Sean ran down the path cursing his choice of flip-flops. They weren't exactly the best footwear for running around in the woods. He looked down at his feet thinking that he was going to have to start waiting a little longer after waking before leaving the house. He reached the location where the altercation had taken place that morning and looked around. He said, "Now I find out if it was a dream or not."
The three dwarves stepped out of the woods. Surprised that they were actually there, he said, "You're here."
"I know. So are you," Chom said. He leaned over to Pip and asked, "What kind of a greeting was that?"
"I don't know," Pip answered.
"Given that he doesn't even know how to give a proper hello I'd have to say that he's not too bright," Chom said.
"I tend to agree," Pip said. He sniffed the air and said, "At least he brought silver."
Sean held out the sock and said, "This is all of the silver that I was able to gather in time to be here at noon."
"Idiot doesn't know about daylight savings time," Chom said.
"Give him a break. Noon is noon according to whatever clock people are using," Clea said.
"Are you sure?" Chom asked looking over at Clea.
"There's no rule about it, so we can just accept the local time," Clea said.
Not quite sure that he believed that, Pip asked, "There isn't a rule?"
"Nope."
Surprised, Chom said, "There should be."
"Can you come up with two other rules about time?" Clea asked.
Chom and Pip looked at each other with blank expressions on their faces and shrugged their shoulders. Finally, Pip answered, "No, but it just seems to me that noon is a time of day and not a time on the clock."
"These humans with their mechanical clocks and daylight savings time really know how to bugger things up," Chom said disgusted.
"What has daylight savings time got to do with anything?" Sean asked confused by the discussion.
"It is only eleven by our time," Chom said.
"Oh," Sean said thinking that no one had mentioned anything about daylight savings time to him. He asked, "So are we supposed to wait around for an hour?"
"No. It is close enough," Clea said. She looked over at Pip and added, "Pip isn't looking too good."
"I guess the sooner the deal is made, the better," Chom said realizing that Pip was still on the verge of fading away.
Pip poured the coins out the sock and picked through them. Looking up at Sean, he said, "Most of these don't have any silver in them."
"They are dimes and quarters. Everyone knows they are made of silver," Sean said confused.
"Told you he was an idiot," Chom said.
Pip said, "Everyone knows that they stopped making dimes and quarters out of silver forty years ago."
"They did?" Sean asked. He scratched his head trying to remember if he had known that. Fortunately for him, he hadn't even looked at the dates on the cardboard coin holders when he had grabbed them. If he had, he wouldn't have brought any of the older coins with him.
Nodding his head in the affirmative, Pip picked through the coins to gather the ones with silver. There were a few of the older coins. Once Pip was satisfied that he had all of the silver, he squeezed his hand into a fist. A small trickle of copper ran out between his fingers and dropped onto the ground. He opened his hand and looked at the small bit of pure silver there. Shaking his head, he said, "There's not much silver here."
Clea asked, "Is there enough?"
"Yes," Pip answered. He looked around for a small stone. He found one and picked it up. He held the stone in one hand and the lump of silver in the other. He made as if he was a scale comparing the weight of the stone against the lump of silver.
Sean asked, "What are you doing?"
"Making sure it is a fair trade," Pip said. He quickly rubbed a thumb across the stone and dust floated off from between his thumb and the stone. He stopped and juggled the two hands. He said, "That ought to do it."
"You're sure," Chom asked.
Holding out the rock to Sean, Pip answered, "I'm sure."
"You're giving me a rock in exchange for the silver?" Sean asked.
"No, you idiot," Pip said. He dropped the rock in Sean's hand and said, "This weighs the same as the amount of silver you gave me."
"That's not much," Sean said. It was just over two ounces since the silver had come from seven quarters and ten dimes.
"No kidding," Pip said, but the rules were the rules and they had to abide by them.
Clea said, "Give him a break. He's a kid. Where is he supposed to get a bunch of silver from?"
"Good point," Chom said.
"What am I supposed to do with this rock?" Sean asked looking at the stone. It was really more of a pebble than a rock.
Pip said, "Now throw the rock as far as you can down the path."
"You just gave this to me and you already want me to throw it away," Sean said looking at Pip while thinking it was kind of a stupid thing to do.
"That's right," Clea said, "Throw it as far as you can."
Sean leaned back and threw the stone as far as he could. He asked, "How's that?"
Chom made a big production out of estimating the distance the rock had gone. After a long low hum, he said, "Not bad for a girl."
