Messy Magic

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Gilbert and his little brother, Troy, were supposed to be cleaning their room. Instead, they were pretending to be wizards, casting spells.

“Presto magico!” Gilbert shouted as he spun around and pointed at Troy. Troy, who was standing on the bed, bounced off onto the floor where he grabbed two handfuls of mismatched socks and threw them into the air. “Pretend the socks are flying monkeys,” he ordered.

Gilbert threw himself to the ground and rolled away from where the socks had landed. “They almost got me!” He panted, scrambling up and ducking behind the dresser.

Troy opened his mouth, about to describe what should happen next, but before he could say a word they heard their mother clomping up the stairs with the vacuum cleaner, “That room better be getting cleaned,” she called. “I’m vacuuming my room, then I’m coming in to do your rug”

The boys looked at one another wide eyed with panic. They hadn’t actually gotten around to doing any cleaning yet. Before the flying sock monkeys, they’d made a “potion” that required half a tube of blue glitter, five crushed up crayons and a dribble of water from the fish bowl. They’d mixed it all up in Troy’s batting helmet, but somehow, some had gotten on the rug. And on Gilbert's bedspread. And on the dresser and one of the curtains, too.

Mom was going to be mad. BIG mad. Not just about the mess, but about the fact that they’d been playing wizard in the house again.

The vacuum switched on in the room next door; They were running out of time.

Gilbert smacked his head with both hands. “Think, think, think,” he muttered. They needed a real spell, fast, before mom saw the mess. He liked playing wizard, but just pretend; His grades in actual spell craft were atrocious.

“Ok, ok, I think I’ve got it." Gilbert looked nervously at Troy as he began: “Tick tock goes the clock, it’s time to clean, there’s no time to lean.” Gilbert took a deep breath and continued, “Flippity flop, here comes the mop,” The bedroom door flew open and the mop hopped into the room and began wiping away the stains left by their play spells.

Troy jumped into the air and did a fist pump. “ You’re doing it! Keep going!”

Encouraged, Gilbert added another verse to his incantation. “Clean up, fast and swift, with a tidy room our spirits lift!” This time the bed sheets rose into the air like ghosts and hovered over the beds.

“No! Not that kind of spirit!” Gilbert howled in frustration before trying again: “Clean up, fast and fun, no more mess, just get it done!” he finished the spell just as the dull roar of the vacuum in the other room stopped.

The bed-sheet ghosts immediately folded themselves around the beds, terminating in tight hospital corners. The socks crawled like inchworms into the closet, while stray Legos rolled across the carpet, racing matchbox cars and mini skateboards to the toy box.

“Alright, kids, here I come. You’d better be ready for me.” The bedroom door bumped into the wall as their mother came in dragging the canister vacuum. She looked around the tidy room with an expression of pleasant surprise. “Well done, boys!”

As their mother plugged the vacuum in behind the dresser Gilbert saw a stray sock come inch-worming out from under Troy’s bed. He pointed to it with a silent grimace and Troy stomped on it just in time.

“Why don’t you boys watch TV downstairs so I can vacuum?” Gilbert was about to heave a sigh of relief when the mop came hopping out from behind the curtains.

Mom’s glare pinned them where they stood. “I think you boys have some explaining to do.”

#FlashFiction

#MagicalRealism

#Fantasy

#Magic