by Lizzie Vega
Katie struggled not to laugh as she watched this play out. She handed her a Merlot as she sat down. “Way to work the room, Iris. Impressive.”
Iris waved off the compliment and took a big drink of her wine. “No big deal, I didn’t see anyone interesting anyway.”
“Katie told me to watch the guys. It was funny. I’ve never seen anything like how they reacted to you.” Samantha arched her newly plucked eyebrows, “You look really different than before. Not gonna lie, I’m a little scared of you right now.”
“Ha, cute,” was Iris’s response, “As a business owner, I don’t always gear up quite this aggressively, it’s just your lucky day.”
Samantha was surprised, “Wait, you own the salon? You’re so young, cool!”
“Thanks, two so far and I have another one opening out on 52nd in a couple of months, you’ll have to come and visit me there.”
“Hell, yes” was Sam’s response. It startled Katie so much, she almost dropped her glass.
“Sam, jeez! Look at you gettin’ all enthusiastic,” as she collected herself.
The three continued talking about school and Iris’s business plans. Katie cut a glance at Iris a couple of times trying to steer the conversation in a particular direction. Iris just laughed at her.
Iris sat forward and put both her hands on the table like she was about to lead a board meeting, “Ok, about your boyfriend,” just as Sam got up and excused herself, “Be right back.”
Katie smirked, “Chicken,” and she reached down for her phone as Sam turned to head toward the ladies’ room. She punched up her camera and filmed Samantha as she made her way across the open bar. As expected, heads turned. Iris made the connection right away, “You’re filming her, you are evil.” But she watched the room as well. “She has no idea how attractive she is, does she?”
Katie shut the phone off, “Nope, she is so kind and so smart, but she’s afraid of her own shadow. She’s never had a real boyfriend and I know she’s lonely. Maybe you could just give her a little push?” Katie watched the playback, “Crappy lighting in here, but I got what I wanted.”
Iris smiled but she asked for confirmation, “A little push, or a shove?”
Katie underscored the answer, “A little push only, the guy she likes is just like her, she’d scare him to death if we overcorrect.”
“Overcorrect? What’s that about?” Sam asked, as she approached the table. Iris patted the table next to her, “Ah, nothing, we’re just gabbing. Here, sit.” Samantha sat down but she had a pained look on her face. Katie just shook her head, “Sam, it’s not like you’re going to the dentist here, just have a listen to what Iris says.”
“Right. No pressure, if anything, I’m just curious. And,” Iris continued, “Please trust me when I say I only have your best interests in mind. What’s his name?”
“Sure, ok.” Samantha sighed, “His name is Michael.”
Iris laughed out loud, “Michael! Ha, we’re going to cast a spell on an archangel, what possibly could go wrong?” Iris gathered herself when she saw Sam’s expression, “Just kidding, really.”
“I’m just going to influence him a little, don’t worry, he won’t know anything is happening. I’m not going to chant or throw cats around in the air. I’m just going to align him to your thinking. Ok? How long have you known him?”
“Since third grade, he sat next to me in Mrs. Carlson’s class. He was funny and talked to me a little. He is so handsome and he’s really smart.”
“Wow, you’ve liked him for a long time! Tell me a couple more memories of him.”
Sam thought for a second and she giggled, “I remember in sixth grade gym class, we were playing dodgeball and he was going to throw the ball at me, but I smiled at him and he hesitated,” and she laughed again, “Then he got hit right in the head by one of the other boys. Really hard, too.”
Iris and Katie laughed too, “Maybe not a good memory for him, anything else?”
‘Yep, later that same year he brought me a lemonade while we are having the end of the year picnic. That was nice of him. No hard feelings from the ambush, I guess.”
Iris’s eyes sparkled at that, “Yes, that was nice of him, I can use that.”
Samantha added, “I think he’s had some rough times, I don’t want him to be lonely.”
