§ § § -- November 29, 1995
It had been an amazing Thanksgiving, they'd decided, and a great morning too. Cody had wished for a leather bomber jacket that should have cost hundreds of dollars, to go with the motorbike he'd conjured up the day before; Doug and Sean had clearly had quite a busy night and both wore highly satisfied grins. Peter felt pretty good himself; he'd met a really nice girl and had to use only a little of his wishing power to make a success of their date.
"I think I'm gonna wish for…" Sean began, then stopped. "Nah, wait, we already had pizza for breakfast yesterday. Maybe we could have bacon and eggs…"
"Naw, that's too healthy," scoffed Cody.
"Bacon isn't good for you," Peter said. "It's the fattiest meat I know of. I don't need any breakfast. Kerry and I had loads of Thanksgiving dinner last evening and I'm still full from that. Never mind breakfast."
"Well, then I want a…" Doug said, interrupted himself and sighed. "I already wished for that. What's the point of doin' it again?" He peered around the room. "Y'know something? I already wished for everything I want. There's nothing left."
"Are you sure?" Sean asked, looking amazed. "You can't be serious, dude. What about a perfect grade-point average for the rest of the year?"
"Already did that," Doug said. "Didn't you?"
Sean grinned. "Yeah, I did. Well, Banning, what about you?"
"I got only one thing left to wish for," Cody said, spearing Peter with a sour glare, "but Gibbons wouldn't let me. So I guess I'm done wishing too."
Peter glared right back at him. "You really think Leslie would give you the time of day? You saw Mr. Roarke give you the evil eye—he's onto you, and if you tried going after his daughter, he'd know without anyone having to tell him."
"Yeah? You think you know all about this place and that guy, don't you," Cody said, scowling. "How could Roarke possibly know?"
"He would," Doug assured him. "Give up, Banning, that woman isn't for you. She's gotta be ten years older than we are. Didn't you hook up with some tasty tropical babe last night? Aren't they good enough for you anymore?"
"Geez, they're a flippin' dime a dozen," Cody grumbled. "Or maybe a nickel a dozen." He aimed another poisonous look at Peter. "Speaking of nickels…"
Sean sat up and demanded, "Yeah, where'd you get all those freakin' things, anyway? You must have a hundred bucks' worth lying all over the table up there." The previous evening, Peter had wished away the remnants of the Thanksgiving dinner and spent a half hour scooping nickels off the floor and depositing them on the cleared table.
Peter squirmed in his chair and decided it was time to take himself elsewhere. "Oh, I…well, I wandered over to the casino for awhile after Kerry left and played some nickels I had in my pocket," he lied, amazed at how easily this came out. "Come to think of it, I just might try my luck again."
"What for?" said Doug, truly puzzled. "All you gotta do is wish for more money."
"It's not the money," Peter said, rising from his chair and heading for the table to load his pockets with nickels. "It's the fun of playing the game, and right now I need something to do anyway. You guys want to come with me?"
"Naw, no point in bothering with the casino when I can just wish for cash," Doug said. Sean and Cody also declined; Peter shrugged acceptance and continued stuffing coins into his pockets. His friends watched him in amusement while his pockets bulged farther and farther out till they would hold no more, and Peter finally made his way out with his hands crammed full of the overflow.
"Freakin' goody-two-shoes," Cody said with unexpected venom, making Sean and Doug exchange surprised looks. "I don't care what the little nerd says, I'm goin' for it. I'm gonna find Roarke's daughter." He got up from his seat.
"I think I'll come too," Sean decided. "Maybe on the way, I'll think of something else to wish for."
Doug lit up at that moment. "I got it!" he crowed. "I got it! I wish the entire Miami Dolphins cheerleading squad was here right this minute, admiring the heck out of me and competing to see who gets me first." No sooner was the last word out of his mouth than a dozen lovely, curvy young women all decked out in flashy cheerleading uniforms showed up from nowhere and began fussing loudly over a thoroughly ecstatic Doug.
"Cripes," Sean muttered. "We might as well blow this popcorn stand. Even if we tried to get in on the action, he'd never let us. Come on." He led the way out.
It took them most of two hours to finally find Leslie, and when they did, it turned out she was having lunch with four other young women at a small café in town. Cody gaped at them in disbelief, certain he had to be seeing things. One woman was pale blonde with the greenest eyes he had ever seen; another was an exotic-looking brunette with dusky skin and deer-like dark eyes; the other two were pretty Asian women with sleek, shiny black hair and lively black eyes, and resembled each other to a great extent.
