"Magic for a Day or 24 Hours of Trouble" (A Magical Fantasy) Chapter 2

When the sunshine filtered through the Venetian blinds and across his room Joey woke up. His first thought was, "could it really be a day of magic?" He didn’t feel any different.

He sat up and thought about trying a wish to see if it worked but then he remembered that odd creatures warning about what you wished for and midnight making it all real. He needed to make sure Dani didn’t wish for anything they couldn’t undo.

He dressed quickly and ran to his sister’s room to wake her up…or so he thought.

Joey didn’t know it yet, but Dani had gotten up way before he had and she’d already discovered the magic was ready to use.

“Dani are you up?” Joey whispered through her door.

“Yes, come on in,” she called back with a giggle.

Joey tried to open the door but there was something heavy blocking it. He pushed very hard against it to get it to move and wondered what it could be? When he stepped into Dani’s room, he had his answer.

“Dani what have you done?” He asked with eyes wide open in surprise as he looked around her room.

Dani smiled with glee as she introduced her brother to her new friends.

“I made some wishes Joey. That’s Sparkle, my puppy, and, Shine, my kitten and that’s Teddy, he’s a baby Panda and over there is Sandy my turtle and under those shining shells in the corner is Harry but I didn’t wish for him; he was here when I woke up."

Joey’s eyes couldn’t get much wider but they tried to.

“Dani you can’t keep all these animals and especially not that baby bear."

“I beg your pardon but why ever not? I like it here and I have my own eucalyptus tree.”

The baby panda spoke to Joey and he did indeed have his own miniature tree. It was in a large pot that was blocking the door and the very reason it had been so hard for Joey to enter.

“And you made them talk?” Joey asked his sister in amazement while his heart pounded with fear. Their mother might walk in at any minute. What could they tell her if she did?

“I didn’t do that Joey; they talked all on their own. Maybe the magic did it.”

“Well, you can’t keep them Dani. What if Mom walked in?”

“Oh, they’d be nice to her, they’re very well behaved,” she promised with all of her five year old wisdom.

“You needn’t worry about it you know. You can fix any problem with magic.” A voice said from the corner of the room.

Joey turned to the voice and saw a tiny hermit crab sitting on the pile of shining beach shells in the corner of his sister’s room.

“Who are you?” He asked it.

“Your sister calls me Harry but I guess that’s because she can’t pronounce my true name, which is…” The hermit crab made a series of sounds and then waited for the boy to repeat it.

Joey didn’t understand what it had said either. He shook his head, “If it’s all right with you, I’ll just call you Harry too.”

“Whatever you like,” the hermit crab said.

“So are you the source of our Magic for a day?” Joey asked it.

“I suppose I am but it would have been nice if Puka had asked me if I’d like to be,” Harry said with a shell shrug.

“Puka, is that its name, the name of the magical creature we met on the beach yesterday?”

“No, but since you can’t pronounce mine, I assure you his is much harder. It’s nearly impossible even for me to say it. Puka is what he told us we could call him, and so we do.”

“I like it,” Dani said with a firm nod.

The magic creature’s impossible name to say or its shorter alternative of Puka didn’t truly concern Joey, not at the moment anyway, because he had a bigger concern. He was sure his mom would be walking in here any minute and they had to do something about Dani’s friends.

“So Harry, can you help us get rid of these animals?” Joey asked the hermit crab.

“I want to keep them Joey,” Dani insisted with tears beginning to form in her eyes.

“I’m afraid not. Unless your sister, who wished for them, wishes them away, they are here to stay but…you could add a wish,” Harry told him.

“What do mean?”

“You could wish that no adult, your mother included, could see them, or wish for something like that. It is your wish so word it as you will,” Harry said with a slight smile. If you could imagine the slightest smile on the tiny face of a hermit crab under its little pincher like moustache; it was basically a line turned up at the corners.

Joey thought about it. He'd never made a wish before that he knew would come true, so he wanted to be sure he worded it perfectly. After a moment he said, “Okay, my wish is that no one older than ten can see these talking animals.”

“Done,” Harry said and it wasn’t a moment too soon, for at that moment, the door opened and their mother walked in.

“I’ve started breakfast so you both need to wash up and come down and Dani clean up those shells in the corner and… what is that?” Their mother stepped further into the room and looked closer at the pile of shells. “Did you bring home a hermit crab? Dani, we’ll have to take him back to the beach. He doesn’t belong here, put it in the pail for now and after breakfast Joey can help you take it back to the beach,” their mother said decisively then walked out of the room.

Joey looked at Harry. “I guess I should have included you in my wish too.”

“Yes, you very well should have. I am not about to be covered in a pail so, if you don’t mind, go ahead and add another part to that wish and you might want to think about having it start from before the moment your mother saw me.”