"I agree, that was pretty good for a girl," Pip said enthusiastically.
"I'm not a girl," Sean said and then realized that he had just been insulted.
Chom and Pip chuckled while Clea rolled her eyes. Chom said, "That's the point."
"I'm glad you're amused," Sean said wondering when he was going to get that magic gift they were talking about.
"Let's pace the distance to where it landed," Pip said.
Sean counted out the steps as he walked to the stone. Upon reaching it, he announced, "Forty three steps."
"Not bad," Clea said. Too much more weight and he wouldn't have been able to throw it that far. Less weight and it probably wouldn't have gone that far.
Pip picked up the rock and handed it to Sean. When it touched his palm, it felt like a bolt of electricity shot up his arm. Surprised, Sean asked, "What was that?"
Pip answered, "That was the gift of magic. You can now command any object that weighs up to the weight of that stone from any distance within forty three steps of where you are standing at the time."
"Huh?" Sean asked.
Clea said, "Tell the rock to float."
Sean looked at the three dwarves and, feeling a little foolish, looked back at the rock. He said, "Float."
The rock lifted out of his hand and drifted on the breeze. Staring at the rock, he said, "That's amazing."
"That's magic," Chom said. He looked over at Pip and noticed that he was already looking a lot more substantial. He asked, "How are you feeling?"
"I feel a whole lot better," Pip said. At least one person believed in magic and that was enough to keep him from fading.
Sean grabbed the rock from where it was floating in mid-air. He asked, "What else can I do?"
"That's it," Pip answered.
"I can only make this rock float?"
Chom looked disgusted. He said, "I swear that humans are getting dumber every generation. Ten thousand years ago, they might not have had very good vocabularies, but they were a lot smarter. They only had to be showed once how to use a stick as a weapon."
"I'm smarter than a caveman."
"That's what you think," Chom said nudging Pip in the side with an elbow.
Pip said, "I told you. You can command any object that weighs up to the weight of that stone from a distance within forty three paces of where you are standing."
Sean frowned and looked around. He pointed to a leaf a dozen steps away and asked, "I can make that leaf move just by telling it to move?"
"Try it," Clea said.
Sean looked at the leaf and said, "Walk across the path."
Much to his surprise, the leaf walked across the path. He looked at Pip and said, "It really works."
"Of course it does. It is magic," Pip said feeling a whole lot better.
Clea said, "Come back here this day a year from now with gold. You will get another gift of magic."
"Cool," Sean said wondering where he would get some gold.
Chom said, "Go and use your gift of magic."
"Doing what?" Sean asked.
Pip said, "It doesn't matter. The more you use magic, the stronger the magic in the rest of the world gets."
"Is that a good thing?" Sean asked.
"Yes, that is a good thing," Pip answered.
"Okay," Sean said looking down at the rock. He looked up and the three dwarves were gone. He said, "I meant to apologize to her about that request this morning. It wasn't a very polite thing to do."
From deep in the woods, he heard Clea say, "Apology accepted."
Sean looked down at the dimes and quarters scattered where Pip had dumped them. In a way he was kind of glad that he hadn't lost his entire collection of dimes and quarters. It had taken him years to collect those coins. He knew that it wasn't really worth much money, but it did represent a minor accomplishment.
He ordered the sock to come to his hand. It rose from the ground and flew to his outstretched hand. He ordered all of the coins to enter the sock, but nothing happened. He realized that he had to order each individual coin. He looked at each coin and ordered it into the sock. He was grinning like a lunatic as the coins made their way to the sock. He said, "I'm not going to have to pick up anything from now on."
Holding the sock closed, he made his way along the path. He made leaves dance out of his way as he walked. Little sticks crawled out of his way. He didn't think about how the sticks crawled, just that they moved out of the way. Having fun playing with his powers, he took his time returning to the house.
His pleasure was somewhat dampened when he discovered his mother waiting for him at the head of the path. She had her arms crossed and was looking at him with an expression on her face that let him know that he was in trouble. It wasn't just trouble, it was trouble spelled with a capital 'T'. In a very irritated voice, she said, "There you are."
"What's the matter?" Sean asked.
"You just ran off without telling me where you were going," his mother answered.
"Sorry," Sean said realizing that he had just kind of run off without saying anything to his mother. He wondered if he was allowed to talk about the gift of magic.
