It’s All Fun And Games Until...
a Hollie & Paul tale
by JMD
“So,” Hollie said as Paul stepped back to let her through the door, “this is how a magician lives, eh?”
“Well,” he answered closing the door, “a struggling one anyway.”
Hollie stopped and turned back to look at him with a cocked eyebrow. “Struggling?” she repeated. “Paul, your father is one of the most famous performers in the world.”
He gave her a crooked smile. “Okay,” he admitted. “Semi-struggling, then.”
“Fair enough,” she said, realizing that she’d stepped on his toes a bit.
In the two months that they had been working on putting a stage show together, the one thing that she’d learned about Paul was that he didn’t want to make it by riding on his father’s coattails. More than one of her suggestions for an illusion had been rejected as being TMLD (Too Much Like Dad). Still, they had come up with some pretty impressive things. She had to admit that Paul had a brilliantly imaginative mind.
Just one more reason why I’m falling in love with him, she thought to herself.
“You like?” he asked, cutting off her musing.
She recovered quickly. “I don’t know. Let me take a look.” Making a show of it she explored the big living room area. “Bedrooms?” she asked.
“Two.”
“Bath?”
“Just the one.”
She clucked her tongue at him. “Deducting points.”
“Walk-in closets?” he offered with a hopeful expression.
She considered. “Nope. Still a minus.”
His face fell, and she had to turn to hide her smile.
“Tastefully decorated,” she told him, running her hand across the back of his sofa. “Kitchen?”
“Full,” he answered, “with a breakfast bar.”
“Ooh, good touch,” she cooed. “Recovering nicely.”
She moved over to his entertainment center. “Sweet electronics. Let’s check out the entertainment.” She ran a finger down his CD collection. “Music looks good. DVDs?” She read a few titles. “Hmmm. Seems to be a lot of hack and slash here.”
“What can I say?” he defended. “I’m a big S&S fan.”
She spun around to look at him, her cocked eyebrow back in full force.
“S&S,” he repeated quickly. “Sword and Sorcery?”
“Ah,” she nodded, turning back. “I’m more into cartoons myself.”
“Really?”
“Yep,” she admitted. “Can’t get enough of ‘em.”
“Interesting.”
She turned back to him. “How so?”
“Let’s just say that it explains a few things, and leave it at that.”
She just narrowed her eyes at him for a second before returning to the shelves. “No video games?”
“Nope,” he confirmed. “Just not my thing.”
She just nodded, as she moved over to a side shelf. “Hello?” she said suddenly. “What have we here?”
“What?” Paul asked, a bit worried.
“Well,” Hollie said, picking something up from the shelf, “you might not have gotten into video games, but apparently you DO like to play.” She turned around and showed him what she’d found.
It was a big molded plastic magic wand. The handle was about an inch in diameter and brightly painted white and red, looking somewhat like a candy cane. On the top was a big yellow five-pointed star. As Hollie gave it a few back-and-forth swings, the swishing sound of sand could clearly be heard. “Yours?”
“Uh, yeah,” he answered, clearly embarrassed. “My grandmother gave it to me when I was six.”
Hollie’s eyes shot up. “And you’ve kept it all this time? It must be pretty special.”
“You could say that,” he agreed. “Why don’t you put it back?”
Seeing his fidgeting, Hollie broke into an evil grin. “What’s wrong, Paul?” she said, giving the wand a few more playful swings as she came over. “Got a problem with people touching your wand?”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “Just give it to me,” he ordered.
Hollie’s grin grew wider. “Okay. You’re the boss.” And before he could stop her, she gave him a playful tap on the head with the wand.
Instantly, Paul was engulfed in a big cloud of smoke.
“What the hell!” Hollie shouted out, stumbling back. Her left foot caught on her right toe and she went down sharply on her tush. She ignored the pain as she continued to stare up at the smoke, watching as it quickly dissipated. Not that that made her feel any better, since when it did, Paul was nowhere to be seen.
“Paul?” she called out softly, looking around the room.
