Some Kind of Magic

A few years back, Blade, Eric and I had convinced our parents into taking home a young Siberian husky from the animal shelter. We were clueless on what to name him because we had never owned a pet before so when all of the pre-purchase excitement wore off and we actually took him home, we had no idea what to do with him, besides rubbing his stomach and feeding him of course, or what to call him. The only solution we had was for Eric to go on his laptop and look up the most common pet names but none of them seemed to suit him, so then Eric went to the pet store and, along with picking up some toys and other things he thought our dog would like, he also bought a pet-naming book. And when we flipped it opened, the first name we saw was Abel. We took one look at our dog and knew that was him.

Abel was a fairly relaxed dog, but had trouble with some things that normal dogs found to be second nature. Going up and down the staircase was very difficult for him; he often would run halfway up, stop, lie down, stand up again, make a few circles among three or four different stairs, and then drag himself up the rest of the way. I didn’t understand why, but it would have been pointless to ask because he was a dog. When we got him, he was only a puppy but now he was five years old and very big. Andy told us—for she was working there at that point—that he had been brought in a month ago because his owners had abused him. Now, he was partially blind in one eye. Even though he struggled with some things, like keeping water in his mouth instead of carrying it halfway across the kitchen and letting it fall out, he was very obedient. Huskies were an intelligent breed, and Abel was no exception. However, unlike most, he wasn’t very active and spent most of his time lying on my bed or my carpet, or even under my desk. He really enjoyed the rug I kept there, and often slept all night on it. We had gotten into the habit of just calling him my dog, because the majority of the time I was the one who took care of him.

So since he was so docile and barely made any noise, even when we would play with him, it was surprising when, on Tuesday night, he lifted his head from my lap and began growling ferociously, and then proceeded to bark. I looked up from my homework to where he was staring and heard a light rustling from the bushes below.

“What’s wrong, boy?” I asked him, running my hand over his back. I felt him shake and quiver from his howling and got up to help satisfy his curiosity. I was only mere steps off my bed and toward the window when I saw a hand reach up to grab a branch. Then Ryan’s head emerged. I couldn’t help but grin as I pulled the window open and saw him look up at me with a warm smile. “Do you need some help?” I offered him my hand but he shook his head and hauled himself right up.

“I’m okay,” he said.

“Why don’t you come inside? You’re more than welcome,” I said.

“It’s against my better judgment. Your parents would have the right to kick my butt,” he replied.

“Do you swear?”

“I try to avoid it.”

I nodded and suddenly Abel jumped up beside me, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. “Cute dog,” Ryan laughed. “Is he friendly?”

“Absolutely,” I said and he reached out to touch him.

“I didn’t take you for the owner of a husky,” he said. “I thought a poodle or something smaller would be more your cup of tea.”

I shrugged. “I sometimes surprise people.” I moved my desk chair over to the window and sat down, figuring my legs would get tired after a while so this was the easiest solution. I realized then that I had run into Ryan or he had visited me numerous times, and yet we had never gotten through a full conversation that allowed me to learn much about him. So we talked for a good half an hour. Ryan asked me about my insomnia, my family but more specifically my brothers, and then just a few questions that weren’t really all that significant, like the “favourites”. He wasn’t as difficult to get answers out of as I had expected, since he was just so . . . mysterious; I had prepared myself for a bunch of shrugs and nods but for whatever question I asked him, he gave me an actual respectable answer. But right when I was about to ask him where he went to school, there was a knock on my bedroom door and panic flashed across my face. Yet, Ryan stayed completely bucolic.

“I have nowhere for you to hide in here,” I said.

“That’s okay. I’ve got it covered,” he replied nonchalantly with a lift of his shoulders.

I turned to the door when my father’s voice called my name softly, which made my heart beat erratically now. It was going to look really bad if he stepped in and saw me talking to a teenage boy sitting in a tree outside my bedroom. “Well you’ll have to do it quick because my dad—” I stopped myself in the middle of my sentence because when I looked back out the window he was gone. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion and I got out of my chair to look at the ground. No Ryan.

“How does he do that?” I whispered under my breath before shoving my chair back to my desk and jumping onto my bed. I didn’t want to keep my dad waiting any longer. “Come in!” I called to him.

