Sorry, I had some writer’s block, but I think it’s where I want it, now!

Okay, first things first, I don’t have a great vocabulary (Hey, I’m a sophomore in a fairly small high school-our computers still run Windows 95), so I’m going to call the effects of magic a “spell”, in order to simplify things. Yes, I know it’s wrong, but it’s the simplest way to describe it, okay? I don’t want to confuse everyone any more than I already am.

And now back to my regularly scheduled programming..

Mrs. Andrews’ wasn’t very encouraging. Although my “feedback” idea was possible (almost anything was for the right person), it wasn’t really practical. See, you really need to have a solid visualization of what you want to do, so you can “pour” your energy into the spell.

My visualization pretty much ended at the idea-the only visualization I had was to send my magic into the sky to counter the manipulation spell. Could it be enough? Or would my counter-spell just create a great deal of free magic? Yeah, more wild magic, that’s just what we need. It would probably be attracted to me again, and I’d end up a collie or something. No, thank you!

I hoped that Grandma’s amulets could hold out. I didn’t know if our adversary was even continuing the spell, or possibly casting it intermittently to get our guard down. Or even...

“Mrs. Andrews, can a spell be set up to continually act, even if the caster is not actually casting it?”

“Oh, certainly, Emily.” She smiled, maybe a little condescendingly. “For example, your amulets are constantly protecting you, even though Elizabeth is not actively casting that protection. Oh, I see where you are going with this. In all likelihood, something around you is charmed to work the spell continually. If there were such thing as a magic detector, it would be most handy for this, but it would also detect you and I, so I pray such a thing never exists!

I could see Debbie’s devious mind (I love her, but it’s true) trying to come up with something. It looked a whole lot like she had an idea just how to make such a detector, regardless of the personal danger to witches everywhere. I would have been angry, but you can’t stop people who think creatively. They just can’t help it; it’s like trying to stop technology from advancing. It will happen, like it or not. Maybe once she has the problem solved, we can find some way to counter the detection?

Debbie has never been the smartest person in class, but I’m beginning to think that this was intentional. Some people will always think that girls can’t be smarter than guys, despite years of anti-discrimination and new attitudes in society. There will always be reactionary people with their head in the sand, prejudiced against someone for their faith, color, gender or sexual orientation, or financial standing. It’s all a way of doing one of two things. Either you’re trying to see how much better you are than other people, or you’re proving how bad you have it because you aren’t better than other people.

Stupid.

I could go into an entire political rant here, but I won’t. If you don’t know how messed up
things are in the world, have someone else explain it to you. I’ll limit my political contributions to my vote, but make no mistake, I will vote.

The point is that Debbie has always been clever at getting things to go her way, and she was always very selfish. I’m so impressed that she is working to improve herself and act in a mature manner, but the problem is her enthusiasm. She is really trying to be a better person, but she still doesn’t look at consequences. Good intentions can be a very bad thing, if you don’t try to take everything into consideration.

At least she’s trying. It’s very hard to change, but Debbie’s doing her best, and I’m very proud of her efforts. If I can, I’ll just have to protect the rest of the world from her efforts.

The rest of Mrs. Andrews’ lesson went as usual, but the best part was when she told us we would only have one more of these lessons. If we had more questions, we would go to a senior witch in the coven. Basic training was almost done.

I guess I was a little surprised, but not displeased. The witchcraft class was not at all what I was expecting. The whole class had been about being responsible and polite when using our talents, when and where to use it, what the consequences of magic could be (that part that Debbie ignores) and why the rules were there. We didn’t go much into the how to use it, which I thought was the whole point!

I drove home, parked my truck and went inside. The lights were on in the kitchen, so I thought I would find Mom or Grandma making dinner. I was surprised when I saw my dad cooking.

“The ladies went into town, so it’s just you and me tonight. I thought I’d make my spaghetti for us.”

Now, Dad’s spaghetti is one of my favorite meals. He takes a package of regular spaghetti, breaks it into thirds and boils it until the texture is right. He drains the water off, then quickly tosses about 3 cups of grated cheddar cheese into it and stirs like crazy.

Once the cheese is melted, he adds two cans of tomato sauce and a whole package of bacon that he’s cooked up and crumbled, then stirs it some more. The end product is delicious and extremely bad for you, which Dad says is how you can tell it’s good.

According to Dad, anything that tastes good is either fattening or unhealthy, and his spaghetti is both! It’s also very tasty and one of my favorite comfort foods. I happily dug into a plate, knowing Mom would never approve, but what can I say? I just ate what was on my plate! I did enjoy it, but we won’t mention that to Mom, will we, hmmm?

“We haven’t had a whole lot of chances to just sit and talk since I’ve been home, have we?”

“No, but I’m kind of used to that, Dad.” He’s always jetted off at a moments notice. When I first was transformed, Mom didn’t even know he had left, but it was nothing new. His job paid him extremely well for his inconvenience, and his loyalty to the company had paid off, as he was now a Vice-President, and was home almost every night.

“I don’t know how to apologize to you that I haven’t been here for you as much as I would have liked, Emily.” He looked down, as if he was embarrassed.

“I understand, Dad. Someone has to get the crap, and by your doing that, you proved your worth to the company. You have a more secure position with the company, and we’ve got a pretty good life here. Yeah, I’ve missed our times working on my truck and stuff, but I’m not angry or sorry that you couldn’t be here. You made sacrifices for us, so we could have this great life, and I’m proud of you, Dad.”

“Emily, even after all of the incredible changes you’ve been through, you’ve handled yourself as well or better than anyone could ever expect. I can’t tell you how proud of you I am. Your Grandpa would be very, very impressed.”

That was the best thing he could have told me. He knows how much I loved my Grandfather, and how much I wanted his approval. I ran into my daddy’s arms and cried.
Part of me was very happy, but I still missed Grandpa so much.

“Dad, I need to talk to you.” I told him, as I got control of myself. This was going to be difficult.

“Are you all right, sweetheart?”

“Yeah, but this is real important.”

Just then Mom and Grandma bust into the room, bags in hand. Mom kissed Dad, and Grandma kissed me, but not like Mom kissed Dad! Wow!

“Hi baby, how was your day?” She asked me with a smile.

“Pretty good, Mom. Tomorrow is my last day of magic class, according to Mrs. Andrews.”

“I know, darling, I’ll be taking over your training. It is traditionally the job of the mother to take over the more advanced training.”

“That’s cool, Mom.” Oh crap. Now I didn’t really want to be having the discussion Debbie said I needed to have with my parents, but I also knew that Dad wasn’t going to let it go now, so, I decided to jump in, and see how much of a mess I could make.

Yikes.