The Wish
I got the warrant before I joined a crowd listening to a man in a white suit and tie, wearing a black bowler hat and leaning on a black walking stick. “I am a living wishing well,” he said. Give me something in return, like money, or a jewel. A boy gave the man a dollar and said, “I wish for a high magnitude earthquake in the park, and a monster with tentacles coming out of the ground.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” the boy said
Then, “I grant your wish.”
“No,” I yelled. The crowd turned my way. The ground began to move. The earth split near the crowd. People screamed and ran knocking me down. I got up and ran toward the north exit. I felt another tremor. The ground split in front of me. I couldn’t move forward. Cracks appeared in the grass and sidewalks. The ground shifted, moving trees and benches. The movement of the earth made it hard to run. People tried to run in any direction. Some screaming, others crying. Panic is a killer.
All I wanted was a quiet walk in the park.
My warrant was for a wish master. That was him. He granted a dangerous wish. I knew they had laws against that. He just broke another, and I was a witness. They were supposed to stay in the magical realm of Pix when granting wishes. No magical creatures in a non-magical realm. A wish master in this realm is a danger to everyone. If I make a wish he might appear. It won’t be easy to capture a magical being that can disappear at will. I need to find and arrest him. I’ll have to stop him from thinking somehow.
I ran to my right and collided with a woman. We both fell. “Sorry,” she said. I helped her up. She looked confused.
“My bag,” she said,” I dropped my bag on the ground during that last tremor and then the ground opened and swallowed it.”
“I’m sorry you lost your bag,” I said, “but you need to find a way out of the park.”
“Right,” she said. “You’re not leaving the park. Are you a cop?”
“Not in this realm,” I said forgetting she wouldn’t understand.
“Realm, you mean city, right?”
“Yes,” I said. “City.”
“I thought so. You look too calm. Where are you from?”
She’s asking me where I’m from? In the middle of an earthquake. She must be in shock. I started walking southeast. She followed.
“Miss, you should really leave the area. This is no time for small talk.”
“I’m not making small talk; I want some help.
How should I explain myself to her. I need to find that wish master and take him back to Pix for trial. She can’t follow me.
“I’m looking for someone, I said. Someone dangerous.”
“I see,” she said. “But you don’t have jurisdiction in this city,”
“Maybe not, but I still need to find this person.”
“Well good luck,” she said. “If, I’m on my own, I need a map of the park. I wish I had one.”
“Don’t make idle wishes” I said as I looked around. She walked in front of me and pulled her sweater tight around herself.
“Idle wish. If I could really wish for something, I’d wish this day never happened.”
“Great wish,” someone said. The woman turned around. A man in a white suit and tie wearing a black bowler hat and holding a black walking stick stood behind her.
She brought him here, good. Now, I must arrest him for practicing magic in a non-magical realm but, not with her as a witness. She can’t know I’m a multi-realm enforcement officer.
“Miss please get to safety,” I told her. “The tremors have stopped”. She stared at me then walked on. I will never forget the look on her face. I wanted to arrest the man in white, but I wanted to run after her.
” Why did you send her away?”
I know you are a wish master, not a living wishing well.
The wish master spat. I thought you smelled of cop. He ran after the woman.
“Stop,” I yelled.
She turned. The wish master stopped in front of her. “I can grant your wish,” I heard him say.
“No,” I said, stopping next to her.
“My wish? It’s a figure of speech.” I know people can’t grant wishes.”
“But I can dear lady,” he said. Give me some money or jewelry and you’ll see.”
I felt tension. She was tightening up next to me. She turned to me. “You know this nut job don’t you.” I laughed.
The wish maker vanished. She stared at the spot where he stood, then looked at me. “Are you a space alien,” she asked me. I need to get her out of the park.
“I saw a tentacle monster in the split my bag fell through.” She turned and walked away from me.
“Wait, I yelled you saw the monster in the split.” She kept walking.
I followed her now wanting to know this stranger’s name. “Miss, wait, tell me your name?”
“Why,” she said to me. I thought you didn’t want anything to do with me. Policemen are supposed to help people. I know you’re from outside town, but still. Now I just want to get out of here before the aftershocks come.”
“Miss my name is Michael Summers, I’m an Inter-realm enforcement officer. I was here on vacation, when the warrant for a wish master was delivered to me. They are dangerous in this realm. I am not a space alien, but I am not of your realm.”
“You have said the word realm four times today. If you’re not from space, then where are you from.” “Let’s keep walking, and I will explain, I said
I told her about the magical place called Pix where the guy in the white suit is a citizen, a place of Knowledge and of the physical world. Her non-magical place. We call these places realms. I am from the realm of the impossible. “The impossible”, she said and wrinkled her nose.
“Michael Summers you are the strangest person I have ever met. My name is Sheena Campbell. I’m a social worker. I can help you.”
I know what a social worker is in this realm. She thinks I’m crazy.
“I need to arrest the Pix citizen I said. I need to put these cuffs on him before he can disappear.” Why am I telling her this? I know I’m attracted to her, but I need to focus on the wish master now. Maybe if I try to confuse him. He won’t be able to disappear before I put the null magic cuffs on him.
“Sheena,” I said, “I need him to come here so I can arrest him. I can’t let him roam free.”
She looked me in the eyes, then said “I wish I had a map of the park.” The wish master appeared.
“You still with the cop,” he said.
“Never mind him, can you really grant wishes?”
Dear lady for a price. Money or a jewel. Whichever you want to pay.”
She looked in her cross-body handbag. “How about I give you this five-dollar bill,” she said as she pulled it out of the handbag and handed it to him.
“Make your wish,” he said.
“I wish I had a map of the park,” she said. I’m lost. The wish master looked disgusted.
“Is that all you want. A map. Wish for something better. Wish to be out of the park.”
“I have a better wish, I said. “I know it will be impossible to capture you so I will make a wish.”
“I won’t let you capture me, and you are interrupting this lady’s wish. You can be next,” he said.
“Let me wish the park back to normal,” I said. The wish master walked a circle around me.
“Yours is the better wish,” he said. “What are you willing to pay. How about your badge or maybe your cuffs.”
“You said money or a jewel. I took a ten-dollar bill from my wallet. Twice what she paid.”
The wish master looked at me, then at Sheena. “One of you is trying to trick me,” he said. He looked at me, then pointed his walking stick at me. “It must be you;” he shouted. “Why would you, a cop, do something illegal to save this park?” He walked toward me.
I backed up. I saw Sheena pick up a big rock. Was she going to hit him with that big rock? She took a stance and threw the rock.
It hit the wish master in the back. He dropped the stick and turned around. I ran over and jumped on him, knocking him to the ground. I put the cuffs on him, he screamed
I got him. I exhaled. I got him.
Sheena clapped.