Wizard Born: Book One of the Wizard Born Series

by Geof Johnson

  “They read our faces. That’s what they said. They look at our faces like people do, and that’s how dogs know what we’re thinking. Wolves can’t do that. They don’t look in our eyes. Dogs are smarter than wolves.”

  “Dogs came from wolves.”

  “I know,” he said. “They evolved from wolves.”

  God, he’s smart, she thought. “Evolved? You know that word already?”

  “Uh huh. They said it on this show, and I heard it in school, and I saw it in a book in the library.”

  “You’re reading books like that?”

  “I don’t check ’em out. I just look at ’em.”

  “What else did you see on this show?”

  “These people took foxes and made ’em like dogs.”

  “What?”

  “They bred foxes…that means they had babies, right? They bred the nicest foxes with the other nice foxes, and did it again and again, and after a while, the new foxes started acting just like dogs. They can take ’em home for pets. I’d love to have a pet fox. Can we get one?”’

  “I don’t think Gramma would like that.” She smiled and rubbed his head. “Maybe you can be a vet when you grow up.”

  “A what?”

  “A veterinarian. It’s an animal doctor. You’re really good with dogs and other animals.”

  “Just like these people on this show are good with dogs.”

  “But not as good as you.”

  “No,” he said confidently.

  He’s probably right.

  “Speaking of Gramma, your Aunt Connie called last night from Greensboro. She’s coming to visit.”

  “Is that the lady Gramma goes to visit?”

  “Yes. She’s her sister, your great aunt. She’s coming for your birthday weekend. You’ll like her. She’s like your Gramma.”

  “This is gonna be a good birthday.”

  “They all are, Sweetie.” She hugged her little boy tightly and watched the rest of the show with him.

  * * *

  That night, Rachel talked with Carl about her conversation with Jamie.

  “So, do you think we should try to move him up a grade?” Carl said.

  “No, I think he should be with kids his age. It would be hard for him, especially socially. He’s not a big guy, anyway. He’d be happier with his friends.”

  “But we don’t want to hold him back. He should be challenged.”

  “When he gets to middle school, we can get him in the gifted program.”

  “So you think he’s gifted?”

  “Without a doubt.”

  “Yeah, me too. He’s freakishly good with animals, too.”

  “Yeah,” Rachel said. “I’ve noticed.”

  Chapter 18

  The Friday afternoon before his birthday, Jamie opened the front door. “Gramma, you don’t have to ring the doorbell. You live here. Did you get new glasses?”

  “I’m not your Gramma; I’m your Aunt Connie.” She held her arms open for a hug. “You must be Jamie.”

  * * *

  Jamie’s mom insisted on cooking dinner that night so that her mother and her aunt could catch up, but she couldn’t seem to keep them out of the kitchen. So they all cooked. Jamie hung around the doorway, watching the women work together.

  He couldn’t get over the sight of his grandmother and great aunt side by side. He knew about twins — there were two pairs of them at his school — but he’d never thought about older, grownup twins. The two women were both wiry and trim — probably from years of working the laziness out of others — they wore their hair the same and they even talked alike.

  The biggest difference Jamie could spot was in their personalities. Aunt Connie wasn’t quite as stern as Gramma and was more affectionate. She liked to hug. Gramma did, too, but not like Aunt Connie.

  That night at dinner, Granddaddy Pete and Grannie Darla came, and the dining room table was nearly full. Jamie’s dad sat on one end, and Pete sat on the other. Jamie sat next to him while the sisters sat together. Most of the talk centered on them, and there was a lot of catching up to be done.

  “We haven’t seen you since Carl and Rachel’s wedding,” Pete said. “How’s your husband?”

  “Ray’s fine,” Connie said. “He’s looking forward to retiring next year.”

  “What are you going to do? Are you going to travel?”

  “Ray doesn’t like to travel much. He’d rather stay home and play golf.”

  “There’s a man after my own heart.” Pete chuckled.

  “How’s Gina?” Rachel asked.

  “Good. Almost through with her master’s degree. She might have a job lined up in Asheville.”

