of…all this…whatever all this is. I’ll take the cat, but I don’t want to be a fairy, or a prince, or anything else. I’m going to my nephew’s birthday party and then back to my place.”
“If you do that, you’ll be putting all those around you in danger. The fairies who want you dead don’t care about collateral damage. And they won’t stop looking for you, no matter what world you’re in.”
“Great,” he sighed. “So I could get all the people I care about killed. Why is all of this happening now?”
“Who gave you the address to this shop?” asked Sam.
Jack opened his mouth to speak, then shut it. He thought for a moment, then said, “I don’t remember.”
“Someone wanted you to wake up.”
“Why? I was just living my life, minding my own business. I wasn’t bothering anyone. I didn’t even know fairies were real. I thought they only existed in fairy tales.”
“That’s what fairies want humans to believe, so they leave them alone and don’t try to capture them and cut them up to see how they are different than humans.”
Jack nodded. “I can understand that.”
“Jade will be back here soon. She’ll explain things and help you decide what to do.”
“You said you could erase this whole thing from my memory and I could just walk out the door.”
“It’s too late for that. How good are you with a sword?”
“Are you really asking me that question?”
“Are you a good fighter?”
Jack started laughing but his head hurt too much to do it for very long.
“Tell me Sam, have you ever been to fairy?”
“Once.”
“And?”
“It’s beautiful, and more dangerous than anything you could ever imagine.”
“Dangerous how?”
“I don’t want to talk about it. Even that would be dangerous.”
“So you definitely are not one of them.”
“I am not.”
“And this place? The interplanetary bookshop, or whatever?”
“The shop is a place where anyone can come and be safe. There are rules between species and all have agreed that no one can be harmed while in this shop. If someone breaks the rule, the punishment is immediate and hash.”
“Do you run this place because someone is hunting you?”
“No. I was elected.”
“You ran on a ballot, for this job?”
“Of course not. I didn’t run for anything. I was just elected. I had no say in the process at all.”
“Can you quit?”
“I don’t know.”
“Nothing here makes any sense.”
“That’s because you’re from someplace else. No one understands those from a different place. The rules aren’t the same anywhere. Do you truly think anyone here understands humans, or what they do?”
“I don’t even understand them and I thought I was one.”
“Are you hungry?”
“Starving.”
“Come into the kitchen and I’ll make us something to eat.”
Baby was in the corner, eating a huge pile of cat food off a crystal plate, while Sam stood over the stove, making scrambled eggs and fried potatoes. Jack sat silently at the table, reviewing his pathetic options. “Basically, the only place I’m safe from certain death, in in this shop.”
“While true,” said Sam, “you can’t stay here. Get the toast, will you.”
“I thought fairies were tiny, like butterflies.”
“Some of them are,” said Sam. “Others, not so much.”
“Does anything make any sense?”
“Everything does, if you’re taught that it does.”
“I guess that’ true,” said Jack. “This food is delicious. Thank you.”
Sam nodded. “You know, you look like a fairy. Pale skin, icy blue eyes, you’re body is more controlled than a humans would be, less warm. You’re handsome, and buff. Stiffer, straight spine, very…”
“Okay, thank you, but don’t care. No two humans are alike.”
“True, but they have certain likenesses, that are missing from you. The human world is crumbling. Fairy has always been and always will be, unless they decide to end themselves. Humans are the new kids on the block and they’re pretty stupid because they think they aren’t.”
“I agree. Is there more juice?”
“MEOW!!!”
“I think Jade’s here,” said Sam, smiling at the cat.
Rethinking Life 
Recent Comments