“There seems to be lot of that going around these days, Sam.” Iris reached over to her, “Take my hand, wait,” and she put on her jacket. “Seems cold in here, right?”
Katie seemed puzzled, "Here in the bar?” Iris just looked at her and winked, she put her finger to her lips, “Katherine, hush now, please.”
“Samantha, close your eyes and listen to my voice, block out everything else, Ok? Turn off the little voice in your head that is telling you not to believe right now.”
Sam smiled softly and then closed her eyes. Iris looked around the bar to make sure no one was paying attention.
“Samantha, say his name for me.”
“Michael,” was her soft response.
“Moon and Earth, sun and sky, please listen when we ask you for this special gift.
A whispered phrase to place a softness, to clear the haze in Michael’s head, and when he sees you next time, it will be for the first time.”
“Say his name again for me, Samantha.”
“Michael,” but this time her voice cracked and her hand was shaking.
“It’s Ok, sweetie, we’re all done.” And the young witch squeezed Sam’s hand.
Sam let out a long slow breath, “Wow, that was really pretty.” Tears were making their way slowly down both cheeks. “I'll be right back.” and she headed for the bathroom.
Iris turned and looked at Katie, who had yet to move a muscle. “We all good here?” Iris asked calmly.
Katie shook her head as if to clear it. “I swear to God, Iris, I have seen you do that three times now,” and she pointed towards Iris’s tendril tattoo across her collarbone, “And, it scares the living shit out of me each time. Are you Ok?”
Iris just smiled, “Oh yeah, I’m fine, you don’t have any Visine do you? I can’t feel the tattoo moving, but my eyes get a little scratchy when they turn green like that.”
“Freaks me out, are you sure you’re not an alien or something?”
“Good one. Nope, you know I’m from Montana, right? Completely earthbound, I swear.”
Sam almost ran across the bar to the table and sat down with a crash. “Sorry about that, it just seemed to hit me emotionally pretty hard but you know what? I feel fucking amazing!”
“SaMantha,” Katie exclaimed, “Language!” but Sam just waved her off. “Whatever.”
“Iris, we gotta hang out more,” and she picked up her glass, “A toast, to new friends,” and Katie finished with, “And to new adventures.” They clinked their glasses together.
Sam asked Iris, “What happens next? What should I do because of the spell?”
Iris put her finger to her lips to tone down Sam’s volume, “Absolutely, nothing. It won’t be an instant thing. Give it time, Ok?"
Samantha clapped her hands together suddenly, it startled Katie, “Iris’, what are you doing Saturday the 19th? We’re having a party, you should come... will you come?”
“Party?” Iris repeated, “I like parties, what kind of party?”
Katie just put face into her hands, “Oh dear, Iris, prepare yourself. It’s geek week at school, it’s going to be a weird combination of nerds, geeks and a lot of cosplay. Don’t feel obligated. Come to think of it, there will be a lot of guys there and not all of them are dweebs. You might have fun.”
Samantha was almost begging, “You gotta come. Can you get time off? Oh duh, you own the place…Ha!”
To Katie’s amazement, Iris jumped at the idea, “Cosplay! Honey, I do cosplay like you have never seen before. I’m in.”
Sam squealed with delight, “Perfect, I bet you have great costumes.”
Katie just shook her head for the umpteenth time that night, “Sam
, you have no idea.”
Chapter 9
Michael got up early the next morning to look at his new-found treasure as he polished off his cereal. Something was different.
“Parker,” he hollered. “Did you mess around with the stuff on the dining table?”
Parker stuck his head out of the bathroom, “Huh, it’s your stuff. I didn’t touch anything, why?”
Michael continued, “When you’re done in there, come take a look at this, it’s different than last night.” He rubbed his eyes and yawned. He hadn’t been up that late.
Not one for modesty, Parker ambled out of the bathroom in a towel, “What’s the issue here? You have your junk,” pointing at the table, “And I have my junk,” pointing at his crotch.