  “That’s exciting,” Darla said, “but won’t you be lonely there in Greensboro, just you and Ray?”

  “Yes, which brings me to my reason for coming here this weekend.” She glanced at Jamie and said, “I really wanted to meet you, Jamie, because Evelyn has said so much about you.” Then she looked at her sister. “But what I really came for was to talk Evelyn into moving back to Greensboro.”

  The whole table looked at her in stunned silence, all except for Pete, who muttered under his breath, “Good riddance.”

  * * *

  Saturday was Connie’s first experience with the controlled chaos of the modern kid’s birthday party. The backyard was a seething mass of pint-sized humanity. Kids jumped and shrieked in the bouncy castle, swarmed around the playset and clubhouse like bees, and ran around the yard like crazed savages. And in the center of the storm was Evelyn. Connie was amazed at how calm and collected her sister was, handing out snacks, putting a bandage on a scraped knee, or giving random hugs to the children, especially Jamie, Fred, and Rollie, who seemed to gravitate to her like moths to a flame.

  Watching their interaction, Connie was struck by how much affection her sister shared with those kids. They were as likely to seek her out, it seemed, as they would their own parents, regularly circling by her in their little orbits around the solar system of the yard, the children were comets and Evelyn was the sun.

  She realized that her sister really had three grandchildren — Jamie, an adorable little red-headed girl, and an African-American boy with a smile too big for his face.

  * * *

  Jamie and Fred took turns opening presents. Fred picked up a small gift wrapped in shiny pink paper and Connie said, “That’s from Gina and me. She really wanted you to have it.”

  Fred tore off the paper, opened the box and shrieked, “Earrings! Mom, they’re earrings.”

  She showed her mother, who said, “Are those emeralds?”

  “Yes,” Connie said, “but don’t get too excited. They’re tiny. Gina said Fred needed those to match her eyes.”

  “Mom, can I get my ears pierced now?”

  “Right this second?” Lisa laughed. “Let’s see if I can find a toothpick around here.”

  Fred grabbed her earlobes and frowned.

  “I’m teasing, Honey. We’ll go tomorrow. Let’s get a picture of you with them.”

  Fred pulled the earrings out of the box and held them up next to her face for the photo, her eyes sparkling brighter than the stones.

  * * *

  Connie and Evelyn said goodbye in the driveway on Sunday afternoon. They put their arms around each other’s waists and Connie said, “You have a wonderful family, Evelyn.”

  “They’re your family, too.”

  “I guess this means I’m not going to be able to talk you into moving home.”

  “This is my home, now. Everything that matters is here.”

  “Except me.”

  “Maybe you should move here.”

  Connie looked at her sister for a moment before saying, “I’ll think about it. If Gina moves to Asheville, it would be nice. It’ll take some work convincing Ray.” She put her hand on her sister’s face. “If I had a grandson like Jamie, I’d stay too. I think that boy needs you, Evelyn. I think all three of those kids do.”

  “I need them, too.”


  “I can see that.”

  They hugged each other tightly, and Connie got in her car. Evelyn stood in the driveway and waved until she was out of sight.

  Chapter 19

  Jamie’s favorite birthday present was from his parents: A magic set.

  “Jamie, are you almost ready?” Carl called from the kitchen. Jamie was in the family room with his magic instruction book and a deck of cards.

  “Almost.”

  “Any day now. I’ve got to go to work tomorrow.”

  “Okay, here I come.” Jamie came into the kitchen and put the cards on the table and spread them. “Okay, pick a card, but don’t show me.” Carl pulled out the nine of clubs. “Now,” Jamie continued, “remember your card and put it back in the pile.” After Carl put the card back, Jamie clumsily shuffled. “Okay, cut the deck.” Carl did so and handed it back to Jamie, who looked through and pulled out the nine of clubs. “Is this it?”

  “How did you do that?”

  “The first rule in the book says don’t ever tell your secrets.”

  “It’s got to be a marked deck. Let’s try it with a real one.” Carl looked through the kitchen drawers and pulled out a fresh pack. “Okay, let’s try that again.”

