Genie and Engineer 1: The Engineer Wizard (31 page)

Westbound, US Highway 34

Naperville, Illinois

May

Saturday, 10:45 a.m. CST

T
he
traffic out on US Highway 34 was pretty busy, probably due to the fact that it
was a Saturday morning and most people had the day off. It was a gorgeous day,
with moderate temperatures and a clear blue sky.

Capie lived between Warrentown and Wheaton, and Paul was
headed to meet her. When he had called her the previous evening, she had
suggested that they take advantage of the weather and go to Seven Gables Park
for a picnic. Paul had readily agreed. For that purpose, on the passenger seat
of the Camry, there was a small bucket of fried chicken, Styrofoam containers
of potato salad, and a few unidentified food items for their dining pleasure.
And too, there were three presents, two of them gift-wrapped, and the
third...well, the third was a large stuffed animal, a giant brown and white
puppy.

Paul had taken Uncle Sam’s recommendation to heart. For the
previous few days, he had given considerable thought to his relationship with
Capie. And he had made two important decisions. It was time she deserved to
know the truth about him. No more lies. It was time to clear his conscience.
And second, to help smooth any ruffled feathers that the truth might cause, he
had better be ready to bestow upon her multiple and lavish gifts.

Well, not too many. He didn’t want it to appear like he was
buying
her affection.

Last night had not been a good night for him. He had tossed
and turned in bed, playing out a thousand scenarios in his head. How did he tell
her? What combination of words would work best? What did he say if she asked
particular questions? Should he use spells to influence her reactions if things
went wrong?

At Naperville Road, Paul hung a left and drove two miles
northward, entering the left turning lane for Seven Gables Park.

It was a nice-looking park. He saw a huge, open, and
well-tended field, perfect for sporting a couple of football games. There were
a number of people out in the park, some jogging, some riding bikes, others
playing catch, and so forth.

The road split, and Paul took the left fork, coasting
through a long parking lot alongside the field before passing two baseball
diamonds.

A small red building glided into view. There were bathroom
facilities here, a covered picnic area, and beyond that, a children’s
playground of slides, swing sets, and jungle gyms. The whole place was thronged
with people, mostly parents watching their children at play.

Paul parked in one of the few remaining slots in the parking
lot. Capie’s van was already present, just a few spaces away.

Removing the food from the car and wrapping one arm around
the stuffed puppy’s neck, he locked the doors and went out in search of her.

She was sitting next to a picnic table in the shade, not far
from the closest baseball diamond, apparently watching the little league game
in progress. Paul was still thirty feet away when she turned in her wheelchair,
spotted him, and waved.

When he was closer, Capie giggled and asked, “Who do you
have there?”

“Oh, just a little lost puppy I found along the way
somewhere,” Paul replied with a mischievous grin. “I think he needs a home. You
wouldn’t by chance know of a place, would you? A nice, warm place where there
is plenty of love? Someone who will give him a good name?”

Capie held out her arms, and Paul dropped the stuffed animal
into her grasp.

“He is so cute! And so soft, too! Oh, I love him already.
Thank you. I think I’ll name him Patches, since he has brown spots. How did you
know I have a soft spot for stuffed animals?” she asked, cuddling with the big
furry toy.

“Oh, a wiser, older man suggested it,” Paul replied,
thinking of the recommendation made by Merlin.

“Be sure to thank him!” Capie squealed. She managed to tuck
the animal in close beside her and then smiled at Paul.

“I got here early to reserve a table. Otherwise, we would
have had to eat on the ground.”

Anxiously, Paul smiled in return. “Good thinking. Thanks for
doing that. I have the food. Did you bring something? Do I need to go get it
from your van?”

“Yes, I did,” she replied as Paul put the chicken and other
items on the table. “I got the drinks. There’s a six-pack of root beer in the
passenger seat, your favorite flavor.” She dug her van keys from her purse and
tossed them to him.

“I’ll be right back,” he promised as he turned and left.

Two minutes later, he returned with the drinks.