"Until I get to the bottom of what happened this morning, you're grounded," his mother said. She knew that there was more than a little bad blood between Sean and Max. She was concerned about the confused story that he had told that morning. He was still acting a little odd.
Sean thought about it for a moment and said, "I think a more suitable punishment would be to require me to sleep late every morning for the rest of the summer."
His mother tapped him lightly on the back of the head and said, "In your dreams, buddy-boy."
"Hey, it was worth a try," Sean said rubbing the back of his head. He figured that by the time he moved away from home that he'd have a permanent callous on the back of his head. He idly wondered if that was the reason so many men had bald spots on the back of their heads.
"It is lunch time now. After lunch, you're going to mow the lawn," his mother said trying to think of something to keep him occupied.
"I just ate breakfast," Sean said looking at his mother.
"Well, it is lunchtime now," she said.
Sean frowned and asked, "How am I supposed to eat lunch when I just finished eating breakfast?"
"That's what you get for sleeping all morning," his mother said.
"That doesn't make sense."
His mother said, "It makes plenty of sense. You're the one who has lost his senses."
"It still doesn't make any sense," Sean said.
Noticing that he was carrying a sock, she asked, "What are you doing carrying a sock around?"
"I put my money in it," Sean answered. He held up the sock and shook it so that she could hear the coins.
"Why put it in a sock?" she asked wondering if he used that to hit Max earlier that morning. She didn't remember seeing him leave the house with a sock filled with coins that morning.
"My sweat pants don't have a pocket," Sean answered.
Sean followed his mother to the house tossing the rock in the air and then catching it. She looked at him and asked, "What are you doing with that rock?"
"I like it. It is special," Sean said.
She wondered if Sean had picked it up in case he came across Max. She didn't want to get a call from Cynthia Baxter with the news that Sean had put her son's eye out with a rock. She said, "You got that to throw at Max, didn't you?"
"No," Sean said. The thought had never crossed his mind although now that it had come up, it seemed to be a pretty good idea.
"So what's so special about it?"
He said, "It is magic."
"I swear that you're getting stranger by the minute," his mother said shaking her head.
"I'm just as strange now as I was a minute ago," Sean protested and then realized how stupid that sounded.
"That's not saying much," she said.
"I didn't mean it that way," Sean said.
"You might not say what you mean, but you mean what you say," his mother said with a smile.
"Huh?" Sean said trying to figure out what she meant.
Like Mother Hubbard, his mother went over to the cupboard and, like always, it was bare. She said, "Go to the store and get a can of soup."
"I need some money," Sean said.
"It is on the counter," his mother said.
He picked up the bill and headed towards the door. Before leaving, he stopped and asked, "What kind of soup?"
"Oh, get anything. If it isn't the right kind, I'll just send you back for a different one," his mother said with a smile.
"Great," Sean said knowing that she would do exactly that.
"Leave your sock here," his mother said.
Sean dropped his sock on the counter and then made his way to the store. He picked out a can of chicken noodle soup and went to stand in line. Quite a few people snickered when they saw him. He looked down at himself and realized that he was still dressed in his sweat pants, winter shirt, and flip-flops. Despite the fact that it was after noon, he said, "I hate mornings."
One of the girls from the neighborhood entered the store and broke out in laughter on seeing him. Going over to him, she hit him on the arm and said, "You're such a dork."
From any other girl he would have been embarrassed or angry, but he'd grown up with Suzie and they were friends. He looked over at her and took in her outfit. She was wearing cutoff shorts, a t-shirt, and sandals. The movement of her t-shirt bore silent testimony that she wasn't wearing a bra. Her legs went all of the way to the floor. Swallowing heavily, he said, "Hello, Suzie."
"Sean, Sean, Sean. You're never going to get rid of your reputation for being the weirdest kid in town if you walk around dressed like that," Suzie said shaking her head.
"It's been a rough morning," Sean said trying not to look at her. An erection now would be a disaster.
"I heard that you beat up Max," Suzie said. She hadn't believed the story until her mother had mentioned running into Mrs. Baxter at the pharmacy.
"I guess," Sean said staring at the back of the head of the person in line in front of him. He didn't trust his body enough to look at her.
"You guess?" Suzie asked surprised by his answer. Sean beating up Max was so unlikely that most guys would have been boasting about it.
"It was an accident," Sean said noticing that the clerk had finished with the person in front of him. He put his single can of soup on the counter.
"An accident?" Suzie asked.