  Jamie repeated the steps of the trick and found his father’s card again.

  “Pretty amazing, Buddy. Let’s show Gramma.”

  * * *

  By the end of the week, Jamie had learned all of the card tricks from the book and was working on the little rubber balls.

  “Okay, which cup is it under?” he asked his parents.

  Rachel pointed to one. Jamie turned it over and said, “Nope.” He moved the three cups around again. “Which one?” Carl pointed to one. “Nope.”

  “Well, which one is it?” Carl asked.

  “None of them.” He turned over the cups and reached behind his father’s ear, opened his hand and showed them the ball.

  Carl frowned. “Do that again. I’m going to watch your hands.”

  Jamie repeated the trick, pulling the ball from behind his mother’s ear.

  “I don’t get it,” Carl said. “I’ve been watching your hands like a hawk, and you’ve got short sleeves on. How do you do it?”

  “The book says I can’t tell you.” Jamie smiled. “But I know what I want to spend my birthday money from Granddaddy Pete and Grannie Darla on. There’s a trick shop in Asheville. Can you take me sometime?”

  * * *

  That Saturday, his parents took him to Wally’s Trick Shop, and Jamie thought he’d died and gone to heaven. It had glass display cases full of special trick equipment, puppets, costumes and everything else you might need for a magic act. He took his time looking at everything in the store and finally decided.

  “I’ve only got enough for the magician’s table,” he told his parents. But I really want to get the hat and the rings, too. What should I do?”

  Carl looked at Rachel for a moment, then said to Jamie, “Well, we’ve been talking about when we should start giving you an allowance. How about this: we give you five dollars a week, starting right now, which is enough for the rings, and you have to do chores to earn it.”

  “You can take out the trash every day and sweep the front walk,” Rachel said.

  “Really?” Jamie said. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

  On the ride back to Hendersonville, Jamie sat in the back seat and read the instructions for the magic rings. By the time they got home, he was ready to wow his family with his new trick.

  * * *

  Jamie, Fred, and Rollie sat in the clubhouse.

  “Okay, which one?” Jamie asked.

  Rollie pointed to a cup. “Nope,” Jamie said smugly.

  “All right, we give up.” Fred said. “Where is it?”

  “It’s behind your ear.”

  When she felt behind her ear, Jamie said, “Not that one.” He reached over to her other ear. “This one.” He showed them the little ball.

  Rollie looked uncomfortable. “This better not be real magic. My dad said that’s bad.”

  “It’s not, I told you. It’s just a trick. Anybody can do it.”

  Fred, face set in determination said, “Do it again. I’m going to catch you this time.”

  “No you’re not,” Jamie said in a sing-song voice. “Nobody can.”

  And he was right.

  By the time school started the following week, Jamie was ready to amaze his fellow second graders.

  * * *

  Renn drummed his fingers on the table, unable to focus on the book in front of him. He had come home to find the girl he’d hired to help Mother had run off. Or Mother had run her off. This was posing a dilemma: If he tracked down the girl and punished her and her family, he’d never be able to get anyone from the little town to come work at the house in her place. And he wasn’t sure if he should punish her. Maybe Mother had indeed run her off. His time was too valuable to waste on such trivial things; he had bigger bears to skin, as Mother would say.

  He had good reasons to believe that Mother had sent the girl away. Mother had strongly resisted his suggestions of getting her help and had been less than cordial to the girl when she arrived. Now Mother lay asleep in her room, the house was filthy, and dinner was awful. He would have to find someone, and soon.

  * * *

  Jamie got on the bus the first day of second grade with strict instructions from his mother: he could only do magic tricks before school, during recess, or during lunch, and that was only if it was okay with Mrs. Hammond, his new teacher. His backpack was loaded with his cards, cups, rings, and balls, and he had practiced the tricks until he could do them perfectly.

  The only problem was, by the end of the second day of school, he had used them all up.

  “I need some new ones,” Jamie said to Fred and Rollie on the bus ride home, “but I already learned everything in the magic book.”