“I’m starved,” Capie declared. “I’ll take a leg, a wing,
some of that potato salad, and a chocolate cupcake.”

Paul fixed her a plate and a drink and handed her a plastic
fork. Then he helped himself to a plateful as well. Internally, he felt as queasy
and as panicky as an expectant father in a hospital waiting room.

They traded small talk for a few minutes as they ate, his
anxiety growing stronger with each passing moment. Indeed, it was difficult for
him to keep his hands from trembling. She caught him up on a few things that
were happening at her place of work, and then they talked about upcoming
movies, the weather, and local politics.

“You seem distracted,” she said suddenly, wiping the grease
from her fingers with a paper napkin. “Is something up?”

Paul forced a smile, while his knees threatened to collapse
underneath him. He actually had to cast a silent spell to strengthen his
resolve. “No, not really. Well, maybe.” He took a really deep breath. This was
it.

“There is something I need to tell you,” Paul blurted,
looking at the ground instead of at her.

She froze for a couple of seconds, her expression one of
cagey alertness. “You’re married!” she half-guessed/half-implied in a loud
voice.

Paul blinked in shock. “NO! I’m sorry, I mean, no, I’m not
married.” This wasn’t going quite the way he had envisioned.

“You have a fatal disease and only have six months left to
live!” she exclaimed, looking even more anxious than before.

Sighing, Paul said, “Now you are getting warmer. But it’s
not the way you think.”

“Henry, what is going on?” she pressed, making strong eye
contact.

Paul made a valiant effort and got a tight grip on his
emotions. “I’m sorry, but I am not Henry Kaufman. My real name is Paul Armstead.
And I am from Southern California, not Alaska. And most of the time, I hate
Chicago weather.”

She stared at him in stunned incredulity.

“You lied to me?” she asked, a bit of a quaver in her voice.

“Yes, I did,” Paul regretfully admitted.

“Henry…I mean, Paul, what’s going on? Why are you doing this?
Are you dumping me?” she asked, her voice a mixture of apprehension and skepticism.

“No, far from it.” He took another deep breath. “I am trying
to tell you that I am a wizard.”

Whatever Capie had been expecting, it wasn’t those words.
She blinked several times in total confusion.

“You’re a what? A wizard? Like the people who attend the
Wizard World Convention? Or that belong to a coven?” she asked in a cautious,
incredulous tone.

Paul made himself look her firmly in the eye. “No, not that.
I am a top-notch, full-blown, USDA prime, functional wizard with advanced
magical powers.”

She shook her head and blinked several times. “Henry, is
this all some sort of practical joke or an act of some kind? Are you pulling my
leg? A wizard? Really?”

 “The name really is Paul. And I can prove it, too. That I
really am a wizard.”

“A wizard?! You say you have...magical powers?” she asked,
her voice now near total disbelief. “Henry, there is no such thing as magic,
not really,” she sadly announced with a placating demeanor. “I wish that there
were but there isn’t.”

Paul could see the incredulity plainly in her eyes. So he reached
forth his empty right hand and snapped his fingers. Suddenly, a holographic bouquet
of yellow buttercups and red roses appeared in his hand.

Capie stared at the flowers in total denial, her lower lip
beginning to quiver.

He slowly “laid” the virtual flowers on the table (where
they promptly faded away) and then looked around quickly. No one was close by,
nor did anyone seem to be paying any attention to them.

“Merlin?” Paul asked desperately.

The amiable wizard materialized ten feet away, wearing his
robe and hat, a solemn expression on his face.

Bowing deeply, he said, “My dear, it is indeed a great
pleasure at last to meet you in person.”

Eyes widening, Capie’s mouth dropped open. “This just can’t
be…” At which point, Capie became speechless. She shook her head back and forth
slowly.

“Capie,” Paul implored her, stepping close to her.

She reared back in alarm, obviously nervous, with every sign
that she was on the verge of panic.

“No, no, NO!” she shrilled, as she reared back and delivered
a roundhouse blow squarely on Paul’s jaw. The impressive blow knocked him off his
feet and onto his rear, stunning him and leaving him momentarily senseless. For
a few seconds, he saw double.

