I’m going to show you magic. Chances are you are working on a spell right now. That you’ll look up from this very book and lance out at an innocent, leaving a weak impression like the afterglow of a connection. I’ll show you magic through story. A story about a boy who falls in love and wants the world to give everything to his affection. Turns out asking the world to do something and asking everything from the world are very different requests.
Chapter 1: Introduction to Magic and Love
Jack always liked coffee shops. Never did any good thinking there, and so stopped trying. He enjoyed overpriced coffee with nothing in it. Especially when tasted good. And he enjoyed sitting by a green-tinted window at the back of Tinker’s Cat and Coffee watching the girls go nuts over kittens. He looked back down at his book, old paper hardly anyone sees anymore. Tried to imagine the blond laughing with a fat orange tabby on her shoulder turning around.
Jack looked back up and glanced across the empty tables into the sanctuary at the girl getting swarmed and laughing. She looked to the side like there might be something behind her but didn’t turn around. Jack smiled. He knew magic didn’t work that way. He needed their eyes to even begin, really. Or someone’s eyes near to.
The waitress came out of a silver door behind the counter. Jack looked at the pastries for a moment and let his head rest there. He needed a second to prepare. Jack didn’t want anything. Knew he couldn’t. That’s not how it works and would spoil the image. Jack started with an image of the old shop on Main. Its brick chipped, overshadowed by tall downtown a block away. The green light from the window cutting a colored edge across jack’s face. He waited until the fabric breathed down on him. Until it flexed up and pulled his intent, his truth, his inevitable, his plea, his imagination, his supposed model state and with it his eyes rose too.
A pink curl danced across the waitress’s face as she instinctively met Jacks’s eyes. A customer wants something. A person needs something. Jack breathed in like he was about to speak and smiled, keeping Emma’s eyes for a moment too long that didn’t feel too long at all. Too short. Something was said that could have been said five times, ten, a thousand, and wouldn’t be clear enough.
The Attention of the Lost
In a memory
Stones sunk deep into a still lake
Jagged remains
An unknown step
A warm body in the night
Sharp. Pointed elements
A hand to remove the thorns
Offer. Offer.
Exchange. Deny. Obscene.
Be seen.
Be sheltered.
Be found.
Jack watched Emma slip over to his table while glancing at the sanctuary. He asked for another coffee and went back to his book. Reading trashy romance novels in public should not be allowed, Jack thought. He’d hidden the book in a cover from some human 5.0 futurism nonsense but couldn’t hide his smile. Something about having your hair ripped out while getting a mouthful of squirt just ticked him the right way. A wicked snark crept across his face, and he looked away from the book to collect himself.
Rose drank coffee. She preferred it with milk and sugar. Real milk. Real sugar. Vanilla was great. The cats were great. Her ex was not. At least there were cats. San was right about this place. It’d probably go out of business. But it was nice while it was here. Too bad there weren’t any men.
“Come here, kitty!” San cooed. A fine striped, white cat had come too close. San moved a black kitten out of her lap and scooped up the newcomer who lost all grace and collapsed in her lap. Rose watched the cat flex its claws through San’s skirt, catching the jeans underneath. She felt a little jealous.