"Unwanted Magic" 1

A blue ribbon of light flew over mountains and grasslands, raced through a forest of trees glistening with morning dew and slipped into the window of a sleeping child.

The ribbon swirled around the bed before it flew over to a tall bookcase. It moved over the spines of books until it found the leather bound, adventure tale the child loved to read. It pulled the book from the shelf and the book landed with a loud thud on the floor, waking the child.

Joey rubbed his sleepy eyes and wondered what had woken him; it was something loud. He sat up in his little bed and looked towards the window. It wasn’t morning yet; it was that strange time between the light of the sun and the dark of night. What had his mom called it? Twilight; that’s it! He smiled, proud he’d remembered it but not seeing anything outside that could have caused that loud noise he turned his head towards his bedroom door and then he noticed the book on the floor.

That’s strange he thought; what knocked the book off the shelf? He got out of his bed and padded over to the book. He saw it was his favorite storybook and shook his head not understanding how it fell to the floor. He picked it up but nearly fell to the floor himself when he stumbled backwards at the sight of a bright blue light on the floor that had been under the book.

There were no lights on in his room, except for his moon shaped night light and that didn’t glow blue and it’s light couldn’t reach this far into the room, not far enough to shine on the floor by his bookcase.

Joey was perplexed by the source of the blue light. He bent down to get a closer look at it and in a burst of energy, the spot flew upwards.

Joey ran back to his bed and pulled the covers over his head, afraid of what that strange light was.

 

The blue light contorted itself, twisting into many forms until it chose the one it wanted. Satisfied with its form it smiled. “Yes, I think this will do nicely,” the spot said.

 

Joey drew the covers down from his head to allow his eyes to peek over them. What he saw made him unsure he wasn’t still sleeping. How had the spot spoken and how could a blue light turn into a big furry, blackish-blue, dog?

“How did you do that?” Joey asked the very, large dog.

“Oh this…? I assume this form will not present a problem in your home, will it?”

“I don’t know; I’ve never had a dog.”

“Oh, well…I’ve never been one before so this will be an adventure for both of us.” The blue spot turned dog said with a half chuckle and half yip sound.

“I don’t know if my mom and dad will let you stay and…what are you anyway?”

“If you parents aren’t pleased, I can keep hidden; I can become very small and hide when they are around but for you, I will be the spark of imagination that makes adventures happen.”

“I don’t know; I think you should go.”

“Go? I’ve never been told to leave before; children are fascinated by my presence and willing and ready for an adventure when I offer it. Hmmm…” the spot turned dog eyed the child, considering his unusual request for him to go, “You are not what I expected…it is most unusual for a child, such as yourself, not to embrace magic.”

“Magic…? What magic?”

“My magic; I am Magic. How else could I offer to take you into a world of adventure if I were not magic?”

The boy shrugged his little shoulders. “I don’t know.”

“Exactly, you don’t know what wonders I can place before your eyes…so, can I stay?”

Joey gripped his blanket tighter; he wasn’t sure he should let this blue light, magic dog stay. He did like the adventure stories his mom and dad read to him, but he wasn’t sure about going on an adventure with this…magic thing? It scared him a little.

“I don’t want an adventure, but you can stay.”

“No adventure? Are you sure?”

Joey nodded his head.

“How odd,” the magic dog whined, “very well, I will stay and maybe in the morning you will change your mind and ask for an adventure.”

Joey didn’t think so but he saw the blue, spot, magic dog looked unhappy.

“I’m Joey; what’s your name?” He asked it. 

“Now that's a start. Good to meet you Joey; my name is Flint.”

“Flint?”

“Yes, now where shall I stay? Have you a room for me?”

Joey pointed to a corner of his room and said, “You can sleep over there; I have an extra blanket if you want.”

Flint looked at the corner and sighed. Why was it no one ever offered him a room? He brought magic and fun and yet, he was always given something most uncomfortable to recline in, like a corner of a desk, a piece of a shelf, a place in a closet near stinky sneakers; that was probably the worst but the cold corner of this room was not far behind it.

“I think I'll accept the blanket,” Flint muttered with a woof.

Joey took his second, folded blanket from the bottom of his bed and walked it over to the corner of the room and placed it on the floor. “There you go, that will be comfortable for you.”

“Oh verily,” Flint growled.

“Goodnight,” Joey said to the dog and snuggled back down in his bed.

Flint eyed the end of the bed and its soft mattress and whimpered, “Goodnight.”

 

The sun flooded the little bedroom with light and the rays arrowed into the eyes of the sleeping dog in the corner of the room.

“Too early for daylight,” the dog growled and a pair of sunglasses appeared over his dog eyes then he settled back into the blanket and whimpered, “That’s better.”

Joey’s eyes slowly opened and he stretched and yawned. He’d had a very silly dream last night about some magic blue light that turned into a big, talking dog. It was strange because it had felt like he was awake.

A knock on his bedroom door was followed by him mom’s voice “Are you awake honey?”

“I am,” he replied.

“Then get dressed and come down to breakfast.”