Leslie saw his look and eyed him in amusement. "Something we can do for you, Mr. Banning?" she inquired with professional courtesy.
"Uh…" Cody mumbled, still stunned. "You got room for a couple more?"
Leslie shrugged. "Well, if you can find chairs…" she said, letting the sentence hang there without actually offering to let the boys join their party of five.
Cody turned to search for a chair, but stopped short when he saw the expression on Sean's face. Sean looked as if he'd been transported to another dimension, his eyes fixed on something; slowly Cody turned, managed to follow Sean's gaze and realized he was gawking at one of the Asian women. "What's with you?" he hissed at Sean.
Sean ignored him. "Uh, excuse me…I don't mean to interrupt. I was just wondering. My name's Sean Howard, nice to meet you…what's your name?"
Gawd Almighty, thought Cody with exasperation, his brain's been fried for sure. I never heard him give a woman such a square line before. He's losin' it! He began to hunt for an extra chair in the tiny, crowded café, determined to get through to Leslie Hamilton one way or another, Roarke or not.
‡ ‡ ‡
Leslie was hard put not to release her laughter; she met Myeko's gaze across the table and knew instantly that Myeko understood. Maureen and Tabitha had picked up on it as well, and they grinned with tolerant amusement. Myeko turned to her twenty-year-old sister, Sayuri, a college junior visiting home during the Thanksgiving break, and nudged her none too discreetly in the arm. "Come on, kid, let the poor guy off the hook."
Sayuri raised an eyebrow at her and regarded Sean curiously. "I'm Sayuri Sensei."
Sean grinned idiotically and leaned over the table between Tabitha and Leslie, all his attention on her. "You must be the most popular girl on campus, wherever you go to school. You ever have time for your courses in between dates?"
Leslie rested her forehead in one hand, fighting back her laughter. She knew Sayuri was no fool; to the contrary, Myeko's little sister was a very sharp young lady, and it was clear that she could see Sean Howard for what he was. "Plenty," Sayuri said, propping her chin on one hand and continuing to stare at him.
"Then in that case, you should have time to go out with me tonight," Sean said.
"Unfortunately I don't," Sayuri replied with a small, cool smile. "I'm here visiting my family, and I have to go back to school again Sunday. I intend to spend the whole weekend with my parents and my sister and niece and nephew." Her voice grew dry with a faint note of cynicism. "Don't feel too bad. I'm sure you'll find plenty of more willing company."
Cody had finally located a chair and now wedged himself in between Leslie and Maureen, smiling at the former. "You know, this is some operation you and your old man have here." Leslie, surprised out of her amusement, stared at him, realizing she had a whole new problem. She couldn't fathom this college kid's peculiar and inordinate interest in her. "I bet it keeps you in plenty of caviar, huh? What a life it must be."
He sounded genuinely interested, but she didn't like his manner of delivery, and his reference to Roarke as her "old man" particularly rankled. "Father and I do this because we enjoy it," she said, careful to maintain a polite tone, but unable to keep from leaning instinctively away from him. "Incidentally, how's your fantasy going?"
"Aw, it's okay," Cody said dismissively. "Aside from Wilde constantly wishing for beer and cheerleaders, anyway. So, what're you doing later this afternoon?"
"My job," Leslie said dryly.
"Mind if I come too?" Cody inquired.
"I'm afraid you'd be bored to death, and besides, I'm going to some places where only employees are allowed," Leslie told him. "As a matter of fact, I really do have to get going right now." She took in the whole group and smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry, folks, I've got to cut this short," she said.
"Oh, that's okay, we're finished anyway," Sayuri said, earning from her older sister an enormous grin that she pointedly ignored. "Could you drop me off at my parents' house?"
"I need to get back to Brianna anyway," Maureen said, rising.
"Time for me to go too," Tabitha said, and Myeko laughed out loud.
"Yeah, I gotta go relieve the babysitter. I hope it's okay if we all bum rides with you, Leslie," she said.
"Sure, come on," Leslie said and gave Cody an impersonal little smile. "Have a good afternoon, and if you need anything, just ask my father." So saying, she led a small parade out of the café, leaving behind two slack-jawed young lotharios who had both been all too sure of their impending conquests.
