Just a Little Magic Ch. 15

- "You had sex with him. Willingly."

- "I was under a freakin' magic spell!"

Aunt Anna simply raised an eyebrow. Breanna could stay angry for as long as she wanted - there wasn't much she could do about it.

Our case was helped substantially by the fact that Breanna still didn't believe that magic was real. Eileen had provided a simple demonstration, but Breanna still thought that it was all trickery - smoke and mirrors. She remained angry.

A cheque for $120,000 did change her mood a little.

We had to stay in Atlanta for the better part of a week, while Anna and Eileen tracked down Breanna's ex-boyfriend, and removed the spells Lillian had put on him.

***

#11 Tamara Tampa

This one was especially difficult, for Tamara, and for me. She understood Aunt Anna's explanation, and she seemed to realize that it was Lillian who had shattered her marriage - not me. But she didn't know who Lillian was - I was the face she knew. She couldn't help but blame me for the damage done to her life.

Anna and Eileen went to find her ex-husband, while Sophie and I remained with her. Tamara and Sophie had several quiet conversations - to which I was pointedly not invited. My apologies had been heartfelt - I knew how badly I'd hurt her - but I wasn't sure what else I could do.

- "Nothing." said Sophie. "Not right now. Maybe never - but definitely not now."

I gave Tamara a cheque for $200,000.

***

#8 Mirella Brazil

Mirella happened to be in Miami for a modelling shoot. That made her next on our list.

She was not at all happy to discover that there were spells on her. She cooperated immediately with Anna and Eileen to get rid of them. Her only condition was that her cousin Carla be present for the whole procedure.

Mirella didn't have to be convinced that magic was real. Her Aunt was a fortune-teller, who was shockingly accurate. Her family knew very well that some of their members had 'the gift'.

- "We're done." said Anna, when it was over. "That was the last one."

Mirella blinked, slowly. "It's still there." she said.

- "No, we got them all."

Mirella shook her head. "I want to strangle him with my bare hands, but I still have feelings that ... as if I still like him."

Anna frowned. "That's not a spell."

- "Puta merda." said Mirella.

I offered her a cheque for $50,000 - she didn't really need money all that much.

- "You can give it to Carla - or to anyone else." I suggested.

- "What I would like," she said, "is to hit you - just once."

- "That's fair." I said.

Mirella took a good wind up - I wasn't sure if she was going to slap me, or punch me. Either way, I deserved it.

She kicked me right in the nuts.

Hard.

I crashed to the floor. Then she leaned down, and whispered in my ear.

- "One day, I may want to talk to you about this. Right now, though, I'm so angry I can't even see straight."

On our way to the airport, Aunt Anna couldn't resist a comment.

- "That went well, don't you think?"

***

#2 Elodie Belgium

Elodie and Christiane were stunned. Shocked. But not especially angry. I hadn't seduced Elodie, nor had I tried in any way to break them up. Eileen told them about how Lillian had broken up other relationships.

They were quite embarrassed that they had suggested having a child - or children with me. Fortunately, we hadn't gotten that far. Both women were surprised, though, that they weren't totally put off by the idea. Not having sex with me - but raising a child together.

- "Maybe you could adopt." suggested Sophie.

I gave them $100,000, and made it to the airport without getting kicked in the pills.

***

#5 Irene Cyprus

Irene was devastated. Her fiancé had betrayed her. Now I had done the same. Or worse.

She broke into tears every time she looked at me. She couldn't bear the sight of me.

Sophie stayed with her for a week, while Anna and Eileen went to Nicosia to find Irene's ex-fiancé. I stayed in a hotel, and drank far too much ouzo.

I gave Irene $200,000. She didn't really need the money, but I figured that she'd suffered at least as much as Tamara.

***

#12 Ri Osaka, Japan

Ri was ... flabbergasted. Yes, she was shocked, and stunned - but she was also strangely excited by the whole situation. She was the central figure (in her own imagination) of a bizarre story of magic, love, and sex. Other than fashion, those were pretty well all of her favourite subjects.

Eileen and Anna tracked down her ex-boyfriend, to remove the spells on him, but Ri wasn't too worried about him. She was thoroughly enjoying her moment in the spotlight.

A cheque for $100,000 only made it all that much sweeter.

***

"Happy birthday." said Sophie.

