From This Side of the Bar

It is just after 5 o’clock on an early Friday evening and Felix walks out of his office building. He is greeted by the usual traffic of the Friday commute, but nothing can break his mood. He is looking forward to reading a book, having a beer, and hanging out with his dog. Oh, wait, he may have forgotten about this part. Either way it is warm out, but not too warm to his delight. He sticks the two flexible plastic bits into each of his ears and turns on the current audiobook, “People of the Underground”. There have been times that this book is narrating exactly what he thinks occurs in the underground tram system. He turns left and walks down the piss stained sidewalk to the corner before the pedestrian light turns to the forbidding hand. Twelve, eleven, ten, nine…. Yes, he has time to make it across. 

    As he is just nearly across the street, a spidering flash of parrot blue and pansy violet bursts in front of him on the street corner he needs to step onto. Shielding his eyes from the light he continues forward, having walked these streets everyday for the last five years he knows exactly where to land his foot and not to place the other. Once firmly on the sidewalk, the aurora borealis of lights fades from view and what has manifested in its place is a woman. He notices her eyes are wide, sky blue, staring around her, looking at everything but resting on nothing. Her arms are covered in bracelets of clay and metal beads, her hair cascaded down her back in waves of blues and muted blacks, and her clothing looked as if she shopped at Fortune-Tellers-R-Us. He was suddenly distracted by a routine headache that was developing in the middle of his skull. These headaches always felt as if someone had dug their way silently in and then was trying to burst free. 

The woman stood in the middle of the pedestrian traffic glancing at the newness of the place she found herself. She had waited for this moment for the last decade. She only wanted a glimpse of him. She didn’t need to speak with him.  After moments of looking, she found him in the crowd with her heart and her eyes followed toward where he stood. 

“My Son!” she blurted out. 

Felix stared at her, something about her made the area above his eyes throb, but also made him angry. His mother died years ago before he had the brain space to create memories. To be sure, he looked around him to see if maybe she had meant her statement for someone else. Nobody but him had been naive enough to stand there and wait for her to figure out what she's doing. 

“I am terribly sorry Ma’am,” he said calmly, “but my mother is dead. Is it money you need? I think I have a couple dollars that I didn’t spend on my lunch”.

She grabbed his wrists with a rabid fierceness and looked directly into his eyes with the fire lighting up hers. Upon her grasp his headache exploded from within. He tumbled to his knees, throwing his hands up to his head and breaking her grasp on his wrists. She gave him a numbing look, a mixture of anger, flames, and sorrow. Taken aback, Felix realized her eyes really did have a fire burning in them. He stood, pushing through the piercing, gnawing head pain. Once on his feet, he took a few steps away from her with his hands resting on his head. There was a strong breeze behind him, a flash of mist, and when he looked back she was gone. 

Once she had made it back to the safety of her home she scolded herself. She had scared him, startled him permanently with her entrance into this realm. This was not how the meeting was planned to go. Admonishing herself for speaking to him, she made her way back up into the forest and to her hut. Yet again she would have to find the resources to Glimpse her way back to him. She didn’t have enough time with the small resources she had for this failed effort, but quadrupling her list of ingredients should give her the time she needed to speak with him. Only next time, she wouldn’t scare him and she would add a little less flair to the enchantment.

Perplexed, Felix turned around and continued his commute home. The headache died down the further away he walked. The headaches generally only occur when he thinks about his biological family. He hadn’t been thinking of either when that strange woman appeared amongst her light tricks, but maybe subconsciously he had. For whatever reason it occured, he has decided he is going to stay in tonight and not go out with his friends. He quickly sent a ping to his friend group to let them know, for the fourth time today, he fully intended to stay in tonight despite their pressure to go out. 

These headaches generally lasted for a few hours, though this one was dying down more quickly than past headaches. It didn’t matter to him though, he had found a quirky magic book titled “Green Tea and Magic”  at the corner bookshop during his hour lunch break. Nothing sounded better after the kerfuffle on the street than a pint of beer, comfy couch, and his new book. The middle aged clerk at the shop had asked Felix some questions about himself and thought would find the book enjoyable. Felix thought this bald, toned man stood out like a flamingo in the penguin exhibit at the zoo in the bookstore, but the man seemed to love his job. 

“Try that trick on page 42 next time you are with your friends”, the salesman told him as he slid the book along with a free deck of cards into the bland paper bag , “Don’t worry, those cards are on the house specifically for you.” 

