Bothered and Bewildered

Chapter 2
Chapter 2

"You look spiffy," Jimmy said from the doorway to my office.

"Big date tonight. Taking Julie out."

"Way to go, hot shot. Kimberly is playing hard to get, again."

I gave him a hard glance. "And this is different from every other girl you’ve ever dated, how?"

"Funny, very funny." He took off.

I arrived at Julie’s house, promptly at eight. She mentioned she was a stickler for punctuality, and so was I for that matter. I rang the bell. The door opened not on the vision of loveliness I had expected, but on Josh wearing Spider-Man pajamas. "What are you doing here?"

"I live here, duh," he said. "Mom’s not ready. You wanna watch TV with me?"

"Don’t you have a baby sitter to watch TV with you? I’m taking your Mom out tonight, but without you." I told him as I walked into the house.

"Wrong again," he said and giggled. "Mom didn’t get a baby sitter either, so guess who’s staying home tonight, unless you take me, too."

"Okay, let’s see. We should be out for two to three hours. If I tie you to that chair you should be fine while we’re gone. Any other bright ideas?"

He screwed up his face at me. "Sponge Bob is on."

"And that is?"

"The coolest cartoon ever. Come on."

With no help in sight from Julie, I followed Josh into the living room. He sat down next to me on the sofa and snuggled in. Then he opened his mouth and started in, non-stop, on the adventures of Sponge Bob. I found the cartoon cute, no match for the old Looney Tunes, but cute.

When the cartoon was over, I looked down at Josh and he looked up at me. "You want me to read you a story while we wait?"

"Yes, would you please?"

I found several kids books on the bookshelf by the TV. Dusting one off, I settled back down on the sofa to read. I must admit, at that point I wished I had had kids of my own. I loved reading to a child, and he seemed to enjoy it, too. We finished the book before Julie finally made an appearance.

"Well, you two look cozy," she said with a broad smile. "I am really sorry, Evan, but I just can’t get a sitter, and my coven just called an emergency meeting, and I have to go. Would you be a dear and watch Josh for an hour or so until I get back?"

"Your coven?" I asked her. "You’re a witch?"

She smiled, and simply vanished from the room leaving a hint of her perfume behind.

"Okay, she’s a witch. What about you, Tiger?"

"Nope. I can’t do magic," he said, quietly. "What about another book?"

"Why not," I said and found another story. My whole world had been shaken to it’s very foundation, and I was going to read aloud a kid’s book. There are no such thing as witches, but I had seen her vanish. That could have been done with mirrors, but I had spoken with her, smelled her no less, and watched it happen. But....

I read the book. Josh was not at all bothered by his mother’s display of magic, but my thoughts still seethed over it. Kid’s that age still believe in magic, don’t they? Most of the books he had were about magic of some kind.

I couldn’t help but smile as the kid started yawning right around ten that evening. Julie’s sense of time seemed to be way off no matter what she said about being punctual. Josh fell asleep on the couch, and I read through the rest of his collection of Dr. Seuss. I hardly remembered how funny the books were.

The next morning, I woke on the sofa with Josh still cuddled on top of me. I hated waking him, but I had no choice. He grumbled but let me get up to visit the bathroom.

Josh opened the door on me as I finished. "What’s for breakfast? Mom isn’t

home. I checked."

"It’s polite to knock first, and I don’t know what’s in the kitchen. Want to go out?"

"Yay. Can we go to Ihop?"

"Works for me, Tiger. Get dressed while I try to freshen up."

I left a note on the coffee table for Julie, with my cell phone number, and headed out.

Breakfast was a trip, and I had a blast. Josh proved to be a well mannered child, but he ate like a child, enjoying every bite, and wearing a good portion of his breakfast. I let him eat until he was stuffed, and sipped my coffee hoping for a call from his mother. When none came, and I called her several times, I offered to take Josh to the mall, to a bookstore and possibly a movie.

He agreed, enthusiastically.

After adding to his collection of books, we saw a new movie based on an old children’s book. I enjoyed the show more than I thought. Josh had such a good time, I did, too.

We had lunch at the food court, and I called Julie one more time before taking the kid to my place.

"Hello?"

"Julie, hi, it’s Evan. I have something of yours, would you like him back?"

"Not particularly, feel free to keep him," she said, but I heard the ice in her voice. "Where are you?"

"At the mall. We had breakfast at Ihop, went to the bookstore and a movie, and we had lunch here. We both had a blast."

"That makes sense, all men are really little boys at heart."

"Yes, that’s true and although all women qualify, you are the only one that I’ve ever met that admitted to belonging to a coven. How did that go?"

"Very well, thank you. Bring Josh home any time."

I hung up the phone and shook my head.

"I wish you were my brother," Josh said, quickly.

"Not you father?"

"Nope," he said shaking his head so hard his whole body moved. "If you were my dad you’d have to yell at me and turn me into things like Mom does."

"Not all Dad’s do that, but she turns you into things?"

"Yeah, and I hate it when she makes me a beetle. I’ve been a mouse which is okay, and a chair. I don’t mind that cause I don’t feel anything until it’s over."

After watching his mother’s vanishing act, I wasn’t sure if he was teasing me, or not.

Julie waited in the doorway as I drove up. Josh hopped out of the car and ran up the walkway. I followed, at a slower pace, but I heard his explosion of words.

"... It was great, Mom. We even had lunch at Steak Place in the food court."

"That is a treat." She said and glanced at me.

"No charge for the baby sitting, either."

"Point taken. I owe you for this, Mr. Marsh."