Michael glared at him, “Really? What are you, 12 years old? Are you sure you didn’t mess with these just to piss me off?” gesturing to pieces on a paper towel.
“Positive.” Parker was surprised at Michael’s tone, “What’s the problem?”
“Last night when I unpacked all of this stuff, I sorted it out by what I thought I could do with it. Ok, this is maybe me hallucinating but I had set these here.” and he looked weirdly at the curved metal piece, “Only last night there were four pieces of this greasy curved metal stuff, now there are two because three of them seemed to magically join together.” Michael’s voice rose with an unusual, attacking edge to it.
“Hey, lose the tone here,” Parker said defensively, “I told you I didn’t touch your stuff, I meant it, lighten the fuck up. What are you talking about anyway?”
Mike held up his hands to apologize, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to get loud, but look at this. What is this stuff anyway? I thought it looked like car parts. Just look at it.”
Parker picked up the smallest piece and held it up to the light. “Hmm, looks more like something from a construction site,” and tossed it back on the table.
Michael directed him back to the other piece, “Last night, there were three individual pieces, this morning, they are one piece,” and he picked up the other section. “Look at this, you can see where the original sections were,” and he tried to flex the metal at the small seam where it had bonded with the other pieces.
Michael’s eyes suddenly got wide and he quickly set the metal piece back on the table, “Shit.” And he took a step back from it. Parker jumped, startled by the other boy’s quick movement, “Are you alright?”
“Yes, well, no. Shit! I don’t know…It’s not greasy anymore either. I don’t know what to think.”
“Let me see that,” and Parker grabbed the larger section off the table and looked at it.
The larger piece did indeed have lines on it where the sections had apparently fused together. Parker tried to fit the remaining piece on the either end of the larger piece, “Not a fit on either end.” He set both pieces back on the table. “Whatever happened, we both have to get to class. Leave it, it’s not going anywhere.”
“I’m not so sure about that, it’s already gone somewhere,” picking up the pieces to try to fit them together. “Nope, no luck either, so weird.”
As they got ready to leave for the day’s classes, Michael took one last look at the metal pieces. He had set them opposite of each other and although the littlest piece was still smaller, it matched the curve of the new larger one. It was obvious there were just parts missing in between.
Parker came back into the room dressed in loose jeans and an almost too tight t-shirt. “Mike, we gotta go, you can play with your toys after school.”
“In a sec,” and he took out his phone and snapped a picture of it. He hollered after his roommate, “Parker, we’re engineers, right? We can figure this out.”
“Hell, yeah, but not if you don’t get your ass moving.”
Chapter 10
Michael sat in the back of the lecture hall for his first class with time to spare. This class was part of his core requirements but he found it mostly boring. He took out his phone and brought up the picture of the metal pieces. He zoomed in, scrolled back and forth across the image, and stared. I, really, have no idea what I am looking for, do I? He snapped his phone off to watch other students find their seats, hoping for something to calm his mind.
Just then, Samantha walked through the doorway and made her way toward a seat a couple of rows from the front.
He saw her immediately, and in an instant, was transported back to the sixth grade. She had the same quiet manner and the same graceful walk, but today something was different.
She looked amazing.
He instinctively sat up a little straighter and cursed himself for sitting absentmindedly in the back row. He tried to quickly gather his books to get closer to her, but both sides of him were now blocked by other students. The instructor began speaking. Trapped, he sat back down and cursed his poor planning a second time.
Katie had watched him from the doorway and tried not to laugh as she joined Sam towards the front of the class.
Sam leaned toward Katie and whispered, “Anything?”
“Oh yeah, he saw you. So did about 30 other guys in the room, I’ll tell you after class.”
“Where is he sitting?” She started to shift in her seat to survey the room.
“Oh no you don’t,” Katie interrupted her, “Let him sweat it out over class and see what he does when the bell rings.”
“Fine,” was Samantha’s response as she grabbed a pen out of her bag to take notes, fussing around a bit to get a quick backwards glance Michael’s direction.