That was all she said. I got an email from my Mom, and another from Sammy. That was it. Your social circle tends to shrink when you're a liar and a cheater.

***

#6 Sandra Taiwan

Sandra's reaction was the most unusual that we'd encountered. She heard the story, allowed Anna and Eileen to dispel the magic on her, then listened carefully to all of the additional details, including what had been done to me.

- "Wow." she said.

She'd long suspected that magic was real; her mother was unusually - ridiculously - lucky at games of chance. Neither of her parents seemed to have a real job, yet the family was comfortably well off.

I gave her a cheque for $100,000. She thought that was pretty cool, too.

***

#3 Vicky Singapore

I'd been dreading this one. Vicky had been difficult to seduce, even with the spells on her. I was afraid of how she would react when she learned what had been done to her.

She was shocked, first. Then devastated. But her pain was not so much from the realization that our relationship had been a fraud - it was more the problem of what she was going to say to her family. How could she explain this? What would they think?

I passed her a cheque for $200,000.

- "For you and your family." I said.

She brightened up considerably.

***

#9 Kavia India

I shouldn't have been surprised. Kavia was perplexed, at first. Then, when the spells had all been removed, she went for me with fists and nails.

- "You bastard! How could you?"

It was a fake tantrum in the finest tradition of reality television.

No one on the Truth Committee made any objection when I cut Kavia a cheque for $50,000.

Within a month, she was dating a tennis player.

***

#10 Esther Johannesburg

I had no idea how this one would go.

On the one hand, I hadn't seduced Esther. We hadn't had sex. On the other, I had promised to marry her.

Esther was just as shocked as any of the others to learn that she'd been bewitched. But she wasn't at all surprised when Eileen told her that magic was real. Esther's mother, as it turned out, was well known as a provider of charms and protections.

Esther also didn't seem shocked to learn that I'd been under the influence of spells, too. She nodded her head, slowly.

- "I didn't understand, at first." she said. "Why would a wealthy man, from far away, be interested in someone like me?"

- "You're a beautiful woman, Esther." I said.

- "Perhaps. Thank you. But it's not all on the outside. You could find a million women more attractive than me. And if you are referring to my inner beauty ... I wondered how you could be so sure, when we'd known each other such a short time."

- "You ... you don't sound angry."

- "Why would I be? I had a voice in my head, telling me that it was all too good to be true. And now I learn that you were enspelled, just as I was."

I gave her $200,000 - for her daughter and her mother, if not for her.

Anna had agreed to let me choose the amounts of the cheques, but she couldn't refrain from pointing out that I hadn't spent all of Lillian and Janine's $2.4 million.

- "There's just under a million left over." she said.

- "I know. Five years from now - or ten, if you prefer - we can give each of them a $50,000 top-up. And what's left over can be saved, in case any one of them runs into serious trouble. I don't know ... illness, natural disaster ..."

- "That's very thoughtful." said Sophie.

- "We haven't talked about your cheque, yet." I said.

- "I don't want any of their money." she said - rather emphatically.

***

It's a long trip from South Africa. There are no direct flights. You fly to Europe, make a connection, then another.

I had plenty of time to think about what I'd done, and what had been done to the 'women in question'. I was probably lucky to have gotten away with only one kick in the nuts.

But I wasn't the only one who'd been doing some thinking.

- "You were different, with each one." said Sophie.

- "Pardon?"

- "You were kind to Ashley, and friendly with Elodie and Christiane. You were patient with Vicky and Ri, and a bit of an asshole to Kavia - not that she didn't deserve it."

- "I ... I guess."

- "The point is, you could have just gone out and seduced these women - you didn't have to make them like you."

- "Lillian said that I had to reinforce the spells. She said ... if they fell in love with me naturally, it would make it easier ..."

- "To impregnate them?"

I hung my head in shame. No matter how I tried to rationalize it, to defend my actions on the grounds that I'd been coerced ... it still came out sounding ... sordid.

Two hours later, Sophie spoke to me again.

- "Some of them quite like you - even after the spells were removed."

- "Well ... Ashley hasn't had all that many positive experiences ..."

- "Yes, Ashley. But also Mirella ..."

- "She kicked me in the balls!"

- "Injured pride." said Sophie. "She still wants to talk to you - to see what's left of your relationship ..."

- "Sophie ..."

- "Both Elodie and Christiane consider you a friend - after the spells. Poor Irene ... and then Sandra - I think she would do it all over again."

