Day three: Magic


"If you had magic powers, what would you give yourself?"

The question came from the lady behind the counter.

Helga had volunteered to accompany Sheena to a spiritualist shop to pick up some incense and crystals. Sheena's parents were complete hippies and Sheena insisted she needed to cleanse her bedroom's aura. So, here she was, in a shop that smelled of Nag Champa and looked like a prism factory had blown up.

"I don't know; I've never thought about it." She answered honestly.

"Everyone's thought about it," the woman insisted. "Riches, fame, power, the one true love of your life."

Helga turned away from watching Sheena skim through books to look at the woman behind the counter.

"When I was younger," she began. "I went to a palm reader and begged her to make me fall out of love with ice cream."

"What does ice cream have to do with it."

"It's a metaphor, keep up. She gave me a magic potion. Which tasted like grape soda. For an entire I felt nothing. Absolutely nothing. It was the worst day of my life. I go back to the palm reader and beg her to reverse the spell. She tells me it was a fraud to begin with and that everything that happened to me that day was of my own making. So, sorry, I don't want magic powers for myself." She turned back, thoughtful. "I think, if I had magic powers, I'd find a spell to bring Arnold's parents back to him."

"You'd use your powers to help another over yourself?"

"Hey, that's the kind of giving person I am. You find everything Sheena?"

The brunette approached the counter, laden down with stones, incense and books.

"I think I found something that might be able to cleanse Eugene's aura and chase away some of the negativity."

Helga chuckled. "If you can make him less clumsy, I'll buy a crystal for my own room."

"Never underestimate the magical power of crystals, Helga."

The woman behind the counter rang up all of Sheena's purchases and bagged them up.

"Good luck in your cleansings." She slid a small box towards Helga. "For you."

"I ain't buying anything, lady."

"A gift. If anything it'll brighten up your room."

Helga took the box. "Thanks."


Helga and Sheena stopped at Slaussen's on their way back, Sheena had offered to buy Helga ice cream for going with her to the shop.

"I'm never going to turn down a free malt, but it really wasn't that big of a deal Sheena."

"Nobody likes to go with me and I couldn't dare take Eugene with me in there, I couldn't afford the damage."

Helga laughed.

"Hey guys, where did you go?"

Sheena smiled up at Arnold and Gerald as they passed their table and Helga's heart slammed against her chest.

"Helga was nice enough to go shopping with me."

"Helga Pataki? Shopping?" Gerald laughed. Helga glared at him.

"Shove it, tall hair boy."

"I think it's nice of you Helga," Arnold said, ignoring his friend who was still chuckling.

"Yeah, I'm a regular Tiny Tim. Which reminds me," She pulled out the small box and handed it to him. He took the box from her hand and opened the lid. Inside was a smooth greenish-blue stone in the shape of a teardrop.

"It's beautiful. What is it?"

"According to the lady at the story, it's a magical stone. I figured maybe your grandma would like it or something."

Arnold closed the lid and slid it into his pocket. "I'll give it to her when I get home. Thanks Helga."

"Yeah, yeah."

Sheena waited until both boys left before speaking.

"That was nice of you Helga. Amazonite is a special stone. It helps the owner find lost things."

"Whatever. It was just gonna catch dust in my room anyway."


Two days later Helga was awoken by a frantic knocking on her front door.

She stumbled down the stairs, half asleep, knowing her father was already at work and her mother was probably still passed out at the kitchen table, unless she managed to make it up the stairs.

Yawning and scratching her head, she unlocked the front door and pulled it open.

"What the…"

Arnold barreled in, knocking her off balance with a hug that threatened to take them both to the floor.

"Helga! My parents!"

Her throat clenched up, and her heart stuttered. She was terrified he was going to tell her they'd found their bodies. He was sobbing and getting her bare shoulder wet but she didn't care, didn't notice. All she noticed was Arnold was crying and clutching onto to her as if he'd never let go. Her body didn't know if it should faint in excitement or hold him in sympathy. Her arms raised to wrap around him, waiting for the next inevitable words when he pulled away, brought his hands to her face and kissed her.

"My parents!" he said again. "They're alive! Grandpa got the call early this morning. They found my parents! They're alive! And better yet, they're bringing them home!"

Helga was frozen, her brain trying to comprehend what Arnold was saying coupled with the fact that he has just kissed her.

"Yo…your parents?" she managed to stammer out. The look on his face was a bright as a thousand suns.

"They're going to be home in three days. Helga, my parents are coming home!"

As it all slowly sunk into her still sleep and now shock addled brain, the words of the woman in the shop slipped back into her memory.

You'd use your powers to help another over yourself?

Not that she believed in magic, but standing in her front entryway at six in the morning with Arnold wrapped around her like he was never going to let go, it was easy to believe that sometimes, everyone got one wish granted.