Morticia smiled seductively at her husband. He was reclining on their large bed. Morticia turned to switch off the lights. Then slowly, she moved towards the candles on their dresser, swaying her hips enticingly as she walked. She raised a hand to the candles, a small flame arose from each as she pinched their tips. She turned back towards her husband. He grinned broadly, excitedly at her.
"Wow!" came a voice from the doorway.
Morticia's hand flew to her chest as her heart jumped in shock. Gomez sat up suddenly.
"Pugsley," Morticia said after she had recomposed herself, "what are you doing lurking about?"
"Yes," added Gomez, "I thought we sent you to bed hours ago."
Pugsley ignored them, walking over to the candles, "How did you do that?"
Morticia blushed, she had meant to keep the small amount of witchcraft that she could do away from the children, at least until they were old enough to cast spells of their own.
Gomez noticed his wife's discomfort, "Pugsley boy, we can discuss this in the morning. You should be in bed."
"Yes," added Morticia quietly.
Pugsley looked at them, disappointed, "All right, good night father," he walked over to Morticia and kissed her goodnight, "Good night Mother."
"Good night darling," said Morticia, sounding distant.
Pugsley looked back over his shoulder, in awe at the candles, then he turned and exited the room.
Gomez got up and blew out the candles then looked over to his wife.
"Oh dear," she said in a hushed tone.
Gomez took his wife's hands and led her to the bed. That sat down atop the bedclothes, facing each other.
"Querida," started Gomez.
"Do you think he'll be okay?" interrupted Morticia.
"It's just one spot of magic, he'll be fine," replied Gomez.
"I mean," said Morticia hesitantly, "coping with the fact that his mother is a…is a…"
"Witch?" offered Gomez.
"Gomez!" exclaimed Morticia, appalled, "a half witch, please, on my mother's side."
"Yes, of course Querida," replied Gomez, lifting her fingertips to his lips.
"Later darling, later," Morticia chided him.
"Yes, later," Gomez rested her hands on her lap.
"What if he starts thinking he can do magic, what do we do?" asked Morticia.
"We let him. A few tricks here and there, besides, he may surprise us," said Gomez.
"Yes dear, I suppose you're right," replied Morticia, lifting her arm back up, offering her hand to him.
The next morning Morticia rose with the sun. She made her way down the stairs and into the kitchen. She prepared some tea for herself, deciding to take it at the table by Cleopatra.
It was there that Mama found her, staring into the space, her tea had gone cold.
"Morticia?" Mama announced her own arrival.
Morticia's head jerked up as the sound awoke her from her daze, "Oh, Mama. Good morning."
Mama pulled up a seat opposite her daughter in law, "Penny for them?"
"Oh, it's nothing," replied Morticia.
"Oh, well," Mama began to leave.
"Pugsley came into our room last night," said Morticia.
Mama sat back down, "Oh, and he saw you-"
"Doing magic, yes," finished Morticia.
"Well, a little bit of witchcraft here and there isn't going to ruin the boy," replied Mama, "I'm sure he'll have forgotten all about it by the time he gets up."
"Thank you Mama," said Morticia, not sounding so sure.
"Cara Mia," Gomez's voice reigned over the atmosphere of the room.
"Good morning Bubele," Morticia smiled at him.
Gomez sat down at the table beside her, nearly knocking it over in his efforts to get there quickly.
"Tish," he warned, "when you call me that name…"
"Later darling," replied Morticia.
At that moment Pugsley walked into the room, with his hands behind his back. Mama excused herself.
"Morning Father, morning Mother," he addressed them.
"Good morning son," replied Gomez.
"Did you sleep well?" asked Morticia.
Pugsley yawned in response, "Yep."
"Pugsley…" started Morticia, uncertain of what to say next.
Pugsley interrupted her, brandishing a deck of cards from behind his back, "Pick a card Mother."
Morticia was taken aback, but nonetheless, did as her son requested.
"Okay, now, look at it, but don't tell me what it is," said Pugsley.
Morticia did as he said, Gomez watched curiously over her shoulder. They shared a look of confusion.
It was the ace of diamonds.
"Okay, now put it back, and I'll tell you which it was," instructed Pugsley.
Morticia lay the card back into the deck and watched intently as he shuffled them.
After a moment's careful thought, Pugsley drew a card from the centre of the deck, "Was this your card Mother?"
"By George, it was!" exclaimed Gomez.
"How clever you are dear, how on earth did you do it?" asked Morticia.
"Ah ah," replied Pugsley, waving a finger in the air, "a true magician never reveals his -"
Morticia cut him off, "Ah, a magician!"
"What?" asked Pugsley.
"Did I say something darling?" she asked, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you."
"That's all right Mother," Pugsley turned to Gomez, "your turn father."
Gomez repeated the process that his wife had earlier performed, revealing, again, an ace of hearts.
Later that day Morticia and Gomez were relaxing in the living room.
"Querida?" asked Gomez.
"Yes darling," replied Morticia, looking up from her knitting.
"Don't you think it was rather odd that we both drew the same card from Pugsley's deck?" he asked.
"I hadn't thought about it darling," replied Morticia offhandedly, then she jolted as she realised, "You don't suppose they're all ace of diamonds, do you?"
"That's what I was thinking, shall we find out?" Gomez pulled the noose to summon Lurch.
"You rang?" asked the butler.
"Yes Lurch," replied Gomez, "listen, has Pugsley tried out his new trick on you?"
Lurch groaned in response, as he pulled out a card from his pocket, "Ace of diamonds," he said monotonously.
"Just as I thought," exclaimed Gomez, "Lurch? Send for Pugsley, please."
"Darling?" said Morticia as the butler left the room, "You aren't going to confront him are you?"
"Of course not Cara, we'll play along for now," replied Gomez.
"And pull out the aces when we need to?" asked Morticia, dubious.
"Exactly Tish!"
Pugsley arrived, and Gomez requested that he show them the trick again, confirming the fact that the cards were all aces.
They played along with his trick for the next few days, but eventually began to lose interest. Unfortunately for Pugsley, that, while he may excel scientifically, he lacked his mother's knack for magic. As such, he never managed to perfect any other tricks, and continued with the one he knew.