Page 11 of Concluded
“Huh.”She squinted off into the distance, clearly deep in thought, while Dee wondered whether he should have done more to upsell his talents.He also wondered whether Ashley had used her talent to get him to spill his little secret.If so, and if she’d been telling the truth earlier, then he must have wanted to tell her.And yeah, he probably had.His clients didn’t know that Dee created the charms he sold.He always tried to give the impression that he’d found a stash of enchanted trinkets somewhere.It was a small relief to finally tell someone the truth.
“Okay, Dee.How do you make these charms?”
He gnawed on his lip until it hurt.“It’s something my mom taught me.”
It was, in fact, possibly the only thing she’d ever taught him, and it was one of his few memories of her.They had been sitting on the weedy grass in the backyard of the little house they were living in at the time.Her black hair, long and frizzy, was held back by a colorful scarf, and she had several shiny earrings in each lobe.She had a book, and Dee had a small plastic car that he’d gotten in a Happy Meal.It must have been summer because Dee wore nothing but a pair of shorts and his skin was sticky with sweat.He’d been… what?Four or five years old.
“I want a puppy,” he’d complained.
His mother had looked up from her book.“Too much work.”
“But I want one.”
She’d looked at him for a moment—reallylooked, the way she rarely did.Then she took the toy from him and held it tightly in her hand.“Say it, then, Deedee.Say you wish for a dog.”
He’d decided this was a new game.“I wish I had a puppy.”
His mother had closed her eyes for a few seconds before handing back the car.“Make a wish, baby.”
“I already did.I wish I had a puppy.”
“But I’m not taking care of the thing,” she’d said.
Confused, he’d stared at the toy, still just a piece of plastic, warm from her hand and his.Then the car had crumbled into colorful dust.His throat had felt tight, like he might cry, but he fought it because his dad might find out and call him a crybaby and say that only pussies cried.
With a strange expression on her face, his mother had taken out one of her earrings and passed it to Dee.“Hold it tight, Deedee.Man, I wish I could escape.”She let out a long breath.“Think about my wish.Tell the earring—in your head, not out loud—that you want my wish to come true.”
That was really weird, and although Dee was sniffling, he did as instructed.His hand had tingled, which alarmed him so much that he dropped the earring onto the grass.His mother had grunted her displeasure, wrapped her hand around the bit of jewelry, and repeated: “I wish I could escape.”Then she returned to her book.Dee hadn’t seen what became of the earring.
The next afternoon, a stray dog wandered in through the front door of the house when somebody left it open.A scrawny little thing with scraggly yellow fur, it had gone straight to Dee and curled up at his feet.Dee named him Happy Meal.
Under ordinary circumstances, Dad would have immediately kicked Happy Meal out.But not that day; Dad was distracted.Because not long before Happy Meal appeared, a man had pulled up in front of the house in a noisy truck.Dad, Mom, and the man had yelled at each other really loudly, and then Mom had gotten into the truck and the man had driven away with her.
Happy Meal stayed with Dee for five or six years before dying.Mom never came back.
Ashley interrupted his reverie.“How come your mother knew how to do this?”
“No idea.”
“Shit.”Ashley tapped her leg for a moment, then bent and picked up a small stone.It was just a bit of gravel, tracked there from a parking lot or broken off from the walkway, probably.She pressed it into Dee’s hand.“Show me, baby.”
He was still thinking about his mother and the way her hair wouldn’t stay neatly tucked in the scarf, no matter how many times she adjusted it.He couldn’t quite remember her face, though.His father had claimed that Dee looked just like her, but there weren’t any photos to confirm this.
“What do you wish for?”he asked roughly.
Ashley gave a wicked grin.“A tidal wave to come and wash all those people away.”She waved at the men, women, and children sitting on the sand or strolling on the beach.
“No.”He didn’t know if he was capable of something that dramatic and had no intention of finding out.
“Spoilsport.Okay.I wish….”She looked up at the sky and then grinned.“I wish it would rain.Hard.”
Dee had never attempted anything on that scale.But she was batting her eyelashes at him, likely trying to influence him to obey; and the thing was, he wanted to.He’d never tried anything like this because nobody had ever thought to ask.Now he wanted to know if he could.He wanted to flex his wings.What if he truly was that powerful?
Besides, rain wasn’t going to kill anyone.
Holding the bit of rock so tightly that it bit into his palm, Dee sent a silent message.I want Ashley’s wish to come true.I want it to rain.
The familiar tingling ran through his hand and up his arm, but this was stronger than he’d ever experienced before.It was like an electrical shock, only nice.Really nice, in fact.His cock hardened and his breath came in gasps.