- "I don't ... I don't know what that means."

- "Neither do I." said Sophie.

***

We landed in Montreal.

Sophie gave Eileen a hug. Then she embraced her Aunt Anna. Finally, she turned to me. To my complete surprise, she leaned in close, placing her hands on my shoulders. I felt her soft lips brush my cheek.

- "I'll be in touch." she said.

***

I'd been away so much over the past couple of years, Sammy had gotten used to having our apartment to himself. Or rather, for Trish and himself. She'd been over so often, she was like the 3rd roommate.

There were feminine products all over the bathroom, and Trish had taken to stashing some of her clothes in my closet and my drawers.

- "Sorry about that." said Sammy. "I'll get her to move it."

- "No rush." I said. "I can spend a few nights a week at Mom's. Give you guys some privacy, and ..."

- "No, no - it's your apartment, too."

- "I don't know. Maybe Trish should move in, and I could take her apartment."

Sammy had a funny look on his face.

- "Well, actually ..."

- "You've been thinking about it? Sammy , that's great!"

- "We'll see." he said. "It depends on a couple of things, now."

- "Like a job?" I hadn't just messed up the lives of a dozen women; I'd also cost Sammy his job. I wasn't ready to tour solo, without Janine. I wasn't even sure that I wanted to be a magician at all anymore.

"I'm sorry, man." I said. "I fucked it all up for you, too."

- "It's not your fault. I'll find something."

- "I'll try to think of something. Maybe I can find a job for both of us."

Sammy and Trish were pretty good to me. She didn't know the real reason for the breakup of my partnership with Janine. Neither did my Mom. It was actually nice to be around people who didn't know what I'd done, and not have to talk about it.

That didn't stop me from thinking about it, though. While I should have been looking for a job, I spent more time thinking about Sophie, and dwelling on all of the stupid things I'd done from the very beginning.

Sammy came home one afternoon, to find me staring blankly at the television screen. It wasn't even turned on.

He sat down.

- "Pete? How are you, man?"

- "I'm okay."

- "Doesn't look like it. What are you thinking about?"

I shook my head. "I don't know. I just ... I just feel so guilty. So stupid ..."

- "You were under a spell. Multiple spells. I don't even want to know what that was like. It wasn't your fault."

- "I'm the one who did those things, Sam."

- "How could you resist? The spells made you do it. Look: if you had to be sedated for an operation - in a hospital - would you feel weak because you fell asleep?"

- "What?"

- "Okay - bad analogy. All I know is that you can't keep blaming yourself. You don't have to forget - in fact, I don't think you should. But you have to be able to forgive yourself."

For some reason, that little nugget of Sammy wisdom broke through to me.

- "Thanks, Sam."

- "That's what I'm here for. So does that take care of the guilt?"

- "It's a start."

- "Good. Then that just leaves the stupid - which I'm afraid, in your case, is a permanent condition. There's no cure for that."

- "Thanks."

- "Have you called her?"

- "Sam ..."

- "Have you written to her?"

- "I don't think she wants to hear from me right now. She needs time - and space."

- "Are you nuts? You've been away for most of the past two years. She's had an overdose of time and space! Now she knows that you spent all of that time chasing 12 other women!"

- "Eleven."

- "Yeah, that makes it so much better. You idiot - she's wondering if you really care about her. If she comes first on that stupid list."

- "She knows that." I said.

- "Does she? When was the last time you told her?"

I'd never thought of my best friend as a fountain of wisdom. But he certainly got through to me that day.

***

I wrote her an email. If Sophie didn't want to read it, she could simply delete it. I could think about what I wanted to say, instead of stumbling over my words in a phone call.

I began by telling her about Sammy and Trish, and about my Mom. There wasn't much to say about my daily routine, but I decided to repeat to her the conversation I'd had with Sammy - or rather the one he'd had with me (as much of it as I could remember, anyway).

Sammy was right. I can't forget - there's no danger of that - but I have to try to forgive myself. I can't ask you for forgiveness until I do that.

This isn't meant to pressure you. But just in case he was right ...

I love you, Sophie.

I think of you all day, every day. I know how fortunate I was to have met you. You have no idea how much I wish I could go back to the day of the pool party, or to our time in High Park. If only I could have broken some of those spells back then ...