He was so lost in thought about his new book that he forgot to turn on his audiobook again on the commute home. Today, he didn’t even do his favorite people observing while he stood in the back. When Felix got off at his stop, he made his way through the safety of the alleyways to his way home. Stepping up onto the steps and down the little stone path to his door he unlocked the rusty lock and stepped into the familiar, welcoming smells of home. 

“I’m home!” he called out before remembering his dog, Sneak, passed away just last month. He looked at the leash and collar still hanging from the coat rack and felt a discomfort in his chest and heaviness in his tear ducts. With a heavy sigh, he took his shoes off and slowly shuffled to the kitchen. Plopping the backpack onto the kitchen table he pulled out the book and started to flip through it. He had just opened up and started shuffling the cards when he heard a high pitched noise coming from his mobile, still abandoned in the backpack. Rifling through, he found the device and looked at the bright screen. 

“Come out with us”, his group of friends had texted him. 

“...” was his reply. 

“Oh come on! Have a drink with us and then you’ll feel better”, another one chimed in.

He stared at the screen tapping, erasing, tapping again, until eventually he set the phone onto the table. He heard a few raps on his door, nobody had sent him a message saying they were on their way, but he walked to the door to check. Not surprisingly, his best friend since he developed memories stood there with a big, lopsided grin on his face with the nose that Felix broke when they were eleven and fought over who got to be Luke Skywalker this time. 

“You gotta get out of the house, bring whatever it is you are reading now and just come along with us”, Alex commanded in his most friendly but still bossy manner. 

Felix did not put up a fight, he grabbed a jacket, put the book and cards in his inner pocket, put the keys that dangled with his dog’s tags in his other pocket, and headed out with Alex to the usual Irish pub. 

Once at the pub, the group of 13 of them were nestled in around a few of the tables pushed together in the back corner. This was their normal spot, perfectly tucked in the back. Further around the corner there were more cozy 2 people booths. Oftentimes he would see young couples kissing after one too many drinks or the odd single person reading a book, watching the TV, or on their phones. 

I sat with my notebook, some knitting, and my second dark beer. He made eye contact with me a couple of times, but I did not get the impression he knew what I was. I took diligent notes on this Runed boy. I could see from the way he sat up taller, these quick little looks gave him an extra boost of encouragement to try the trick for his friends, did he think I was flirting? 

“Ok! Since you guys forced me out I am going to do this trick that the book store guy told me I needed to do first. He said it would be a lot of fun”, I heard him finally tell them. They had ordered a third round of drinks, and the empty plates of food had been cleared, replaced with a few bowls of mixed nuts.

“Page 42, page 42, page 42”, he muttered as he flipped through the book with thin, vellum-like pages in some areas, “Ah hah! Here it is. So the name of this trick is called ‘Where’s the Goose?’ and looks like it needs a large group of players for the trick to work”, he instructed his less than attentive friends. 

“HEY!” the noisy, obnoxious friend of his called out, “A deal is a deal. Felix came out and we said we would do one of his games!”

I watched as Felix pulled out the deck of cards and started to deal one card, face down for each member of the group. One by one they would pick up the card and call out “Quack” if they did not have the “Goose” card, then be dealt another. I was growing anxious, this boy seemed to be moving forward with the game and had no hint of hesitation. 

“How do we know what the goose is?” I hear a female friend ask. 

I watch as he examines the cards more closely then says, “The cards are all decorated with birds, seems fairly straight forward”.

They did this in a few rounds, a few more cards were dealt, and finally that noisy friend named Alex yelled out “SQUIRREL!!” 

Everyone gave a raucous laugh, and Felix scolded him playfully, “You are supposed to shout ‘Goose’ you dope!” 

I place down my knitting, finish my beer, and sit attentive. The daft male called out “Squirrel”, he was supposed to call out “Goose”. When Osirus informed me what he did at the bookstore, I knew this trick wouldn’t be fool-proof. Continuing to watch the trick unfold, knowing I can’t intervene, I just prepare myself to have to annihilate Felix immediately. 

“Give all the cards to me”, Felix said, “Then I will shuffle them, deal them into three piles, and the one on top of the middle pile will be the ‘Goose’ card that Alex found”. 

They did this, Felix shuffled and dealt them into the three piles, everyone took a final drink of their beverages, and Felix held up the “Goose Card”. On the edge of my seat, I watch as he lifts that first card on the middle pile, he gives a confused look and then suddenly places the card down with a pout. I let out a relieved sigh, he must have done the trick incorrectly. 

