Gargamel in Love

'Angels and Demons'

Part 1

Gargamel and Azrael were still stuck in New York city. Everyday was a daily grind of searching for food, doing cheap magic tricks for money and trying to figure out how to get home.

And to top it all, Gargamel was getting lonely even though he was surrounded by thousands of people he regarded them as 'alien' as he did not understand their frenetic way of life.

On this particular morning he was walking down one of the back alleys where it was quieter with his faithful cat when he heard a commotion up ahead. A man was standing in the alley looking up at an apartment block. He was waving his hands about looking very agitated and angry. Meanwhile a woman was shrieking at the man from three floors up and she started to throw out the man's clothes from the window. Gargamel could not see her but boy was she angry! The clothes fluttered to the ground and landed in puddles on the concrete. The man bent down to pick them up and then whilst holding up a shirt he saw that it had been cut to ribbons.

The woman shouted down to him that he was a "Cheat and a liar and that she never wanted to see him again."

Gargamel was quite amused by this sight of domestic strife and turning to Azrael he said "See, this is why I don't get involved with women as they are dangerous, unpredictable creatures and quite unhinged." But he did not feel any sympathy for the man either as he obviously did something wrong and was paying the price.

Now he had a problem, he needed to get past them to rejoin the main street so he decided that a brisk walk past the bickering couple would be the best option and that he should not look at them at all. He and his cat were just passing behind the man when there was a shout from above "Look out!" shrieked the woman and a DVD player came whizzing through the air and caught Gargamel a glancing blow on the head. He was out like a light.

As he began to come round the wizard could feel someone dabbing at his brow and he opened his eyes trying to focus on who dared to touch him. For a moment he thought he had died and gone to Heaven. The most beautiful creature filed his field of vision, she was young with perfect ebony skin, dark smouldering eyes and black hair which fell over her shoulders like a waterfall of ringlets, she awoke something deep within himself and he found that he could not utter a word expect make a silly squeaking noise which was so embarrassing.

"Oh, my! are you OK? I'm so sorry I just didn't see you there, it was meant for my ex-boyfriend. Do you need a medic?" said the beautiful apparition. Gargamel shook his head and tried to get up. Surprisingly strong arms helped him up and he now saw that the creature was indeed the most beautiful person he had ever set eyes upon.

He so wanted to say that he thought she was the most beautiful thing in the world and that he loved her but he could only blurt out "Thank you lovely lady, I'll be fine," he then looked around for Azrael and saw him waiting for him on one of the bins. "Oh is that your cat? It was hanging around when you were passed out, I wondered if it was yours," remarked the woman. "Yes, his name is Azrael, he follows me everywhere," replied the mesmerised wizard who could not tear his eyes away from her, for a moment their gaze met and he felt that he was going to melt right there on the spot

The woman then put her hand out towards Gargamel and introduced herself "Hi, I'm Angel, what's your name? " Gargamel was a bit taken aback, not many men wanted to shake his hand let alone a woman. "It's, it's Gar..Gargamel," he stuttered as he grasped her young strong hand and felt it's softness, the warmth of her hand warmed his own and he started to daydream. He then snapped out of it when she said that he could let go now. He then felt foolish for feeling as he did. "Well Gargamel, nice to meet you, if you need any medical care, I'll pick up the tab for you, here's my card, it's my second job and I will be there tonight from eight in the evening" replied Angel and she gave him her business card. "Thank you, I don't think I need to see a physician," he replied looking at the card but not really reading it. "I've got to go now. Good luck," she said and walked off towards the main road.

Gargamel watched her leave and could not take his eyes off her. He knew deep down that she was only being kind because she had hurt him and that he could never win the heart of someone that wonderful, but he felt something pass between them when they shook hands and he just could not get her out of his mind, he had to get to know her better."Oh Azrael, I don't think anyone will ever love me for who I am. They just take one look at me and decide that I'm unworthy of their love. Oh to be handsome again as I was in my youth, when I had all my teeth and hair and I could afford proper clothes," sighed the wizard.

He started to walk out of the alley towards the road when he had a brilliant idea. "Azrael, of course! All I need to do is make some Tumpy powder! I used to make it all the time when I first started to lose my teeth and hair but oh no, wait the reason I stopped using it was because it had to be taken every couple of hours or so and it used to make my nose run like a tap and gave me terrible wind. But to capture the heart of this Angel I'll put up with some discomfort. Come lets get back to the castle and I'll start making the powder, at least the ingredients are easy to find even in this alien world."