Joey nodded. “Right…okay, I wish my mom forgets Harry."

“Done,” Harry nodded and sank down into the carpet and then into his shell,

“Now leave me alone and go eat your breakfast.” He waved them away with his tiny crab arm.

“I’m hungry too,” whined the dog.

“Me too,” the kitten meowled in agreement and the turtle stretched its neck way out of its shell and nodded, “I could use a snack myself.”

“Fine,” Joey said to them, “I wish for your favorite breakfast to appear in front of you.”

A grumble came from Harry as he peeked out of his shell to comply with the wish. “Are we done now?” he asked Joey.

All the animals had food in front of them and the panda was munching on eucalyptus leaves. They all looked happy, so Dani and Joey agreed they were done… for now.

“Thank you,” said Harry and he returned to his nap.

*

Their parents were sitting at the table when Joey and his sister walked into the little beach house's kitchen.

“Nice of you two to join us this morning,” their father said with a smile.

Dani ran to her father and hugged him before she sat down.

“We had to straighten up a few things in Dani’s room first,” Joey told him.

“Did you put those shells back in the pail?” their mother asked as she placed a platter of French toast on the table.

Joey couldn’t lie so he pretended not to hear her and quickly said, “I’m starved. These look so good Mom,” then he smiled at her as he put several pieces of French toast on his plate and picked up the maple syrup. The question remained unanswered.

The conversation now flowed between his parents, leaving him and Dani to enjoy their breakfast and think about their next wishes.

Their mom poured coffee into their dad’s cup as he told her, “My brother called and said he might be passing through this weekend and he and Jane and their kids would like to stop at the beach house and see us and maybe stay a night or two."

“Your brother?” his mother looked and sounded confused. “I don’t think I’ve ever met him, have I?”

Both Dani and Joey looked up in surprise. Their uncle Harry and Aunt Jane lived two towns over but they saw them and their cousins, Paula and Frankie often. How could their mom forget?

Then Joey realized the name “Harry”. It was specific in his wish for his mom to forget the hermit crab named Harry but it must have wiped out every Harry from her memory.

“Are you feeling alright Kate? You’re just kidding me, right?” their dad asked.

Kate saw his concern and she became concerned herself. She clearly remembered Jane and the kids but she could not picture her husband’s brother at all.

“I don’t know,” she answered her husband Ethan with a bewildered look as she sat down.

Joey's fork clattered on his plate when he dropped it and his parent's turned to him.

“I just remembered I forgot to wash my hands,” Joey said and quickly ran from the table. He heard Dani say she’d forgotten too and now she was right behind him as he ran up the stairs.

They ran into Dani’s room and found Harry napping in his shell.

Joey tapped on it and said, “Harry I need to fix that last wish I made.”

A sleepy eyed crab face popped out of the shell and yawned, as best as a little crab face can yawn, a perfect o shape formed for a second then it closed again into the slim line of its mouth under those tiny pinchers.

“What now?” Harry said groggily opening his eyes to look up at the boy.

“I need to fix my wish. I wished my mom would forget Harry, meaning you, but now she’s forgotten our Uncle Harry too. How do I fix it?”

“You’ll have to add something to fix it but be careful you don’t make it worse.” Harry warned him and crossed his little crab arms waiting for the boy to make another wish.

“Just wish she remembers Uncle Harry,” Dani said, offering her thoughts.

“That won’t work; what if she knows other Harry’s besides Uncle Harry, or if she meets a new one. She’ll never remember them.”

“So wish that she remembers every Harry.” Dani nodded thinking she’d figured it out.

“But then she’ll remember the hermit crab too.” Joey reminded her.

“Oh right.” Dani sighed.

“I think I have it. I wish for my mom to remember Uncle Harry and everyone she knows named Harry except she will not see or remember seeing the hermit crab, we call Harry,” Joey said the wish in one breath hoping he’d fixed the problem.

“Is that your wish?” Harry asked.

Joey nodded.

“Done.” said Harry, “Fine then that’s all sorted, is there a chance I can resume my nap now?”

“Sure and we’ll try not to bother you for awhile and thanks,” Joey said sincerely.

Harry yawned that little o and went back into his shell.

Dani looked around her room. The Panda was sleeping under its eucalyptus tree and the puppy and kitten were sleeping on the pillow on her bed and the turtle was deep in his own shell so Dani smiled, “I think everything is fixed now Joey.

“I hope so,” he said but he wasn’t so sure until they walked back in the kitchen.

They found their mom laughing with their dad about how silly it was that she had momentarily forgotten Harry.

Joey and Dani gave each other knowing smiles as they sat back down to finish their breakfast. They had fixed it!

Now, they could fully concentrate on the next wishes they wanted to make. They'd learned how to be careful in making them so they wouldn't make a mistake again...or so they thought.