  “I bet you can find some on the Internet,” Rollie said. They went to Jamie’s house after school, fired up the computer and found loads of videos of card tricks. After watching one they thought might be good, Rollie said, “Hey, I could do that. It ain’t real magic.”

  “Isn’t real magic,” Evelyn said from the kitchen.

  “Do you wanna learn this trick, Rollie?’” Jamie said.

  “Nah, you can do that stuff. Maybe I’ll think up something of my own to do.”

  “You could tap dance with me,” Fred said.

  “Uh uh, too girlie.”

  “A lot of famous tap dancers are men, like Gregory Hines,” Evelyn said. “He was black.”

  “Don’t care if he was purple, I’m not tap dancing,” Rollie said.

  * * *

  The next day, the kids ran into the house and headed straight for the computer again, but Evelyn said, “Not so fast, kids. It’s a beautiful day. You need to play outside.”

  “But we wanna look at card tricks,” Jamie said.

  “Too bad. Out!” She pointed at the back door.

  That night at dinner, Evelyn said, “We need to establish some rules for Jamie about using the computer. I think he needs time limits, just like TV. Those kids came home from school today expecting to play on the Internet, and I’m not having that.”

  Carl scratched his chin. “What do you think, Rachel? Half hour?”

  “A half hour!” Jamie said.

  “How about if we make it one hour total on school nights, TV and computer,” Rachel said. “He can divide it however he likes.”

  “As long as he keeps reading,” Evelyn said.

  “I’m gonna read,” Jamie said.

  “But no more staying up late reading.” Carl put both hands flat on the table. “I took the flashlight out of your room, by the way.”

  “Something else I want to talk about,” Rachel said. “Lisa said they want to come to church with us this Sunday. They don’t like their new minister.”

  “Is Fred gonna go?” Jamie asked.

  “Yes.” Evelyn shook her
finger at him. “But you won’t be sitting together, at least this first time. You fidget enough in the pew as it is.”

  “Yeah.” Carl grinned. “God might forgive your sins, but your grandmother will not forgive misbehaving in God’s house.”

  * * *

  Jamie found the web site for Wally’s Trick Shop. “They have so much cool stuff, but it costs too much. It’ll take forever to save up my allowance. Is there any way I can make some money?”

  “Like a job?” Carl said.

  “How about a dog walking service?” Evelyn asked. “You’re very good with animals.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Rachel said. “We could print flyers and go around the neighborhood, putting them on mailboxes.”

  “How much money could I make?” Jamie asked.

  “More than you’re making now,” Carl said.

  * * *

  Monday after school, Jamie and Rachel put out flyers on 75 mailboxes. It didn’t take long to get a response.

  “Mr. Folsom called while you were in the bath,” Rachel said. “He wants to know if you can handle walking Ralphie.”

  “For real?” Jamie said. “I can do that. Me and Ralphie are buddies.”

  The next afternoon, as Jamie and Evelyn knocked on Mr. Folsom’s door, they heard Ralphie’s deep bark. Mr. Folsom opened the door a crack and said, “Let me get the leash. We’ll take a test walk and see how you do.”

  A minute later, he opened the door and Ralphie barreled through, pulling Mr. Folsom along. Ralphie was so excited to see Jamie that he nearly knocked him down.

  “Well, I can see that he likes you,” Mr. Folsom said. “I just don’t know if you can control him. He’s a big, strong dog, probably weighs twice as much as you.”

  “I can control him,” Jamie said confidently. “Ralphie, sit.”

  Ralphie immediately sat on his haunches, tongue out.

  “How did you get him to do that?” Mr. Folsom asked. “He won’t do it for me.”

  “Nobody’s as good with dogs as Jamie,” Evelyn said. “Go ahead and give him the leash.”

  Mr. Folsom handed Jamie the leash, and Jamie said, “Up, Ralphie.” The dog stood and waited. “Okay, let’s go.”

  Ralphie almost pulled Jamie over. “Easy, boy.” The dog looked over his shoulder for reassurance, and then moved out at an easy walk.