He cracked the door opened a little ways and poked his head in. “Can we talk?” he asked. I nodded and moved my binder to the side to make room for him. The one good thing about leaving my notes spread all across my room was that I would always look busy, even if I was just watching television. He sat down next to me and cleared his throat, looking a little uncomfortable.

“Dad, are you okay?” I asked.

“There’s just something I really need to talk to you about,” he exhaled. “I have to go on a little business venture. The company is sending me out of town to bring in more dealing. If everything works out how they hope it will, I’d get a raise, better benefits, a larger office—”

“But isn’t that a good thing?” I questioned, confused. “Your tone makes it sound like it’s bad.” I paused, narrowed my eyes. “Unless you are accompanying it with bad news. Is there a ‘but’ coming up here?”

“Maybe,” he said and rubbed his forehead. “The big boss wants to expand our corporation outside of the country . . . you know, make it international.”

My eyes widened in surprise. “International? So you have to leave Canada for this?”

He nodded solemnly. “The trip is to Italy . . . and it’s three months long,” he said.

“Three—” My voice got caught in the back of my throat and so I cleared it. “Italy?”

“Yes, but it’s what’s best for the company. I was the only one willing to go there since I’m one of the higher-ups. Plus, I don’t have an overload of work right now, and no one else really has that great of people skills so I was the obvious choice,” he said. I wanted to laugh at him for that last one. My dad wasn’t the best with people; he was good with me, but I was his only daughter, and not to mention the only one he really had to worry about. Plus, if his colleagues were to take him out for drinks over in Italy, we wouldn’t be able to drive him back to his hotel when he got too nice and started giving random people all of his money. My dad was capable of being a nice person, just not to everyone. “Your mother and I have already discussed this, but I wanted you to hear it from me instead of her,” he said but when I only blinked, he tilted his head and raked his teeth over his bottom lip once. “Are you upset?”

I shook my head. “No, not at all. I’m just shocked.”

“I understand. And I’ll miss you and your mom a lot while I’m gone but this is just an unexpected and very important turn in my career. If I don’t go, I could lose my job.”

“No, I know, and I get that. Only, I’ll miss you a lot,” I said. “But how could I ever be angry at my dad for him doing what is required of him for his job? You had it before you had me, and I probably wouldn’t even be here if you didn’t have this job. We’d be living on the street.”

He smiled. “Well my company said they’ll do everything in their power to make me comfortable. They can fly me out, fly you and your mother in, anything we want.”

“Well, I’ve always wanted to go to Italy.”

“I know you have school, and you’re just settling in with a group of friends so that’s why I was thinking it would be nice for us to have Thanksgiving over there, just for a change. I still have to work on that one with your mom though. You know what she’s like,” he laughed. “But I’d like for you to visit at least once. Three months is a long time to be away from your family.”

I nodded. “It is. But if it’s what you need to do, you don’t have to check with me. I understand commitments, especially ones toward your job. When do you leave?”

“Two weeks from yesterday,” he said and I whistled, not expecting it.

“That soon?”

“I have to get a quick start on it.”

My mouth twisted as I thought of what to say to him. “Well, the sooner you leave, the sooner you get back.”

My dad sighed and put a hand on my cheek. “How did I end up with a daughter as amazing as you?”

I smiled. “I got that from my dad.”



“When you started to explain the whole situation, I thought you were going to say that you have to move again,” Emma said on Wednesday after band when we were walking to the bus stop together and I was telling her about my conversation with my dad the night before. “I was going to kick your parents’ asses.”

I laughed. “They can go untouched. It’s just my dad this time around.”

“How many times have you moved exactly?” Robbie asked, leaning forward with his hands in his pockets. “Or at least switched schools.”

“Well I’ve gone to a different school every year since grade nine, but in elementary school I switched like, three times,” I said and shrugged. “It’s kind of difficult to make any long-term friends when we lose contact like, two months following me leaving their school. They just stop talking.”

“Holy shit,” Robbie said. “That’s a lot of switching.”

“I know.”

“Hey Iz?” Emma asked, staring forward and giving me a nudge.

“Yeah?” I asked. She nodded in front of her and stopped walking, which made Robbie and I stop as well. I followed where she was looking and spotted Ryan with his little sister across the street. She was staring through the window of a store at children’s bracelets and jewelry but he was waving at me. I smiled because just the sight of him made me all warm and fuzzy inside.