"Damn, dude, I think we just got shot down," Sean said incredulously once the five women had disappeared from sight.
"So we keep tryin'," Cody said. He couldn't explain his attraction to Leslie Hamilton; it was just there, and it kept pulling his attention in the way he would have probed for a missing tooth with his tongue. "I can't believe those hot babes she's got for friends. Who'da thought? I mean, I don't think I've seen even one ugly girl on this entire island."
"Oh yeah, dude," Sean agreed blissfully. "And Sayuri Sensei's the hottest babe of them all. She is it, man."
Cody gave him a sharp look. "What're you, retarded? Why didn't you just wish for her? She coulda been yours without all that mooning around and those stupid lines."
Sean stared at him warily for a very long minute or so, then finally confessed, "I was thinking about it…but I didn't dare, not with Leslie sitting right there. I mean, no matter how I tried to put it, she'd know what I was up to."
"Why should she care?" Cody asked, bewildered.
"Because that other Asian girl looked like her sister, and it was pretty obvious that the sister was a friend of Leslie's. At least it was obvious to me, even if you couldn't figure it out on account of drooling all over Leslie." Sean got up and returned Cody's fiery glare two-fold. "We might as well make tracks, dude, since we got no place else to go."
"I'm not drooling all over Leslie," Cody said, trying for dignity but falling far short. "I just think she's the hottest thing going."
"Except for Sayuri, that is," Sean put in, and Cody rolled his eyes, which sparked an argument between them over Leslie's and Sayuri's respective assets that lasted them all the way to the pool.
While all this had been going on, Peter had found the casino, which turned out to be filled with American tourists from seemingly every state in the union, and had cruised the entire building for almost twenty minutes before he finally found an unoccupied nickel slot machine. He settled down and began feeding the machine nickels, not caring at first that it swallowed them greedily with very little or no return. But in about fifteen minutes he had emptied one pocket and gone halfway through the other, and had almost nothing to show for his efforts. Annoyed, he thumped a fist against the machine.
"Geez," he complained, "this is such a bummer! I wish you'd pay off for a change, even just a little bit!" He poked three more coins into the slot and pulled the handle, upon which the machine emitted a frenetic electronic beeping and nickels began showering out of the return slot. Peter grinned widely, watching them fall, prepared to wait for the machine to empty itself out. However, it stopped after only a couple of minutes; and he sat up, a little disappointed, squinting at the digital readout that showed the amount won. His "jackpot" consisted of exactly $38.55.
"Aw well, it's better than nothing," he decided with a sigh and scooped nickels into a cup, adding the ones still in his pocket. He might as well quit now before he fell even further behind. He got up and toted his cup to the payout window, getting back a total of $51.45 for his efforts. Maybe I should have just done what Doug said earlier and wished for the money, Peter thought as he left the casino, but I can't think of anything else I really want to wish for, and I already wished my parents could have the money they need to pay the rest of my tuition. So what's the point? He shrugged to himself and strolled aimlessly along one path after another, till he eventually wound up in front of the bungalow.
"Hey, Pete, you win big?" yelled Sean's voice, and he turned in front of the steps to see Sean and Cody headed in his direction.
"Nah, lost about half my supply," Peter said with a shrug. "At least I have some cash left to get me home. Where've you been?"
"Around," said Cody. "We saw Leslie and some friends of hers at a café in town, and I gotta tell you, she's just as hot as I thought she was the first time I saw her."
"She has this friend whose sister is out of this world," Sean put in eagerly. "Absolutely gorgeous Japanese girl. What I wouldn't give to have her."
"For a night, just like all the others," said Peter, and Cody snickered.
"No, dude, you don't understand! That's the hottest and most incredible woman I've ever seen," Sean insisted. "I don't want her just for a one-night stand, I want her for good."
"Or as long as she'd have you," Peter parried. Cody snorted a laugh, and Peter grinned acknowledgement. "Come on, Howard, you never stay with a girl long enough to even find out what her name is sometimes."
"That's a lie," Sean said, all affronted innocence. "What're you pickin' on me for, dude? Banning's after Roarke's daughter again, and I keep telling him to back off, but he thinks I'm full of hot air."
Peter stared at Cody. "Why're you so hung up on Leslie Hamilton? She must be at least ten years older than we are. Sure, she's nice-looking, but she's out of your league."
