"Unwanted Magic" 3

“I want my mom to come on the adventure too,” Joey told Flint.

Flint growled in a not so happy tone. “Sure, let's take the whole family on your adventure.”

“Okay.” The boy nodded.

Flint wolf-scowled. “Fine, now will you pick an adventure so we can get started?”

“Oh no,” pint-sized dad, Jack, interrupted, “You’re not going to rush my son into an iceberg fiasco. We’re going to sit down and lay out all the ground rules before he chooses any adventure.”

“Yes, I agree dear; that makes perfect sense,” Jane, the mom, said nodding her head at her compact husband.

“And that's why adults aren’t given magical adventures, no spontaniety, no daring spirit,” Flint whimper-woofed at them before he turned to the boy and asked, “Wouldn’t you like to ride on a pirate ship and look for buried treasure on a deserted island?”

Joey's eyes lit with intrigue and it appeared he was about to say yes when his dad shut it down.

“No! No! And No! No pirate ships; they can be sunk and no deser­­­­­­­­ted islands you can strand us on, like a hot iceberg.”

“That’s an oxymoron,” Flint woof-grumbled.

“Did that dog just call me a moron?” Jack asked his wife.

 “No, but the dog has a point; we do need to decide what this adventure will be, sooner than later. I have my book club meeting here on Saturday, remember?”

Jack nodded and turned to his son. “Joey, without making it a wish, because that dog will pounce on it, tell me what kind of adventure you'd like?”

Joey thought it’d be cool to rocket into outer space but he wasn’t sure his mom and dad would like that. Then he thought about the adventures in his favorite book “The Lost Village of Erifsnogard", that was the book he'd found on the floor when that blue spot had appeared in his room. It was about a land of dragons and unicorns cared for by the enchanted people called Sekafars. The village could only be found by using a magical map of clues. You had to solve the clues to be shown the way in. Joey liked the idea of being in that story and thinking about it made him happy, so happy he forgot his dad had just told him not to make a wish.

“I wish we could go to Erifsnogard,” he answered.

“No Joey, don’t wis-” His dad’s warning was cutoff, because it was too late.

The normal size mom, kid-sized dad and very happy child had already been transported to the magical realm. They were standing smack dab in the middle of a steamy jungle.

The mom looked down and screamed. “Are those scorpions?” She danced away from the dangerous looking things.

“You weren’t supposed to grant him an adventure until we laid down the ground rules.” The dad proclaimed as he strode up to the big dog and angrily looked him in the eyes, which disturbingly were level with his own.

Flint wolf-smiled. “The boy wished it; I had to obey.”

“And I’m wishing these deadly scorpions would go away,” the mom whispered fiercely to the dog. She was afraid to yell because she wasn't sure what would make the scorpions notice her and attack.

Jack eyed the dog with a steel look of intent. “If anything happens to my family, I will make sure you never get the chance to change back from a dog, and I’ll personally take you to the pound!” He threatened.

“I promise," Flint held up a paw, "the path through the jungle will have no scorpions.”

The mom looked down and the scurrying arachnids were gone. "Thank you," she sighed with relief.

Flint nodded his big, dog head before he continued, “But, you’ll have to look to Joey to lead you through to Erifnogard, because he has the map.”

‘What about food and lodgings?” The mom asked, looking around at the unfriendly landscape.

“You didn’t ask for anything more before the wish was made.”

“What?” Her eyes glittered with motherly annoyance and the dog had the sense to whimper.

“But…I can place a few tents along the way and provide you with fishing poles and firewood.”

“That’s not good enough; we'll need a restaurant and a hotel!” She demanded.

Flint wolf smirked, “May I remind you, this is your son’s adventure and you chose to come along on it.”

“I told you he couldn’t be trusted; it’s the iceberg all over again!” Jack grumbled.

Flint turned annoyed eyes on him. “And may I remind you that you too, chose to come along? But you’ll notice, instead of stinky sneakers, I’ve given you top of the line hiking boots. You should thank me,” Flint woof-chuckled.

