Wild Magic

My Saturday started out all right. Mom and I went into town for some groceries. She bought a little black and grey Smart car, cute as a button and does a great job for her on a day to day basis. However, when she has to get groceries for five people, it just isn’t big enough, so we used my truck.

I threw on my new tonneau cover on the back of my truck bed. I wanted to show off my new mural, anyway. Debbie drew a black witch’s hat with the name “Enchantress” written on my tailgate in fancy electric blue lettering-sooo cool!

We went to the Wal-Mart on the other side of town. A few people in town hated the place, but Dartmann’s Grocery store was always over priced, dirty and they never did anything for anybody but the Dartmann Family. Wal-Mart had better prices, better variety and quality of goods, the store was always clean and yes, they donated to our schools and sponsored the ladies softball team, along with several other local charities.

Hey, I only look stupid. If anybody checked, I’ll bet any protest came from the Dartmanns. Yeah, it’s a shame about some local business that couldn’t beat the prices, but I knew of several businesses that competed in other ways.

There were stores on our side of town, little corner stores that had always complained they couldn’t compete with Dartmann’s. They stayed in business because they were convenient, or had some sort of special product that Wal-Mart didn’t sell. Okay, so maybe they charged the same for a small jar of peanut butter as Wal-Mart charged for a very large jar, but you could walk down to the corner and get what you want. It just works out that way.

Tim says that people don’t realize, that’s the American way. If you have the best deal, you get the customers. If someone offers a better price, well, you do what you gotta do. Find some way to compete, or else. It’s called Free Enterprise. Look it up.

I think if Dartmann’s and Bancroft’s over in Beckville, and Plumbs in Grand Rapids and a bunch of other stores got together and formed a kind of co-op, they could buy in the qualities they needed to lower their prices. True, they’d still have to clean up their acts and be more efficient, but they could do it. Not that they will. It’s much easier to whine.

Okay, rant over.

While we were shopping, I saw my friend Cassie from school. She’s a pretty blonde girl, not a diva but very cute. I almost asked her out once when I was Gabe, but I found out she already had a steady guy. We weren’t friends, but we were friendly, if that makes sense.

I went over to say hi, but she acted really strange. She was wearing a long sleeved blouse, big sunglasses and a hat on a hot summer day. I could feel that she was hurting, and I was pretty sure why.

“Cassie? Hi, how’re ya doing? Um, Cass, are you okay, hon?”

“Yeah, I’m uhh, I’ll be fine. I’ve gotta get some stuff for my parents. We didn’t get everything we needed for the weekend. Hey, I’ve gotta go pick my Mom up at Delta’s-I’ll probably see ya around, okay?”

“Okay, Cass. Hey, if you or your Mom ever need to, you can drop by at our place, anytime, all right? Just in case, okay?”

“I’M ALRIGHT, okay? I don’t need anybody’s help, everything’s just...oh!” She almost ran as she took off, angrily. I felt such terrible pain from her, and in her mind I could that her Mom had been hurt, too. I also saw that it wasn’t the first time it had happened.

“What was that about?” Mom asked me. I tried to keep back my tears.

“Her Dad...ever since the economy’s tanked, her Dad’s been getting drunk, then comes home and beats on her Mom and her. He’s got so many worries, about his job, and their house and the bills... he gets drunk to unwind, but it makes him mean, and he loses control. He apologizes, but can’t seem to stop.

I told her they could come to our house if she ever needed to, but she got very upset. I just wanted to help...”

“Honey, sometimes people are too ashamed to accept help or admit they need it, even to themselves. A lot of times, they even think the whole problem is their fault, that if they had just done things a little different, behaved better, or been more perfect, the problem wouldn’t have happened.”

“But it hurts her so bad, Mom! She hates it, but she loves her Dad, even when he’s hurting her or her Mom. It hurts her so bad, and somehow it’s hurting me! I feel so much pain!” I fell into her arms and tried to hold back the tears as best I could.

“Oh honey!” Mom held me and tried to get me to relax. Elisabette helped Mom to finally calm me down.

Elisabette? What was she doing here?

“I came when I felt your anguish, sweetheart. Part of your training makes you more empathic, so you feel strong emotions much more intensely. You also broadcast them to anyone sensitive to that, like your Grandmother and I.”

I got myself under control, then I asked Elisabette and Mom to excuse me, and I rushed to the bathroom. I cast an invisibility spell, then I teleported myself to Delta’s Liquor store. Cassie was helping her Mom get into their car, and I could see that she looked awful.

I kinda stopped their time for a minute and touched both of them. I accelerated their healing, and in her Mom’s case I repaired her broken arm and rib. She would still be sore for a couple of hours, but by then both of them would be feeling much better. I backed away and teleported back to the restroom, then stepped out and washed my hands. In all, it probably took me less than five minutes.

I walked out of the restroom then went back to Mom, feeling much better that I had done something to help, but knowing it was only temporary.

“Well done,” said Elisabette when I returned, and Mom looked at me with pride. “I was able to show your Mother what you were doing. I am very impressed. You were able to help them with causing them shame or feeling obligated to you. Very subtle, I approve, and I’m proud of you.”

I blushed at her praise, but I admitted that it felt as though I’d only given them a short reprieve. “They’re going to get hurt again, unless I do something, but I can’t interfere with their lives. It’s very frustrating!”

“Sometimes, dealing with other people and their strange emotional ties can drive you crazy, but you still generally have to respect their feelings.

“Uhm, Generally?” I asked her.

“In extreme situations, I don’t consider peoples feelings, I save lives. I don’t care if they hate me afterwards. In that kind of a situation, I do all I can, regardless.”

“People get angry because you saved them?”

“Oh yes. Never underestimate the stupidity of religious beliefs.”

I thought about that for a while. Is there a way I could help Cassie and her family without their knowledge? I came up with several different solutions, but the best one I came up with was the easiest. I arranged to bump into Cassie’s dad, and I gave him a reaction to alcohol. I reasoned that he only became violent when he was drunk, so I took his ability to become drunk away from him.

He made a valiant effort, but no matter what he drank, if there was any alcohol in it, he wasn’t able to keep it down, but became violently ill. He ended up returning home, still depressed, but sober. No one was assaulted that night, anyway.

I know that some will think I should have come down hard and punished him for what he did, or that I should have made him somehow understand what he was doing to his family. I guess I don’t see that as something I need to be involved with. I’m not a judge or some kind of avenging angel superhero, although I really think I’d look great in some slinky costume.

I kind of kept an eye on them for a couple of days, just to make sure the violence didn’t start up again. I don’t know what they decided to do, just that they were talking, not fighting, so I got back to my own business. I still had a summer vacation to finish, and important decisions to make about my future. Should I go to the lake and work on my tan, or go to the mall and check out the new movies. You know, the really important stuff.

I was walking down the street when I heard a local radio host complain about “some idiot kid who claims he’s transgendered, or some such crap.”

Suddenly, there were two loud explosions, and the station went off the air. Actually, there were 3 explosions. The station had an electrical surge, and everything sort of...melted. The antenna for the station broke 2 support lines, and their antenna fell into a farmer’s field, narrowly missing several cows, and boy, was the farmer gonna be mad! And finally, the radio host had a major episode of explosive diarrhea, and was now sitting at a desk facing a smoking microphone with his pants completely ruined, along with his socks, shoes and underwear. Oh, and just wait until he notices what has just become much shorter...and semi permanently limp.

He’s lucky I didn’t give him breasts.