He spent the rest of that day collecting and preparing his 'Tumpy Powder' and by nightfall it was ready to use. "Behold Azrael, watch me change into my youthful self again," announced the wizard to his feline friend. He took hold of a small snuff box and took a pinch of white power between his thumb and index finger and brought it up to his left nostril and sniffed in very hard and then another pinch for the right nostril. It stung as if his nose was on fire and made his eyes water so much he could not see, then he let one off and the cat fled . Sorry Azrael can't help it said Gargamel trying to waft away the 'odour'. After a couple of minutes the discomforts subsided and slowly but surely he could feel things changing. His mouth felt 'full up' as new teeth started to grow and then his scalp felt itchy and new black hair was sprouting all over his bald head he enjoyed ruffling it up. Within five minutes of taking the powder he was twenty one again and it felt wonderful!

He had another look at the business card Angel had given him and he saw that it was for a lap dancing club. "Wonder what this means, 'Lap Dancing', what? do they actually dance on your lap, what non-sense is this?" muttered the wizard to himself. Now that he had his youth back he decided to have a change of clothes. Luckily he had purchased some a while back from a charity shop as he thought he may need new clothes to blend in with the locals. He chose a black pair of jeans a red shirt cotton shirt and a black leather jacket. He then went over to the mirror and had a look at himself. All his wrinkles had gone. He had smooth unblemished skin, sparkling white teeth and piercing dark brown eyes and a thick head of neatly trimmed black hair. He pouted in the mirror for a while and admired himself from all angles.

"Azrael, stay here, I'm going out on the town!" he said and then strutted out of the castle like a Peacock looking for a mate.

It didn't take long to find the club and at first he was bemused by the large bouncers outside the club doors who refused him entry. "To the back of the queue!" they growled at him and then he realised that there were at least forty other people waiting to get in. "But I'm the great and powerful Gargamel, and I'm here to see Angel!" he blustered. "Yeah, yeah so are all the others, get to the back of the queue or get on your bike!" replied one of the behemoths. Gargamel gave him a glare and then marched down to the end of the line and glowered at them from there.

The line seemed to take forever to move but eventually he was allowed in. He paid his entry fee and went to the bar and ordered a beer. Whilst at the bar he started to think. Although he had told the bouncers his surname, he realised that for now he would have to use his first name Alphonse until he got to know Angel better and he could reveal his true physical self. He then started to gaze around the room.

It was a place as he had never been before, lots of tables spread around and a few small stages where women seemed to be doing exercises climbing up and down a metal pole. The longer he watched them the more it dawned on him that those women were doing more than exercises.

He suddenly felt very awkward and wondered if Angel was one of those ladies. How could such a beautiful lady be doing this kind of work? But then she did say it was her second job. He did not have to wait long as an announcer came on and said that the next dance would be performed by 'Angel and the Demons'. Gargamel remained at the bar clutching his beer. He felt like he should leave this place but at the same time he was curious about what was going to happen.

The lights in the room dimmed and exiting throbbing music started up. The lighting turned red on the small stage in the middle of the room and women dressed in red clothing came up the pole and started to slide up and down it.

They twisted and twirled themselves all over the pole and hung off it sideways which made Gargamel wince. This went on for quite a while and the women took too many clothes off for his taste, but he still could not stop looking.

Then the music changed and the lighting turned white with lots of dry ice smoke and Angel came to the pole and did her dance, it was totally mesmerising, the dance of the white Angel against the red Demons was breathtaking. The show finished and everyone clapped.

Gargamel so wanted to go down and see her, but other people were milling around her and he almost forgot that he looked much younger than he was and what chance would he have of catching her attention?

All of a sudden a decision was made for him, he could feel things starting to change in his mouth, he'd forgotten to take more Tumpy powder and it's effects were starting to wear off. He went off deeper into the club and found the men's room. He got to the wash basins and looked in the mirror. Most of his teeth were disappearing right in front of his eyes. He quickly found his box of powder and took a pinch and started to sniff it up when another man came out of one of the cubicles and looked at him, then said "Hey man? Have you got any spare that you want to sell?" Gargamel started to say that it was not for sale, he took another pinch and sniffed it up the second nostril and the familiar eye watering and wind letting started. The man held up his hands and just said "That's bad s**t! Must be extra strong, but I don't want to smell like a skunk," the man then left the washroom laughing to himself. Gargamel just glared after him and then looked back at the mirror. His teeth were coming back and he looked youthful again. He looked at his watch and set the alarm for one hour forty-five minutes later. He would have to make sure that he did not get caught out again.

He got some tissues and wiped his eyes, he let off another one, held his nose and went back to the bar. Angel would come to him and he had a plan on how to do it.

To be continued: