Magic is in the Water

 Magic is in the Water

Another day, another walk home with brand-new scrapes and bruises. David’s mother was going to be mad. She kept telling him that those boys at school were only acting out because they had lost someone too, but who cared? He lost his dad, and you didn’t see him picking on other kids about it! It didn’t help that there wasn’t anywhere else for any kid to go. The closest school outside of Sol Rojo was at least a week’s ride away. If anyone could get out of town. David heard rumors from the other kids saying that no one could leave town anymore, even if they tried. Everyone said it was a curse, that as soon as you left, you’d just show up on the other side of town in a couple of weeks. That was if the ghost and were-coyotes didn’t get you first! He really didn’t care either way, since his only friend was his dad. Well, he hopes it was his dad, maybe?

“Rough day at school, mijo?” An unseen voice spoke to him. 

David pulled out a picture of papa, mama, and him when he heard his voice. “It’s always a rough day!” David yelled back at the picture. Regardless of if this thing was his dad or not, it seemed to be the only one that would talk to him.

Papa laughed, “Yeah, I know. Those kids just pick on others they think they can get one over on.” 

David kicked a rock extra hard on the dusty road home. “Doesn’t matter, mama said not to fight back.” 

“Wait, Stella really said that? My Stella, one of the fieriest women I had ever met told you not to fight back?” 

“Yeah...” David tried his hardest to change the subject. “Mama says I should focus on my work at school and not cause a bigger problem.” Papa always sounded off when he spoke about mama. David couldn’t put his finger on it, but it was as if papa spoke about mama the way people speak about others they only have ever seen, not really known. He means, it sounded like him, but it was always trying to get him to do things he doesn’t think his dad would have told him to do. At least David thought that. His dad passed away a year ago, when he was barely seven. It still hurt not having a papa. 

Papa clucked at him, “Tsk tsk tsk. You’re gonna have to stand up to them eventually mijo. No son of mine is going to let some kids beat him and let them off without a scratch.”

David stopped in his tracks and stared wildly into the sky. “What am I supposed to do? They are bigger than me and stronger than me! Even if I did fight back, I’d still lose.” He hung his head in defeat, trying not to let the tears fall. He figured, though, that if he did cry now he’d be able to keep a brave face when he got home to mama. 

David felt pressure suddenly on his shoulders. “Look, you may not be big and strong in the normal way, but you’re special! If you weren’t, we wouldn’t be talking right now. I know it’s in you, and last time was just an accident. If you showed them what you could do, no one would mess with you ever again.”

David didn’t look up, not because he was crying, but because that was another thing he noticed about papa. When papa started talking to him a couple of months ago, he seemed really bent on getting him to use some “inner power” David had. The first time he tried to do something papa told him to do, he accidentally shocked the dog! It was a big dog, a mutt that tried to look like Irish Wolfhound but just a little smaller. He felt so bad, he told his mama he accidentally hit him with a stick he was playing with. Since then, the dog was cautious when he was around. David also noticed the dog always barked, growled, and jumped at the air when papa was around talking to him. 

However, he knew that papa wasn’t talking about that time. He was talking about what almost happened when he got real angry a week or two ago. The fire his mama told him to light wasn’t starting, so he just thought hard about flames that should have been there and FWOOF! There were flames! He almost caught himself on fire, but it worked! Mama made him promise not to do that anymore, not until they talked to Mr. Washington about it. Something about how he was a magician or wizard, David couldn’t remember. 

“I don’t know papa. I don’t think I can hurt someone like that.” He started to walk down, still looking at the ground as he stepped on it.

As the pressure lifted, it was as if the voice had started getting further away. “They aren’t ever going to stop. Not unless you do something.”

The rest of the walk home was quiet, but papa’s words kept ringing in his head. As he got closer and closer to the small two-bedroom house, he saw the pastor’s wagon and horses strung up outside. Mama always said she missed the old priest that used to talk at the church, but Pastor McConnel did a good job. Even if he wasn’t catholic. Well, he was, but he wasn’t an ordained priest, and he only had a King James Version to teach from. 

Mama always talked to him and his wife after the Sunday service, and they had even invited them over to eat once or twice. They were really nice, and their daughter, Laoise, went to school with him. She was one of the few that didn’t tease him, and even helped him pick up his stuff after one of the bigger boys pushed him down. David couldn’t remember her name, he mostly blushed and tried not to say anything when she was around. She made him feel weird.

As soon as he walked through the door, he was hit with a warm welcome from Pastor McConnell. “David! Good to see you son! How was school today?”

David tried to hide the damage as best as he could. “It was good- um, where is Laoise?”

This distracted mama and the pastor long enough for him to make his way to his room. “Well, she went straight home David. I don’t think she even knows I came here.” As his mama and the pastor gave each other knowing smirks, it was Stella that was the first one to realize the newest bruises.

As fast as the smirk had stretched across her face, it was now gone. “David, come here!” A mixture of anger and concern permeated her words. 

David tensed for a moment, and slowly turned around to face his enraged mother. He knew she wasn’t mad at him, but he hated seeing her upset. She was upset so often, and to think he was the cause sometimes...

“Oh, porbresito. My poor David...” A tear came to Stella’s eye before they flashed with anger. “See what they do to my boy at that school pastor! How can they allow them to just keep doing this him? Every day they hit him, one day there won’t be nothing left!” 

“Look, trust me. If anyone knows what it must be like for you and David, it’s us. The boys at school are just angry like everyone else here. If it helps, I’ll say something during our next sermon.” McConnell couldn’t help but look at David with the same sad look he gave Laoise when she came home crying. The girls were never physically mean, but their words left scars the poor Irish girl would never forget. 

“It doesn’t matter. Papa says-”

Stella immediately stopped him there. “I told you that invisible friend of yours isn’t your papa. He’s merely a figment of imagination.”