Class proved to be more dull than normal for Michael. He took out his phone again as the professor droned on about some physics theorem and brought up the picture again.
He saw it instantly. Take the implied radius of the pieces and connect them as if they were all there. It’s a circle. Simple. Just close the circle and see what it could be. He had to find Parker and share his discovery.
As the professor made his closing remarks, Michael excused himself through the line of students blocking his exit, and bolted from the auditorium.
Katie looked for him as they got ready to leave, “He ghosted. I don’t see him.” Sam didn’t seem too bothered, “Oh well, Iris said it wouldn’t work instantly.” But then said ‘hi’ to two of the other male students as they exited the room. Katie just shrugged her shoulders muttering with a proud smirk, “His loss...”
Chapter 11
“You have to see this?” were the first words out of Michaels mouth as Parker got home from classes that afternoon.
Parker cocked an eyebrow in surprise, he almost always got home before his roommate.
“Just how long have you been home? Did you actually skip a class?”
“No mom, I didn’t skip class, but thanks for asking. Here, look.” Michael gestured to a piece of cardboard. “This is what I think it would look like if the arc continued along its’ full radius.
Parker took one look at the full circle that Michael had drawn using the original pieces as a guide. It certainly formed a circle. “So, Mr. Wizard, what do you think it is?”
“No idea, it’s about the size of a Frisbee golf disc, definitely not a brake caliper like I thought yesterday. Who knows, you hungry?”
“Ok, that’s the first thing you have said that makes any sense today.”
“Yeah, I realize that,” Michael said, his eyes brightened, “I vote pizza. Spicy Pi, 12th Avenue or downtown?”
Parker considered it for a moment, “Let’s go to the one downtown, I want to stop by my dad’s warehouse afterward and see what’s going on.”
“Cool,” Michael replied, “I haven’t been there in a long time.”
While they stood in line, waiting to order their pizza, Parker couldn’t help but notice the different diameter pizza pans screwed to the wall to let patron know what size pizza to order. “Your secret decoder ring is the size of a small pizza, mystery solved, you’re buying.”
“Hell no, you eat more than I do,” Michael argued, “I’m just getting two
slices, I have to get back to the gym, I’ve been slacking.”
“Ok,” agreed Parker, “two pieces for me as well and yes, you have been slacking. You’re borderline dad-bod now.”
They chose a booth by the door to wait for their order to be ready. Part of the restaurant’s image was to have every square inch of the place covered by graffiti names and sayings. Customers were encouraged to leave a comment in magic marker in the location of their choosing. Their server brought over the pizza and as Parker lunged after his first bite, he stopped and scolded Michael, “Did you pick this booth on purpose?”
Michael was taken aback, “What? You sat down first, what’s the big deal?”
Parker finished chewing, “The first bite is always the best, yeah, I guess I did choose to sit here,
“Look,” and he pointed at the marker covered wall next to Michael’s head. Plain as day it read, ‘Michael and Samantha’
“Did you write that, Mikey?” he teased.
“Nope, I’ve don’t think I’ve ever sat at this booth before. Coincidence, I’d say.”
Parker wasn’t convinced, “It wouldn’t be the strangest thing that’s happened lately.”
“No shit! Speaking of Sam, I saw her in class today, she looked amazing.”
Parker frowned at him between bites, “That sounded a little rude, connecting those two statements, you need to work on that kind of thing if we are ever going to get you laid. The ladies pick up on that sort of thing.”
“Yes, sir. I get it, I’m not an idiot, Parker. Hey, finish up, I want to work on some stuff for the party tonight.”
“Fine, I want to swing by the warehouse for like, two minutes. Then you can go home to play with your mystery toy.” Parker picked up his soda glass and tossed it at the nearby garbage can. He missed by a considerable margin and the paper cup along with the remaining ice inside skittered across the floor landing at the feet of a couple of now annoyed customers. Parker was embarrassed, apologizing as he picked up his mess.