"Yes," Sean answered.
The clerk said, "I expected you to drag in here three hours ago. When you didn't show up, I was beginning to think that it was my lucky day."
"We both know that you were disappointed. Everyone knows that you're hot for my body," Sean said.
Suzie rolled her eyes. This was typical Sean behavior. She said, "Don't argue with Sam."
"Is that his name?" Sean asked surprised that Suzie knew that.
"Yes, it is," Suzie answered.
"How do you know that? I've been coming in here every day since he started working here and never knew his name," Sean said looking at her face. It was an effort to keep his eyes from drifting down.
"I hate you," Sam said shaking his head.
"It is on his name tag," Suzie said pointing at Sam's chest.
Sean looked at Sam and saw the name tag with 'Sam' written across it in large letters. Surprised, he said, "I never noticed that before."
"You've been coming in here a dozen times a day all summer and you never noticed that?" Sam asked shocked that Sean had thought so little of him that he hadn't even bothered to learn his name. He hated summer jobs; particularly summer jobs where he had to put up with abuse and wise cracks from high school kids.
"I've been too busy defending myself from your insults to notice your name tag," Sean said.
One of the customers said, "Pay for your damned can of soup. I don't have all day."
"I can't help it that this guy is slow. He hasn't even rung up my purchase yet," Sean replied turning to face the line behind him.
Looking at the line, Sam was convinced that it was only going to get worse. He rang up the purchase and looked at the line of people fearing for the worst. He didn't see the bill in Sean's hand and figured he was going to get paid in change. Cringing, he said, "That will be seventy four cents."
"Here you go," Sean said putting the dollar bill on the counter.
Suzie noticed Sam cringe and asked, "Why is he cringing?"
"I think he's afraid of my money although I have no idea why that is," Sean said smiling at Sam. He ignored Sam's return glare.
"You know why," the clerk muttered looking at the line that had formed behind Sean. He really hated Sean. He was convinced that Sean purposefully went out of his way to make his life miserable.
Hearing the people in line start to grumble about the delay, Suzie said, "Sean, I swear that you bring out the worst in people."
"I don't know why," Sean said collecting his change and the can of soup. He pointed to his face and said, "I have dimples when I smile."
Suzie shook her head and said, "It is a miracle to me that we've remained friends all of these years."
"It must be my great fashion sense," Sean said stepping out of the way of the next customer in line.
Suzie burst out laughing and said, "You're too funny."
"I guess I better head back to the house. Lily is probably hungry and Mom is waiting for her can of soup," Sean said staring down at the floor to avoid looking at her.
"I'll see you later," Suzie said wondering why Sean very seldom looked at her when he was talking to her.
"Just hang around here for an hour or two. I'll be back," Sean said giving a wave as he turned to leave.
Suzie watched Sean walk off. She knew all about how his mother sent him to the store to get one item at a time. Her mother said that it was how his mother kept him from being a pain in the ass and lounging around the house all day. Of course, that only added to his reputation as the oddest boy in town. Her mother liked Sean well enough, but never let the two of them be alone.
Sean walked home through the woods congratulating himself on not reacting to Suzie in his normal manner. An erection while wearing the sweatpants would have been immediately obvious to everyone in the store including Suzie.
Arriving at home, he threw the change in the change jar and handed the can of soup to his mother. He asked, "Is that okay?"
"It is fine," his mother said, "While I'm cooking lunch, I want you to entertain your sister."
"Entertain?" Sean asked, "Don't you mean watch cartoons with her?"
His mother said, "You used to like those cartoons when you were her age."
"Come on, Mom. That's torture," Sean said. The idea of watching cartoon characters all day long made him wonder if he'd end up talking with a cartoon voice.
"You'll watch cartoons with her while I'm preparing lunch," his mother said.
"Yabi Dabi Dobi Dum, I smell the blood of a lazy bum," Sean said in the best cartoon voice he could muster. He couldn't do the voice of the duck or the mouse. The best he could do was the caveman.
"That's the spirit," his mother said. As he left the room, she said, "Don't let a one ton weight fall on you."
Shaking his head, Sean went into the living room. A one ton weight falling on him would be consistent with the rest of his day. It wasn't every day that a person defeated a major enemy, encountered three dwarves, got a magic gift, and got to talk to the prettiest girl in the school. He looked down at the rock in his hand and wondered how long he had been carrying it around. So far it had been a strange day and it wasn't even half over.