"She's head and shoulders above all the other women lurking around here," Cody said heatedly. "She's got class."
"That makes her too good for you," Peter remarked, touching off a loud guffaw from Sean. "Come on, Banning, give it up. Pick on someone your own size, willya? By the way, what happened to Wilde?"
"Last we saw him, he was throwing himself at the Miami Dolphins cheerleaders," Sean replied. "I wonder if he's found any he likes, so we can get in on the fun."
"Thought you wanted that Japanese babe," Cody taunted, earning a dirty look from Sean. Peter hit Cody in the arm and opened the door, then stopped short in amazement. From behind him Cody said impatiently, "What's your problem, Gibbons?"
"You gotta be kidding," Peter said. Cody and Sean crowded in on either side of him and found themselves staring as well. The main room of the bungalow was crammed with people jabbering loudly and excitedly; in the middle of it all, Doug Wilde held court, seated in an easy chair, scrawling on pieces of paper, photos, footballs, people's arms, whatever was presented to him.
"What the hell's he doin', dude?" Sean demanded.
Peter's eyebrows shot up another inch or two. "Looks to me like he's signing autographs…but what for?"
At that point Doug happened to look up and spot his friends at the door, and he waved madly at them, beaming. Peter, Cody and Sean looked at one another, then struggled into the room through the crowd, shouldering their way along till they finally reached Doug. "Hey, man, whaddaya think?" Doug bellowed happily.
"What's going on around here? Where'd all these people come from?" Peter shouted.
"Ain't it great?" Doug yelled. "Never had so many admirers."
"What're they doing here, Wilde?" Cody roared in his ear.
Doug's grin should have split his lower jaw right off his face. "I made a wish that I was a pro football star," he said and turned aside to scribble his name on someone's T-shirt while his friends looked at one another.
"I wish all these people would go away," Sean announced deliberately, and the crowd instantly disappeared, leaving Doug standing there holding a marker in mid-air. For a split second Doug looked comically confused; then he seemed to realize what had happened and turned to glare at them.
"You got rid of my fans, didn't you?" he demanded accusingly.
"Guilty as charged," Sean told him. "Man, dude, can't you think of anything better to wish for than that?"
"What's wrong with that?" Doug wanted to know. "We got us a whole weekend to wish for anything we want—Mr. Roarke didn't say we could wish for only certain things. If I feel like wishing to be a football star, then I got a right!"
"That's all you care about, is football," Cody said, disgusted. "You could have money, you could have women, cars, fame and fortune—"
"I did wish for fame—I just had it, you retard," Doug yelled.
"As a flippin' jock, for cryin' out loud!" Cody yelled back. "You gotta be the biggest bore I ever met, Wilde…you've wished for nothing but beer and football the whole time we've been here! What is it with you? You don't get enough beer and football at school?"
"And you're any better, wishing for Roarke's daughter all over the place?" Doug shot back. By now the two of them were in each other's faces, both furious.
"That's none of your beeswax," Cody said.
"Oh yes it is," Peter interjected. "Mr. Roarke himself warned you off her, but you just won't listen, Banning."
"What're you, Jiminy Freaking Cricket?" Cody hollered. "Lay off me!"
In a few more seconds the four of them had gotten into a shouting match that all but rattled the walls, each taunting the others about their respective hang-ups and perceived failings, each defending his own desires to the others. When Doug threatened to wish for his "fans" back, it turned out to be the last straw for Cody. "Dammit, Wilde, I wish you'd take a flying leap!"
Doug vanished in a twinkling, and Sean, Peter and Cody were promptly shocked into silence. Cody looked particularly stunned.
"Man, dude, I'd sure like to see what you did to him," Sean remarked into the heavy quiet. "When he gets back, he'll probably kill you."
"And you weren't even right when you said he's wished for nothing but football and beer," Peter added. Remember, Doug's the one who got us that Lamborghini."
"Like I cared about that thing," Cody snarled. "I wanted a Harley, so I wished for it."
"Yeah, that's it, play up the bad-guy image," Peter taunted. "That's really the way to get Leslie Hamilton to notice you, all right! The way you're going, I won't have to worry about you ever actually getting her interested in you!"
"I've had it up to here with you, Gibbons, and if you don't watch it, you're gonna regret every sorry word that comes outta your mouth," Cody warned. Peter snorted, and once again an argument sprang up. The three of them completely forgot about Doug.