“Who’s he?” Emma asked. “We don’t know him so obviously he’s your friend.”

“As if the grin wasn’t any sort of hint,” Robbie joked.

“Can you guys give me a minute? I’ll be right back,” I said and didn’t even wait for their answer before I ran over to them.

“Yeah okay, we’ll just wait here then!” Robbie called. I ignored him and caught up with Ryan and his sister. He greeted me with a warm smile while she just stared up at me, a look of far-off wonderment settling on her features.

“Who’s this?” she asked, giving a tug on the bottom of Ryan’s pants. “Ry, who is she?”

He laughed and picked her up, holding her at his side. “This is my friend Isabelle. Can you say hello and tell her your name?”

“Hello Isabelle,” she said and grinned at me. This showed off a row of tiny white teeth with large spaces between them. Her hair was jet black and curly, most likely natural which made me very jealous because they were just flawless. “My name's Cassie.”

“It’s nice to meet you Cassie,” I returned, and held out my hand when hers shot out to shake mine. Of course, since her hands were still so small, they could only wrap around two of my fingers but it was adorable anyway. “What’re you guys up to?”

“Shopping for mommy,” Cassie replied. “It’s her birthday today.”

“Well that’s lovely. Can you tell her happy birthday for me?” I asked politely and she nodded.

“Is that your school uniform?” she asked, biting her finger.

“It is. How old are you?" She held up three fingers and I smiled. "Are you excited to go to kindergarten next year?”

She shook her head rapidly, nearly whipping Ryan in the face with her hair. “I don’t want to go. It’s icky.” I laughed.

“Icky?” Ryan repeated her, dipping his head down to her level. “What’s ‘icky’, Cass?”

“Gross. Scary.” She buried her head in his chest and whimpered. “Tell mom and dad to let me stay home like you do.” Ryan tensed up then and looked up at me. I was curious what she meant by that, so I asked. “Ryan doesn’t go to school.”

I stood up straighter, surprised. “He doesn’t?”

“Nuh uh. Not since he was twelve. My daddy taught him ev-ery-thing he knows!”

“All right, I think teaching you how to talk was a bad idea on daddy’s part,” Ryan cut in before she could say anymore. He tickled her stomach and she burst into a series of giggles, immediately forgetting what she had been talking about just seconds before. I kept my eyes on Ryan the entire time while he put her back on the ground and took her hand in his. “Say goodbye to Isabelle, Cass. It’s time to go home.”

“Oh, okay. Bye Isabelle!” she called.

I lifted a hand as a wave, still a little baffled. “See you around,” I said to Ryan more than her but he just gave me a nod and walked away. I wasn’t sure if I had crossed a line, or if his sister had but I just walked back across the street to where Robbie and Emma stood, now joined by Elsie. “Hey, what’re you doing here?”

“I’m meeting my parents downtown. We’re going out for dinner but I ran into these two costumed crusaders and missed my bus by like, two seconds. And now you!” she laughed. “What’re you guys up to?”

“Walking home from band practice. Iz had a run-in with one of her friends though,” Emma said and looked at Ryan over her shoulder as he walked away with Cassie. “That guy over there.”

Elsie glanced past us at him and nodded in approval. “Nice butt. You look a little pale, is everything okay?”

“I’m pale?” I asked, putting my hands on my cheeks.

“A bit, yeah.” She smiled. “I don’t know anything about this guy, what’s he like?”

I shrugged. “I’m not entirely sure. I don’t know all that much about him either.”

“Uh oh,” Robbie said, closing his eyes and shaking his head. “You started something.”

“I did?”

“I’m a master at spying,” Elsie said. “No one’s spotted me before. I think we should follow him.”

I looked at her like she was crazy. “Why would we do that?”

“So you can get to know him better,” she said, eyeing me up skeptically. “You do want to know him better, don’t you?”

I bit my lip. “Well yes, but—”

“Stalking him may not be the ideal way to do that, Elsie,” Emma pointed out. “He could flat out run away from you guys if he spotted you. Then he’d never talk to her again; ergo the following around would be completely pointless. You could just ask him stuff, you know.”

“I like that idea better,” I nodded.

“No way,” Elsie said assertively, shaking her head. “This’ll be our bonding time, just the two of us. Come on, it’ll be fun!”

Despite Elsie’s reassurance, I had a feeling it was going to be anything but fun.