“Don’t you
ever
lie to me again!” she blazed
furiously, baring her teeth. “
Never
!
Understand
?”

“Lady, are you okay?” a male voice asked.

Paul flinched and glanced around. A small crowd was starting
to gather, apparently attracted by their, uh, discussion.

Capie took a really deep breath. “Yes. I’m sorry everyone. Paul
here just told me that he’s a wizard. ‘And I thought my last boyfriend was
different ‘cause he wore a scarf,’” she said, quoting Becky from
The
Sorcerer’s Apprentice
.

A momentary silence settled on the scene while people looked
at each in unexpected puzzlement.

“Well, uh, as long as you are okay,” responded a tall
brunette woman, giving Paul a mystified glance.

Everyone in the small crowd turned and left, some of them
glancing back for a moment to shake their heads at the strange incident.

Capie turned back to Paul and produced a hard smile. “How
dare
you be a wizard?” she growled. “How dare you?! I’ve loved you with all my heart
from the moment you quoted
Superman
to me! I love you with all the fiber
of my being! And now you tell me, after all this time that I’ve known you, that
YOU ARE A WIZARD?
!”

Paul was finally able to shake his head clear before staring
up into her angry red face.

“You love me?” he asked, stunned. Until this moment, he had thought
she loved him, but he had never really known for certain. Yes, he could have
cast a spell and found out, but he had been a little concerned what the answer
might be.

He used his hand to move his jaw back and forth, testing to
make sure that it wasn’t broken and that all his teeth were still in place.

“Lady, I love you too,” he said, an incredibly intense surge
of relief washing across him, leaving a huge sloppy grin on his face. A quote
came unbidden to his mind. “And for the record, ‘I didn’t lie. I willfully
participated in a campaign of misinformation.’”

Then, so help him, he started laughing.

For several seconds, her expression didn’t change. Then it
softened.

“Fox Mulder,
The X-Files
,” she grumbled, and soon,
she was laughing along with him. Paul picked himself up off the ground and
brushed himself off.

“Henry or Paul or whatever in blazes your name is,” Capie
growled sternly between smiles, “you have an
awful
lot of explaining to
do. Oodles and oodles of it. Let’s go to my place. And mister? Let me tell you
something. Your story had better be real
good
!”

• • • •

After Paul cleaned up their picnic area, Capie drove her van
while he followed along behind her in his Camry. She lived in an up-scale
neighborhood a little closer to Warrentown, in a three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom,
2,200-square-foot home. Paul had been there a few times, but never for more
than a few minutes, usually just to pick her up on a date night.

This time, she invited him into the kitchen-nook area, where
she nuked two cups of hot chocolate for them.

“So!” she said with a malicious, tight smile. “Who are you,
really? What kind of powers do you have? And don’t you dare spare any of the
details.”

For almost three hours, Paul went through the story from
beginning to end, with Capie constantly interrupting and asking tons of
questions. He showed her the tantalum block and his gold wristband and briefly
talked about isotopes. At appropriate points in the story, he even used magical
spells to assist with visual aids, including the use of a portal to bring
Patches in from the car. Once, he called on Merlin to help but had to send him
away again when he noticed how uncomfortable the holographic wizard made Capie
feel. And she obviously found the images of the Oni to be particularly
disturbing. The only things he left out of the story were the details of his
Master Plan and his attempts to cure her injured spinal cord. Twice, they took
a break and she prepared more hot chocolate.

It was late in the afternoon when she leaned back in her
wheelchair, seemingly out of questions, but deep in thought.

Paul felt like the proverbial dishrag—all wrung out. He was
glad that they were finished.

She absently sipped her hot chocolate for a few minutes
while he waited patiently.

“It’s so much to believe all at once,” she finally said out
of the blue. “I want to make sure that I understand your story. Six months ago,
you were an electrical engineer working at Edwards Air Force Base in
California. You gave a man a ride. In return, he gave you a genie that was
under an evil spell. You released the genie, and in return, the genie made you into
a wizard.”