Yes, some of the women on the list were very nice. I quite liked several of them - that's true. But I don't want a list. I don't want anyone else. I only want you.

I'll understand if you don't feel the same. I may not deserve you anymore. But if you're wondering how I feel - that's it.

I love you. I want you.

Only you.

Peter.

***

I got a call from a number I didn't recognize. I took it.

- "Peter? It's Sophie's Aunt Anna."

- "Hey, Aunt Anna."

- "I'm not your Aunt. Just Anna is fine."

- "Sorry. Anna. What can I do for you?"

- "You could come over for dinner. Sophie insisted that I tell you a few things. She also hinted that I was a little rough on you, and ... she may have been right."

- "You weren't any rougher than I deserved." I said. That wasn't just guilt talking; I truly believed that I should have been kicked in the nuts more than once.

- "So you'll come?"

- "Sure. Thank you. When?"

She named the date and time. I brought a bottle of red, and a bottle of white. I wasn't planning on drinking them, but it seemed appropriate.

- "Two bottles?" said Anna.

- "I didn't know what you were making. The second bottle you can keep for another occasion."

- "Thank you." She unwrapped the two bottles. "Oh - a Pinot Grigio? It's like you read my mind."

- "Hardly. I can't do that over the phone."

Anna served veal scallopini. It was very good. I complimented her cooking.

- "It's very easy." she said.

I waited patiently for her to tell me why she'd invited me. I was hoping that it had something to do with Sophie - but I was too afraid to ask.

"Sophie wanted me to tell you about me, and about my family." said Anna. "I was against it, at first, but she insisted."

"So here goes: I never married. People with talent aren't always looking for a talented mate. But some parents pressure their children into marrying within the bloodlines, because they want talented grandchildren. Your grandparents did it. My parents were like that, too."

"I resisted. Propagating magical bloodlines? I couldn't care less. What have the magically talented ever done for the rest of humanity?"

Poor Aunt Anna. I could sympathize with her experience.

- "My mother's parents practically forced her to marry Robert Clifford - my real father." I said. "As far as I know, he was mentally cruel, and then he left her with a child.

- "It happens more than you know." said Anna. "I was the black sheep of the family, Peter. My sister married a man my parents chose for her. A man with talent. He was a complete fucking asshole."

"He hit on me the day before their wedding, and again, when my sister was pregnant with Sophie. Forget magic - I wanted to take an axe to his head."

"My sister blamed me, for flirting with her husband. My parents never forgave me for not marrying a male of their choosing. My family basically ostracized me. But little Sophie was absolutely blameless. I devoted myself to protecting her - especially from her own relatives."

- "I had no idea." I said.

- "How could you?" said Aunt Anna. "Shut up and listen."

"I persuaded Sophie to think of herself first. Her mother sent an endless supply of brain dead, but magically talented morons her way. Sophie saw through them all. I love that girl."

- "Is that why you disapproved of me?" I dared to ask.

- "I never disapproved of you, Peter. I was simply afraid that you'd cast a spell on Sophie, and that I might have to kill you."

On that happy note, we moved on to coffee and dessert.

- "Can you answer a few questions, Anna?" I asked.

- "You can ask. If I can answer, I will."

- "Who is Eileen? And who is Rodney? Or am I not allowed to know?"

Anna shook her head slowly.

- "No - that's fair." she said. "Eileen is my good friend. She's also the Adjudicator for the Greater Toronto Area. If someone has a complaint about magic use, they bring it to her."

- "So ... it was your complaint? That's why she came to my show - and why you and she took me out for dinner afterwards?"

- "Yes. She confirmed that the spells on Sophie hadn't come from you - or from Janine."

Aunt Anna hung her head for a moment.

"I'm sorry, Pete. I was so busy trying to figure out if you were the culprit ... it never occurred to me that you might be one of the victims, too. If we had spent a few minutes scanning you for spells ... but we saw you as a perpetrator - not a victim."

- "That's understandable." I said. "I would probably have reacted the same way, had I been in your place. And Rodney?"

- "Rodney is an Archmage. A real one. The Adjudicators for Eastern Canada can call on him to resolve ... difficulties."

- "You weren't kidding about a Ministry of Magic, then."

- "That was your friend Sammy's guess. It was close - but I'm not in a position to tell you more than I already have."

- "I appreciate that you've told me this much."

Rather suddenly, Anna changed the subject.