Geri Novél: Girl Mystic, chapter three

A children's story

Chapter Three

A Visit to the Zoo

It was a grand day for a drive, for a visit to the zoo; the first time in her entire life that Geri had actually been invited out on a family outing. As Mr Privet drove the car slowly along the road (he always drove slowly, saying cars lasted years longer if they were treated that way), Geri stared out of the window and enjoyed the moment, the feel of companionship, of being part of a family. Thus mellowed, she began to see the good in people, the Muddles. Mind you it was only for a moment, because soon, all too soon, her defences returned, protecting her from such nonsensical and stupid ideas.

Box came along; it took them a while to convince him, but Mr and Mrs Privet had no intention of suffering the day’s outing if their son was at home enjoying himself up in his room with his electronics. No. He had to come and be miserable along with them.

When they arrived at the zoo, Mr Privet carefully parked the car (he said tyres lasted much longer if you parked your car carefully), and the not so happy family made their way toward the entrance.

“Two adult and two children, please,” said Mrs Privet, as she handed a five-pound note to the pimply attendant behind the counter.

“Isn’t she paying for herself?” Mr Privet whispered to his wife. “Her part of the family are supposed to be loaded, or so you have told me.”

“Hush,” Mrs Privet chided, hoping that their niece hadn’t heard his remark.

For a Saturday, and such a fine one, the zoo was quiet, giving the Privet’s and Geri the place almost to themselves.

“Where are you going?” asked Mrs Privet, when she spotted her son skulking away from them.

“I was just going to…” he replied, trying to think up an excuse.

“You stay right here with us,” she ordered. “Geri especially asked for you to come along.”

“I know,” he whispered, “and that’s what worries me…”

As they made their way through the various animal displays, from Crocodiles to Buffalos, from Elephants to Chimpanzees, from Parrots to Moorhens and almost everything else in between, Box couldn’t shake the feeling that something terrible was about to happen, that his horrid cousin was going to perpetrate some dastardly deed upon him. Unfortunately, he was soon to prove himself right…

They were in the reptile house when Geri made her move, to corner her wimpishly thin cousin, the boy she so distained, but needed the help of…

“What are you doing?” Box yelled, when Geri opened the door of a particularly large lizard’s enclosure (he had no idea how she had opened it, for it had a hefty bolt still padlocked upon it).

“You’ll find out soon enough,” she replied, as she pushed him into the enclosure. The door banged shut – locked.

“Let me out,” he shouted, banging on the glass partition that separated the viewers from the viewed.

Seeing it’s ‘guest’ the huge lizard began making its way towards Box.

“LET ME OUT!” Box yelled again, banging even harder on the strengthened glass partition.

At the far end of the room Mr and Mrs Privet, inspecting an unusual albino tree snake, were totally oblivious to their beloved son’s growing distress.

“Well?” said Geri, folding her arms, smirking at her panicking cousin.

“WELL – WHAT?” Box yelled, watching the huge lizard creep ever closer.

“Are you going to help me?”

“HELP YOU WITH WHAT?”

“All in good time,” she said, enjoying the moment and her power over him. It was like eating a creamy ice cream – so very satisfying.

The lizard, now less than a foot away from Box, tasted the air with its forked tongue – human being was on the menu.

Screaming with fright, Box hollered, “OKAY, OKAY, I’LL HELP YOU. NOW GET ME OUT OF HERE!”

She did, withdrawing her wand, Geri waved it from left to right, saying, “Open Ses Me.”

In less than a millisecond Box was magically transferred to the outside, the right side of the glass partition, the hungry lizard having just missed its scrawny meal by mere inches.

“H, how did you do that?” he asked, still shaking in fright.

Having returned the wand to the safely of her pocket, Geri said, “Do what?”

“What you just did, with that thingamajig…”

Ignoring him, she said, “Come on, I have need of your assistance.”

“Me?”

“Yes, moron, you. Now come on, or do you want to rejoin that lizard?”

Having no wish to return, Box followed his cousin, slipping quietly out of the reptile house, away from his parents.

“Here, eat this,” said Geri, offering Box an ice cream cone that she purchased from a kiosk in the zoo grounds.

Making faces, Box licked the ice cream, wondering if it were poisoned.

“There’s nothing wrong with it, I just bought it,” she said, “You can swap it with mine if you’re that worried.” Geri offered him her ice cream.

“No, no it’s all right,” he said, taking another, more relaxed lick from his cone. “Thanks.”

This was the second time (and in the same day) that his cousin had shown him some kindness. Box was confused.

As they wandered away from the shop, to a particularly quiet part of the zoo where many tall trees and bushes were growing, Geri began speaking, and she said, “Box, cousin, you are handy with electrical items and so forth, are you not?”

He nodded, wondering where the conversation might be heading.

“Unfortunately, I have no knowledge of, and even less interest in such things…”

Box nodded again, though for politeness this time.

“I want you to make me something – electrical…”

He was interested; Box loved working with electronics, and he asked, “What do you want me to make?”

Carefully considering her words, choosing enough to tell him what she wanted, but not enough to give him even an inkling of what she had planned, Geri said, “See this?” Removing her wand from her pocket she showed it to him.

Seeing it, the wand, Box was gob smacked, and he shouted, “A wand! I thought I saw one! It is one, isn’t it? Like the one dad sometimes talks about?”

“Tell everyone, why don’t you?” Geri hissed, annoyed that she needed the services of so stupid a Muddle.

“Sorry.”

Reaching out, Box asked, “Can I hold it?”

“No, you cannot.”

His face falling, Box was devastated.

“You can touch it, later on, when you have need to,” Geri promised. “For now it’s best if you only look.”

Box stared lovingly at the brown wooden stick – the wand, “I can hardly believe that I am really looking at a magical wand,” he mused.

“Now that you have had a good look,” said Geri, returning the wand to her pocket, “can we get back to my request?”

Coughing excitedly, Box said, “Yes, yes, please go on.”

“So you see, Box,” said Geri, after she had finished explaining what she had in mind, “I want you to make me a wand, a wand that combines all of the magical qualities of my own, but with the added benefit of the Muddles’ electrical wisdom. God, I so hate using that word ‘wisdom’ in the same sentence as Muddle.”

Studying his face, his expression, Geri tried to sense his mood, his thoughts on his chances of pulling it off.
Box remained silent for many minutes, ruminating over the pros and cons of such an undertaking. From the electrical point of view, creating something akin to a wand would be a relatively simple matter, for a person such as he. It was the magical qualities that caused him the most worry, and how he might ever hope to combine the two, even more…

Finally Box offered Geri his answer; speaking slowly, as slowly and carefully as Geri had so recently done, he said, “I think I can do it…”

Relieved, Geri smiled, and she was so pretty when she did.

Box continued, “Having said that, I feel that I must tell you that it will not be an easy matter by any stretch of the imagination…”

“But you can do it?” she said, still smiling radiantly.

“Yes, but…”

“You can,” Geri said again. “That’s all that matters.” Then quite uncharacteristically, she grabbed hold of Box and gave him a little peck on the cheek.

Embarrassed, Box mumbled something about finding his mum and dad. Geri agreed; she had heard what she had wanted to hear, and now she wanted to get on with it.

Chapter Four

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© Gerrard T Wilson 2008