Joey ignored the discord between the dog and his parents as he looked around the jungle with confused eyes. This wasn't what he'd wished for. He turned back to the magic dog and shook his head, “This isn’t Erifsnogard,” he told him.

“Of course not; you'll have to find your way there by that map you have,” Flint explained with a woof-scoff.

“No, this is the wrong map. Erifsnogard’s map leads through villages and forests with ogres and trolls and lightning bug type fairies, but there isn’t supposed to be a jungle.”

Flint now looked confused. “Erifsnogard? I thought you’d said Erifnogard. Yes, yes this is a completely different adventure, but I can fix it.” And in a half blink of an eye, they were all standing in a quaint Norwegian-style village surrounded by beautiful green lands.

“This is more like it,” The mom approved, “Now where’s our hotel?”

Flint shook his head. “Still no hotel in this adventure," he told her with a short woof of annoyance.

"We’re still hiking?" She asked with a frown.

"Yes, but you now have a bicycle built for two and it has a large wagon attached for the boy and me to ride in. And once you’ve solved the first clue, we’ll know the direction to start off in.”

The mom and kid-sized dad turned and noticed the shiny tandem bike.

It's front pedals were at the usual height from the seat but the back pedals were closer up to that second seat accommodating the shorter stature of the dad and there was a large, heavy looking wagon attached to the back of it.

“You’re kidding me,” the dad, Jack, grumbled. 

The mom eyed their transportation and asked, “Can’t you just have magic pedal it?”

Flint grumble-woofed, “No additional rules were requested before this adventure began so, in the short answer, no!”

“Then I’ll need a coffee,” Jane commanded the dog.

Flint eyed her with disdain. “This is a child’s adventure and children don’t drink coffee.”

“I’m not a child and I need a caffeine hit before I pedal that thing,” she whined, not unlike a child.

Jack smirked at Flint. “You’d better unscramble your magic and get her a cup or, trust me, this adventure won’t be fun for anyone. And, since you’ll be doing that, I’ll have a to-go cup of that coffee too.”

Flint grumbled and growled, and woofed and whimpered, and made a promise to himself that in the future, he’d be extra careful about picking houses with former kids he’d given magic adventure’s to!

“Fine,” Flint agreed, ungraciously, and in a half-second the mom and dad had trendy, stainless steel thermo-cups filled with freshly brewed, Arabica bean coffee. Flint then turned to the boy and, in a condescending tone, asked, "Can I get you anything?"

Joey nodded, “Yes please; I’d like some pancakes and orange juice.”

“Sure, why not have a picnic,” Flint sarcastic-woofed his response but, in a flash of magic, under a flowering tree appeared a picnic table with a checkered cloth. It was set with fine china and the plates were piled high with pancakes. There was even a choice of jam or syrup next to a large pitcher of orange juice.

“Is that to your liking? Will that be all?’ Flint asked the boy in a growling, butler-type voice.

“Wow, thank you,” the boy said and hurried over to the table to sit down alongside his parents.

Flint decided he was feeling a bit peckish too and a table for one, at the perfect height for his canine physique, appeared in front of him with a large saucer of strong coffee and his favorite beef stew.

 

It was a lovely afternoon in the quaint, little park surrounded by a beautiful, storybook town. What was not to like about it? The mom thought as she enjoyed her second pancake and sipped the coffee in a cup that kept magically refilling. She could get use to this.

The kid-sized dad with his feet barely touching the ground swung them, like a kid, back and forth. He wolfed down pancakes and enjoyed his third refillable cup of java and began to think, maybe this wouldn’t be a disaster of an adventure like the one he’d been given.

Joey finished off his fourth pancake and drank his orange juice as he listened to the birds singing in the tree above them. It was a familiar tune but he couldn’t remember what it was, or where he’d heard it before, but he had a feeling it might be their first clue.