§ § § -- November 30, 1995

While Doug and Sean were trying their utmost to forget the disastrous event at the pool and Peter was occupied at the casino with Kerry, Cody sat on the beach in swim trunks and his beloved bomber jacket, ignoring the heat the leather garment trapped and the odd looks it got from people walking past him, thinking furiously. He overturned one mad scheme after another, wondering how he was ever going to get Leslie's attention without wishing for it outright. As badly as he wanted to do that, he didn't quite have the nerve. She was Roarke's daughter, so he wasn't sure whether his wishing power would even work on her. And if it did, there was always Roarke's wrath to face. Enough crazy things had happened during the course of their fantasy that he'd come to believe that Roarke was capable not only of knowing everything that went on around here, but also of reading the minds of every last one of his guests. No, wishing was out. But then what?

By the time he came up with his lone, admittedly lame, idea, the sun had long since sunk behind the trees and the beach had been deserted for several hours. His legs, hands and face were badly sunburned by now, but on his way toward the main house he wished the sunburn away and immediately felt much better. He then wished up an enormous cheeseburger and polished it off while hiking along the trail that would take him to the flagstone terrace at the back of the study in the main house. Duly fortified, he licked his fingers, wiped his hands on his swim trunks and stopped just at the end of the trail on the edge of the patio. The shutter doors were open to the night breeze and he could see more than half the room from where he stood. Leslie sat at Roarke's desk, on the phone with someone.

Great! Cody thought and carefully sidestepped his way around the outskirts of the terrace till he stood behind the wall just beside the door, out of sight of anyone inside. He was just within range of Leslie's voice and listened eagerly to her side of the conversation. "I can believe that," she said with a laugh. "I assume he's been better about the child-support checks? Oh, good. No kidding, a girlfriend? And with kids, too! I hope she can keep him in line." She fell silent and listened for a minute or two, then said with a wistful edge to her voice, "No, we tried like crazy, believe me. But it just never happened. I told Tattoo once that maybe it was better, in a way. If Teppo and I had had a baby, I'd have been tied to his family after he died, and most of them wanted nothing to do with me. Maybe someday, if I ever find the right guy…"

How can I get her to see it could be me? Cody thought, unaware of the fact that he was gradually losing his grip on rationality. She must've been married once and she wanted kids with him. I could do that, no prob. Easy as hell. How'd that old song go? He found the melody and lyrics of the sixties hit "Happy Together" tinkling through his mind and stood swaying to the music he heard in his head, still listening.

"Well, I'm not going out chasing anyone," Leslie said eventually. "Frankly, I'm happy right here where I am, doing what I do. This is my home and I'm staying put, and there's no man in the universe who can drag me away from here. Oh shoot, look what time it is! I think you need to put Alexander and Noelle to bed for the night. I'm so beat I'm ready to go down myself. Listen, I've got about an hour and a half for lunch tomorrow if you want to do some more commiserating. Sound good? Great, see you about twelve-thirty."

Fantastic! Cody thought, ecstatic. She'll be with her friend and they'll be talking about guys, and who knows but she might even mention me. How could she not?

"Have you learned everything you wished to know?" a quiet voice inquired with deceptive courtesy from behind Cody, and he froze there where he stood, mortification sweeping all through him. He was so red with embarrassment that he felt as if the sunburn had returned. Caught red-handed, and by none other than Roarke!

"Hi, Mr. Roarke," Cody mumbled.

"Good evening, Mr. Banning," Roarke returned, his voice coolly polite. "I assume that your parents taught you that it's extremely bad manners to eavesdrop on private conversations. In fact, under certain circumstances, it may even be illegal."

Cody stared at him, panic gleaming out of his eyes. "You mean you're arresting me?"

Roarke regarded him with an expression that suggested he was sorely tempted to do just that. "Perhaps if you were to remove yourself from the premises within the next ten seconds, Mr. Banning, I might be inclined to overlook this particular transgression."

"I'm gone, Mr. Roarke," Cody said and took to his heels. Behind him, Roarke watched him flee, then shook his head, chuckled softly to himself and went inside, pulling the French shutters closed for the night.

To Cody's relief, nobody was at the bungalow when he got back, giving him the chance to ruminate in private. But it was so late and he'd eaten such a large cheeseburger that he had fallen asleep within minutes of falling across his bed, ending his attempts to formulate any more plans that night.

§ § § -- December 1, 1995

"I know they're gonna talk about guys, I know it," Cody was mumbling to himself at the table, a little after 12:30, over a late lunch. They had all slept in and had been awake for two hours at most. He had been talking to himself in slightly deranged tones almost ever since crawling out of bed; he sat now with a mostly-untouched plate in front of him, while his friends ate in silence and tried to ignore him. They were all a little startled when he abruptly focused on Sean and said, "She's goin' to her pal Myeko's. You know, the sister of that girl you're after."

"So what?" said Sean. "That won't get me in good with Sayuri."

"They might just talk about you too," Cody said.

"Hell, dude, I don't care," Sean grumbled, contemplating the remains of four pizzas wished into existence by Doug. "They wouldn't have anything good to say, so why would I want to hear it?"

"What's he think this is, Get Smart or something? I should wish him up a shoe phone so he can look the part," Peter snorted, making Sean and Doug laugh. "I mean, if he's gonna go over there and spy on them…"

"He could do a wiretap," offered Doug. "Isn't he supposed to be an electronics major? He oughta have no problem setting up a tap on the phone."

"I think he's just gonna hang off the roof like the lovesick ape he really is," Sean contributed, cracking up Peter and Doug. "Never mind the wiretaps or hidden mikes or shoe phones. He hasn't been half that subtle around Leslie anyway, so why even try to hide?"

Peter rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "Look at him, frothing at the mouth over there. I don't think he's heard anything we've said. Why don't we just let him stew and figure out what we're gonna do for the rest of the day. Hey, anybody have any idea when our fantasy's supposed to end? That's one thing we forgot to ask Mr. Roarke."

"Search me, dude," Sean said, shrugging. "Y'wanna go over and ask him now?"

"We oughta drag Cody with us," Doug said, smirking. "Mr. Roarke might tell him where Leslie went so he can find out what she says about him, once and for all."

Cody blinked and came unexpectedly back to reality. "You goons, can it," he ordered in disgust. "I'm freakin' serious here. Dammit, I wish I could just be a fly on the wall and get an earful—" Pop, and he was gone, so suddenly and silently that at first nobody else moved, staring at his empty chair.

"What happened to…" Doug mumbled, looking nervous.

Sean and Peter looked at him, then at each other, reviewing what they'd just heard, and both got it at the same instant. In perfect chorus they moaned, "Aw, sheeeeeeeezzzzz..." Doug blinked and peered back and forth at them, then figured it out for himself.

"Did Banning just wish he was a fly?" Doug asked carefully.

"Yes, he did," Peter said, and the three of them looked at each other with budding panic. "I think we better go see Mr. Roarke."