“Wait now Mrs. Garcia. Even Laoise has a little friend that only she talks to. It isn’t anything to be upset about.” The well-dressed man took a knee next to the boy and took on an even more soft tone. “Now, what was is it papa told you?”

David got nervous, trying to pick his words carefully in front of the holy man. “Papa said I should stick up for myself. He said no son of mine is going to let some kids beat him and let them off without a scratch.”

“See! Antonio would never say something as foolish as that. He was one of the kindest men I ever knew, and always turned the other cheek.” 

Pastor McConnell gave her an even look before speaking to David again. “David, I’m sorry that you lost your father only recently, but it might be time to stop pretending-”

“I’m not pretending! He really does talk to me! Papa is the only person who really sees what happens and talks to me when I’m alone or walking home.” David took out the picture in the little barely holding-on frame. “See watch. Tell them! Tell mama what you told me, about how I was special. About how I had powers. About the fire and the lightning!”

Pastor McConnell started to get uneasy and flashed a quick look to Stella as the boy started to break down. “David, even at your age, you must understand.” He placed a hand on the quivering child’s shoulder. “Your papa isn’t here anymore. He's moved on, like all the other loved ones that this town had lost.”

 Something flared in David’s eyes, a quick, blue flash. Pastor McConnell quickly took his hand back. 

“You’re wrong! He does talk to me!” and he ran right to the small room that was meant for him and a sibling he would never have. He could hear his mother call after him, but what he couldn’t see was the grown man clad in black stop her. 

Pastor McConnell stayed for quite a while. The short talk bothered him just as much as it did David and his mother, as the two adults tried their hardest to figure out a way to get Marcus, the only man in town that even fooled with this magic stuff, out here to talk to David. The pastor was by no means out of his league, but he knew the best man for the job was Mr. Washington when it came to this crazy stuff. David was also too busy staring at the picture to hear the pastor consul his mother, saying things like “This will past,” and “Everyone deals with a loss at their own pace.”  

When the pastor left, David was awake just long enough to hear his mama in the room next to his, crying and praying. Begging that David be watched over and protected when he left the house. She then turned off the lantern, the only source of light there was, and David was left in the darkness of the house, with a little bit of starlight shining through his dirty window. That was when David decided papa was right, and that he would have to stand up for himself. If not for papa, then for mama.

…

The walk home was uneventful. Papa hadn’t said anything the entire time, and everything was just so quiet without him. He kept thinking over and over again about how he was going to get them to stop messing with him. What David really wondered was if he was going to go through with it. That thought disappeared when he got to the schoolhouse’s fence.

“Give it back! Give it back!” The voice was unmistakable, it was Laoise voice. “I had to earn that with my own money, now give it back Jacob!” 

David ran as fast as he could around the quaint little fence, but already knew what he was going to see. Jacob, the meanest kid he had ever met was already at his stupid tricks. This time he was picking on Laoise and had apparently gotten ahold of her little porcelain doll she always had with her. Now he couldn’t back down, not for mama and not for her. David still had no idea why but seeing them pick on her now made it only that much easier.

Sadly, it couldn’t take the trembling out of his voice. “H-h-hey! Give that back to her before you break it!” David tried his hardest not to sound as scared as he felt.

Jacob only stopped for a second to look over, before handing the doll to someone that always seemed to be hanging around in his posse. They slowly started to make their way towards him, as the other boys kept Laoise from getting it herself.

“Oh! The little yellow-bellied baby wants to play the hero.” Jacob stood directly in the way between David and the boy holding the doll. “What are you waiting for? Come get it!”

David took a second to think, then charged forward only to be knocked on the ground. The teasing never stopped, and soon he was up again. This time he took a run straight at Jacob, just to take a fist to the lip. As his back hit the ground, he gingerly touched his lip to find blood again.

“Come on David! Louisa ain’t never gonna like yah if you can’t play dollies with ‘er!” 

Now Laoise was more upset than ever. “It’s Loaise! Lee-sha, you ignorant pig!” and broke past the boy holding her back long enough to get a good five fingers across Jacob’s face. Jacob didn’t even wait a second to go ahead and push her to the ground as well.

David scrambled to his feet as fast as he could. “Just leave her alone!” This time when he ran at him and put both hands out front as if he was going to just push him. As soon as his palms connected to the taller boy, a flash like lightning and a crack like thunder sent Jacob into the other boy. The two tumbled to the ground, dropping the fragile doll in the dust and dirt.

Jacob crawled on his elbow, fear in his eyes. “What was that! What the hell was that!” He just couldn’t find enough ground to get off his elbows.

“Leave us alone, or else.” David tried to do his best impression of the towns sheriff no one dared to mess with.

“Or-or else what?” Jacob finally found his feet, and tried to make a show of putting his fist up.

David tried to imagine it again, tried to imagine kindling catching on fire. Then FWOOSH! Jacobs shoulder suddenly started to smoke, then little flames started to dance. Jacob screamed, and the other boys used their jackets to pat out the flames. The bell suddenly sounded, but the little gang had already started running for the door. Laoise was already up and made a beeline for the doll.

“Are you okay Laoise?” David tried to get a look over her shoulder at the toy.

After a quick inspection, she let out a big sigh. “Yeah, when they dropped it, I thought they might have broken her head. Seems little Bridget is ok. Um...” She turned around to look at David. “Thank you.” Laoise gave him a quick peck on the cheek then ran off.

David was in shock. That didn’t just work, that really worked! He never imagined that going as well as it did.

“Mijo, you did a great job.” The familiar voice of papa suddenly came to his ears.

“Did you see papa! I did it, just like you said!”

“I saw it all, and remember,” the voice started to drift off “this is just the start.”