Geri Novél: Girl Mystic, chapter two

A children's story

Chapter Two

Meet the Son

Over the course of the next few days, Geri settled in well at number twenty-three Antediluvian Gardens. Unfortunately the same couldn’t be said for her relationship with Mr and Mrs Privet’s beloved son, Box. From the moment Geri laid eyes on his bespectacled face and wimpishly thin body, she had taken a dislike to her cousin. Box, in turn, had taken an equally passionate a dislike to Geri. Unfortunately, he was simply no match for her steely cunning and dogged determination to get the better of him no matter what, and to make his very existence a living hell.

This clash of personalities put a terrible strain on Geri’s relationship with Mr and Mrs Privet, who prided themselves in being open minded and understanding of the challenging behaviour of all growing children. And they tried; they tried so hard to ignore the many terrible things Geri perpetrated upon their son, their only son. And she did so much to him; like knocking him down the stairs, sprinkling salt over his porridge and removing all of the fuses from his electrical gadgets and gizmos that he so loved.

In the end, Box avoided Geri like the plague. If he was out walking and saw her coming towards him, he would make a mad dash into the nearest shop to avoid being anyway near her. If there weren’t any shops nearby, he would scurry up the garden path of the nearest house, where he would begin knocking frantically on its door, like his life depended on it.

At home, Box began spending more and more time in his bedroom, where he installed bolt after bolt and lock after lock on its door, to protect him from Geri’s constant malevolent interference. Bang, bang, bang! Every night they heard the sound of him sliding the bolts shut, before he retired to the safety of his bed. He would do anything to avoid Geri, absolutely anything.

Geri, on the other hand, had no need for locks or bolts on her bedroom door, for who would dare to enter it without asking her permission first? Although she had the run of the entire house, and she certainly made good use of it whenever it so suited, Geri also began spending more and more time in her room, but it was for a far different reason than her wimpishly thin cousin. Geri had things to plan and to workout…

It was now several days since her escape from school, Bedlam, and even though Geri had conjured up a mannequin, a replica of herself to try and hide the fact that she was actually missing, she knew only too well that its effectiveness would soon wear off. And when it did, it would only be a matter of time until the school authorities began tracking her down, following her trail until they found her at twenty-three Antediluvian Gardens.

Geri had even considered using a spell of concealment, to try and disguise her whereabouts when they actually did catch up with her, but she had decided that with all the comings and goings in and out of the house its effectiveness would surely be compromised. The only way she could be totally sure of effectiveness was to stop everyone entering or leaving, and she couldn’t do that, could she?

Bang, bang, bang another night had arrived and Box secreted himself safely within his bedroom, away from his dreaded cousin, Geri.

In the quietness of her room, lying comfortably in bed, Geri was ruminating over the words she was reading in a book, an old book that she had found hidden, secreted away, in the library at school. “They are so stupid, in that school,” she hissed. “They call it a school for mysticism and magic, more like a school for tolerance and fear. Fear of hurting the feelings of all those stupid Muddles…. And far too much tolerance of them than is healthy. And as for the Principal…Hmm, I’ll show him. I’ll show them all, including the Muddles, what I am capable of doing…” Geri continued reading far into the night…

Next morning, Box jumped out of bed, determined to rush through his ablutions at the same breakneck speed he had adopted since the arrival of his horrid cousin. He was hell-bent on dashing downstairs, guzzling his breakfast, swilling down his tea, grabbing hold of his satchel and then heading off to school, and all before Geri awoke.

After carefully, quietly sliding back the bolts on his bedroom door, Box opened it and peered outside to see if the coast was clear.

“Hello,” Geri said ever so sweetly, less than three inches in front of his nose. “Did you sleep well?”

“I, I,” Box stammered, at a loss for words, shocked that she was there in the first place, and even more shocked that she was speaking so sweetly to him. He slammed the door shut.

Knock knock. “Box, it’s me, Geri,” said Geri in the same sweet tone that had unsettled him so. “Box, are you coming out today?”

Box, too afraid to speak, believing that his end was nigh, that his evil cousin was about to finish him off once and for all, said nothing.

“Is that you, Box?” asked Mrs Privet, shouting up the stairs.

“No, it’s me, Geri,” she said in the same sweet tone.

Mrs Privet, shocked to see her up so early, returned to the kitchen and began preparing the fry-up Geri insisted on having each morning. Then poking her head out of the kitchen door, she asked, “Would you like to go out somewhere nice, today, like the zoo?”

It was a Saturday. Geri had been so drawn into her reading, her studying of the old book she had lost all track of time.

Her mind spinning into action, Geri replied, “Yes, I would love to… But only if Box comes along...”

At the kitchen table, peering out from behind his newspaper, Mr Privet called his wife over, and he said, “Now why did you have to go and ask her that?”

Chapter Three

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© Gerrard T Wilson 2008