Bothered and Bewildered

Chapter 3
Chapter 3

"Whoa," Jimmy said looking in at me. "Dating Julie is doing you some good. You look younger, a lot younger than you did. What are you doing? Working out?"

"No, trying to keep up with Josh. He’s a handful. I don’t look any younger to me, so if you’re trying to hit me up for something, nice try."

"I swear it, Evan," he said and crossed his heart. "You look ten years younger, at least."

"I’m twenty one, I don’t look eleven."

"The hell you are. You’ve been working here as long as I have, we started training together ten years ago, and you sure didn’t look eleven then, either."

I frowned. "What did I say?"

"You said you were twenty-one. I swear you look twenty-one, too, but you are thirty-five."

"That’s right. I...." I stood up from the desk, and walked down the hallway to the men’s room with Jimmy right behind me. I took a long look in the mirror. "And your point is?"

"You don’t see anything different?" he demanded.

"Of course not. Nice try, James. I need to get back to work."

I hadn’t settled behind my desk for five minutes, when Jimmy brought Kimberly into the office. She looked at me and did a double take.

"Whatever you’ve done, I like it, Evan," she said, quietly. "You look a bit thinner, and younger."

"Now do you believe me?" Jimmy asked.

Although my clothes were feeling a bit loose, I shrugged it off. "Not doing much except playing with Josh. He can wear a grown up out, no doubt about it."

"Well, keep it up," Kim said with a wide smile. "Maybe you should think of playing with the boys, too," she said and patted Jimmy’s stomach.

"I’d rather play with you," he said as he followed her back into the hallway.

The worst part of this was - she was right. Every time I went over to Julie’s I found myself playing with Josh, reading to Josh, watching TV with Josh, and rarely did I get a chance to be with Julie by herself. In fact, I didn’t remember one night that I had spent at Julie’s without the kid being the main focus of attention.

The problem wasn’t Josh, I thought, it was me. I was the one that was putting up with this. Before I became a baby sitter, only, I had better find out if that was all Julie needed.

I arrived early at Julie’s place that evening. She answered the door instead of Josh, shocking me.

"You’re early," she said.

"You’re ready," I answered her back.

"Not yet," she said and let me in. Josh ran up to me, threw his arms around my waist, and hugged.

"Are you guys gonna get married?" he asked.

I laughed. "That’s a thought," I answered him, as Julie blushed. "Julie, isn’t there some rule that when a witch marries a mortal, she has to give up witchcraft?"

"Too much Nick at Night, I’d say. No, Evan, there isn’t any such rule. One, witches do live a long time, but we are not immortal. We do not call non-magical folk mortals or muggles or anything like that."

"What do you call us?" I asked.

"Suckers," she said with a bigger grin. "Or test subjects, which would you prefer? It takes years of study and practice to be a witch, and that is such an integral part of our natures we will not give it up."

"Ah, but do you ladies really worship Satan and have black masses and things?"

"Of course not. If there is a devil, we would have no need of him. We derive our power from a natural source, but it would take too long to explain it - to a lowly human. We do not worship nature, or the earth mother, or trees for that matter. We do not practice black magic."

"I see. Josh hates it when you turn him into things."

"That one has a very active imagination, but he does make a great chair," she said, staring at her son.

"Well, then, where do you want to go tonight?"

"I have another coven meeting, sweetheart. Don’t let Josh stay up too late

tonight." With that, she pulled her vanishing act, again.

"So, it’s just you and me, again," I said with a sigh.

"Yay!" he shouted. "Where do you want to go tonight?"

"No, we’re not going to take over the world, either. Pizza?"

"Yes. There’s a cool new movie at the mall, too."

"You got it, Tiger," I said and slapped his hand. Okay, I was a baby sitter more than a date. I could live with that, I told myself. I did get to play with Josh and see cool new movies. "I should charge your mother for baby sitting, though. What’s the going rate?"

He shrugged. "I haven’t had a sitter for ever, except you, and you’re my big brother now. Last night, I had to be a canary in that cage," he said and pointed to an empty bird cage on a bookshelf. "I’m too young as a boy to be left alone, but not as a canary."

"That makes sense, in its own twisted way. Do me a favor, squirt, I don’t want to hear how well you sing."

He gave me a crooked grin. "Okay."

"Ha, caught you. I’m the big brother, so don’t try and put stuff over on me."

"You are so mature," he said, with a wider grin.

"I’m nineteen years old, give me a break. I’m.... I’m twenty-one. No, I’m thirty-five. I’m.... I walked over to a mirror by the front door. "I’m nineteen," I said relieved. I didn’t like the thought of being that old. Thirty-five? Where did I get that?