“Okay,” Joey said and sat up in his bed. He looked out the window at the sun-filled day and smiled. It was summer and he could play all day. Then he tossed his blanket aside and swung his legs to the floor and his eyes grew wide at the sight of the lump of dog sleeping on a blanket in the corner, and wearing sunglasses?

“Oh no, it wasn’t a dream?" He whispered with a worried expression. What would his mom and dad think about this magic dog in his room? 

 

Joey sat down at the kitchen table and his mom placed a plate of French toast in front of him with his favorite blueberry jam.

“Thank you,” he said and eyed his dad who was sipping his coffee and reading the newspaper. Joey swallowed hard and decided he had to say something. “Would it be alright if I have a dog?”

Both of his parents looked at him.

“We don’t have a very big yard for a dog to roam in and I’m not sure you’re old enough to be responsible for a pet,” his dad said kindly.

“What if…I already have a dog?” Joey asked timidly.

“What? Where? How?” His mom asked bewildered by logistics. She’d put Joey to bed last night and read him a story until he fell asleep, so how, between then and now, had he gotten a dog?

Joey wasn’t sure how or from where either and he had a lot of questions too but he looked at his mom and shrugged. “He kind of just showed up,” he answered honestly.

“Where is he?” His dad asked.

“In my room, sleeping.”

“After breakfast, bring him downstairs so we can see him. We’ll have to see if there’s a family looking for him before we can discuss keeping him.”

Joey knew no one was looking for the magic dog but he nodded, “Okay,” and he felt better he’d told them about the dog, now he could dig in to his breakfast.

 

Joey stepped into the bedroom and found the magic dog still asleep and snoring loudly.

“Come on Flint; you have to wake up.” Joey said and took the sunglasses off of the dog's eyes.

Flint growled at the intrusion into his slumber but he opened his eyes.

“What time is it?” Flint asked, stretching his paws and dog body.

 ‘It’s morning,” Joey said, not yet knowing all the times on the clock face. He did see the little hand on the seven so he knew it was around seven in the morning but he wasn’t always clear on what the big hand meant. It was on the number four and that’s all he knew.

 

Flint stood up on his four dog legs and looked around the room. “So where is my breakfast?” he asked.

“I don’t have any dog food.”

“Dog food?! No, no, no, no,” Flint growled,” I do not eat dog food. I shall have some eggs and toast, a bit of bacon and a strong cup of coffee if you please.”

Joey stared at the dog with troubled eyes and sighed. “I’ll have to ask my mom.”

“Then please do.” Flint said as he trotted to the window and looked out at the day, ‘It is a perfect day for adventure and we need to start on it right away.”

Joey shook his head and left the room to ask his mom about breakfast for the dog.

 

“What? Honey, you don’t feed dogs people food; it’s not good for them."

“But that’s what he wants mom.”

‘Oh I’m sure he would like it but it’s not good for him. I have some chopped meat; I suppose I can boil it with some vegetables to make a kind of dog food, for now.”

Joey nodded but knew Flint wouldn’t eat it. He noticed there was still coffee in the coffee pot and when his mother turned her back to get the ingredients out of the refrigerator he took a cup and poured coffee into it. Then he snuck a piece of toast from the plate on the table and put it on a plate that had a piece of bacon left on it. He scurried out of the kitchen and ran back upstairs to his room trying not to spill the hot coffee or drop the toast and bacon from the plate.

 

“Here you go,” Joey said and placed the plate on the floor with the cup.”

Flint eyed the meager fare and gave a low growl. “Pitiful,” he said but he wolfed up the toast and bacon in one fanged gulp and licked up the coffee in mere seconds.

“My parents want to meet you,” Joey said after all the food was gone.

“Meet me? Are you sure?”

“Yes. I told them I had a dog and they want to meet you, and see if anyone is looking for you.”

Flint chuckle-woofed, “Plenty of beings are looking for me, but none shall find me,” he said cryptically. If your parents wish to meet me, then I’ll meet them.”

“But I don’t think you should talk to them,” Joey suggested.

Flint tilted his big dog head and considered, “Oh, I see. They think I am a dog.”

Joey nodded.

“Very well, then I shall play a dog; now let’s go.”

 

Flint sat obediently in the living room as the child’s parents assessed him.

“Nice coat, very unique color.” The mom said.

“Intelligent eyes, well behaved.” The dad said.

“I don’t think anyone is looking for him,” Joey said.

“Now honey, he appears to be well fed and well kept that couldn’t have happened on his own; he’s a dog. There must be someone taking care of him,” his mother told him kindly.

“I’ll take a picture of him for the lost and found section in the paper and we can make some flyers and put them around town,” his dad said with decision.

 

Flint was bored with the complacent role of obedient dog and tuned out the conversation as he looked around the room for something interesting to focus on. He noticed a very familiar looking wooden box on a desk and before he thought about it, trotted over to it.

He sniffed it, as it also had a very familiar scent; it was the smell of stinky sneakers. His eyes widened as he turned around with indignation.

“You’re that stinky sneakers kid who left me in a box in his closet!” Flint accused the dad; eyeing him now with remembered annoyance.