Rii-bit!
The sound brought her eyes back to the spot where Paul had been standing. On the carpet sat a large green bullfrog. “Paul?” she called again.
Rii-bit! went the frog.
Hollie lifted the wand up and looked between it and the frog. “No way,” she said, mostly to herself.
RII-BIT!
“Hey!” she shouted, swinging around to sit on her knees. “Don’t get mad at me. How was I supposed to know the damned thing was real?”
If a frog could cock an eyebrow, it did. Rii-bit!
Hollie actually heard the sarcasm. “Oh, right,” she admitted. “Magic. Sorry.”
The frog didn’t seem ready to accept the apology.
“So,” Hollie went on, walking over closer on her knees, “how do we change you back?”
The frog just looked at her.
“Come on, Paul,” she pleaded. “You’re the magician.” She frowned. “Well, you were before anyway.” She sighed and looked around, her eyes settling on the wand again. “I guess I could give this another try.”
RII-BIT!
“You got a better idea?”
The frog was silent for a minute. Rii-bit, it finally admitted.
“Didn’t think so.” Hollie took a deep breath before lifting the wand over the frog. “Well, here goes nothing.”
She gave the frog a light tap with the toy, and it disappeared into a new cloud of smoke. A few seconds later, the cloud blew away, revealing a cute grey tabby kitten where the frog had been.
Mew?
Hollie sighed. “Well, at least you’re a lot cuter than before.”
MEW!
“Okay,” she said. “Okay, I’ll try again.”
This time, when the smoke cleared, a puppy sat on the carpet.
Erf?
“You and me both, bud.”
Another tap, and the puppy was replaced by a gerbil.
SQUEEK!
“I’m trying, okay?” Hollie pleaded, before giving the wand another go.
“Oh, shit!” she shouted at the sight of the gasping goldfish on the floor. She quickly tapped it with the wand, and Paul was back to being a frog.
Rii-bit!
“Yeah,” Hollie agreed, tossing the wand aside. “Way too dangerous.” She flopped back onto her butt in a huff. “Now what?”
Rii-bit!
“Well, no offense, Paul,” she said, frustrated, “but since I don’t speak frog, that’s not a lot of help.”
Rii-bit.
She smiled at the obviously softer tone. “I know, but I’m lost here. Like I said, you’re the magician. The only way I know to cure a frog curse is...“ She and the frog locked eyes. “Oh, come on. It can’t be that easy.”
Rii-bit.
“True,” she admitted. “What have we got to lose?”
She got back on her knees and picked him up. Holding him in her palm, she took a deep breath. “I hope this works,” she told him.
And closing her eyes, she gave the frog a kiss on the lips.
This time, the smoke engulfed her along with the frog. A second later, she felt a pair of arms pulling her closer, as the kiss grew deeper. She put her own arms around the obviously restored Paul that was holding her.
“Hi there,” he said, as they pulled apart.
“Oh, thank you, God,” she breathed, flopping back to sit on her heels.
“I agree,” he smiled with a wink.
“Not for that,” she scoffed, then her face softened. “Though, it was pretty nice, too.”
“Thanks.”
“I’m just glad you’re back to you again,” she went on. “I wasn’t looking forward to having to explain to your dad that I’d turned you into a frog.”
Paul laughed. “Now, that might have been fun to see.”
“Sure, fun,” she repeated, “if you consider being turned into a slime mold fun.”
“Nah,” he rebuked her. “Dad’s more into inanimate transformations. Probably would have just added you to his booblehead collection.”
Hollie just looked at him.
“I’m kidding,” Paul added, picking up the wand. “Trust me. He would have been madder at me than you for leaving this where just anyone could get their hands on it.”
“Really?”
“Really,” he smiled. “So, calm down. You don’t have to worry about my dad.”
Hollie let out a relieved sigh.
“Me, on the other hand...”
She looked up to see him waving the wand at her menacingly. “Paul, what...”
“Come on, Hollie,” he said, cutting her off. “Don’t I get a turn to play?”