Sitting back into my chair, I am startled when he bellows out, “SQUIRREL!” 

He said the wrong animal, just like his friend. I watch as Felix laughs heartily, unaware that his friends are glowing with bright blue and pale purple light. Suddenly the laughing all stopped, Felix noticed that sitting before him were twelve very confused squirrels. Truly, this wasn’t even the part that concerned him to begin with. The biggest issue was that as humans they had been barely skirting tipsy, as squirrels they were drunken sailors. 

Panicking, he quickly ran towards the front of the building to the bar, swinging his hands up to get the bartender’s attention. The bartender turned, saw him, winked, and sauntered his way.

“Do you have a box? Big box… one that held fries? Chicken nuggets? Can hold 12 squi… wine bottles?” Felix asked frantically. 

The bartender looked familiar to Felix, but he was not sure how. The bald man simply reached down under the back and gave him a box immediately, no questions, and moved onto the next patron. This gave Felix pause, but he realized that the bartender had probably seen and heard a lot of odd requests. 

On the way, he realized he just left a mob of drunk squirrels alone and sprinted back to the table where he had left his friends. He panicked when he rounded the corner and saw no evidence of the squirrels. Taking a few strides closer to the table he saw a tail twitch from around the corner by the smaller booths. He looked around and found the squirrels all sitting next to me. 

I noticed dismay in his eyes, the shimmer of teal light tendrils coming from his jacket pocket off an item I had not seen in centuries, and the glimmer of the Whisper he just completed around his person. There is a lot here, I need to take notes, but first I must clean up his mess. He is my target, which is a shame for such a handsome, naive young man. Work is work though, I can't get emotional. 

“These are not the squirrels you are looking for”, I said, hoping to break him from his frozen stare.

It took Felix a few seconds too long to reply. 

“Come here often?”he replied back and I gave him a cold stare that the comment deserved.

“I don’t know who you are, but you can’t go around glimpsing your friends into squirrels at pubs with your tricks. It will draw unwanted attention!” I told him hastily. Pointing to the box in his hands I tell him, “Put some holes in the box, lure them with the nuts and pretzels, and close the box”. 

Once all the squirrels were boxed up, I signaled for him to follow me,  hoisted the box up on my hip, grabbed my bag and marched out of the pub calling to the bartender, “Catch ya later Osirus!” 

Getting him and the squirrels into my car was quick, he gave me his address, and after five minutes of silence he spoke, “My name is Felix. Those are my friends...were my friends…. are they still people? Did I hurt them? How am I going to tell their families? How did that happen? I didn’t mean to do that. Do you know what happened? Did you see anything? Was that a trick? Are my friends actually back at the pub laughing because they quickly swapped their places with squirrels?” 

He fidgeted and I remained quiet. I couldn't give him any information. He clearly has no idea of what he is. I pulled up to the house the nav directed me to. In silence we exited the car, I retrieved the box of squirrels out from the trunk, we walked up to his door, Felix unlocked the door then and we stepped inside. I placed the box on the table in the living room and glanced back to find the key I saw earlier dangling temptingly next to a dog collar. 

“Thank you for helping”, he mustered, “ What is your name?” 

“Ria”, I state with a slight pause and eyeing him over once, “You will be alright. Your friends need to sleep off the enchantment, give it... well I would say twelve hours. Remove them from the box, lay them around on things they can fit into or onto for when they turn back, and they will be humans once more. Oh, and they will crave orange juice and sardines which I happen to have in this bag.” 

Setting the bag on the ground, she turned and left. Felix stared after her frozen in place, looked at the box in his living room, and quickly ran after her. By the time he made it out the door and down the path she was already driving away. He was only able to see she had a cobalt blue SUV and as she turned a corner he walked himself inside to look after his rodent friends. 

“How did she know what to do?”, he thought to himself repeatedly until he drifted off to sleep.. 

Back in the car, Ria called the Overseer, “I found him and left him alive for now”, Ria informed and hoped what she said next would help her keep the young man alive at least for now, “He didn’t know what he was doing”. 

“Understood. Monitor for now”, a raspy, bassy voice replied after a long, painful pause then the connection broke.

Ria pulled her car over into the small park. She placed her hand in her pocket and pulled out the key she had seen on his keyring. This was one of the oldest, most ancient keys. 

“How did he get this?” she wondered. Placing it back in her own pocket, she pulled back onto the road and headed to her favorite place to think.