magic wand

“Great night for taking a walk, Debbie, I’ll be back in an hour or so.”

“Okay, take Bleu Boy with you, he’ll whine and bark like he did last time you took a walk.”

“C’mon Bleu, let’s go for a walk.” Mike called out to his Australian Shepard and both stepped out into the cold night.

The temperature was in the low 30′s in Phoenix, Arizona. Mike and his wife Debbie lived in Suburbia, 9 miles from the inner city metropolis. It was his habit to walk after dinner or when feeling tension from his computer-programming job. It was also habitual for him to take a flashlight. He preferred to walk in darkness using the light of stars and any fraction of a moon. His favorite night light was a full moon. Things looked eerie at those times adding to the mystique of his walks.

Mike craved mystique. His job was a 9 to 5, sometimes overtime late, due to demands the corporate internet technicians threw at him. His eyes usually took 10 minutes to adjust to dim nighttime light. His peripheral vision improved gradually, taking a few minutes longer to catch side movements of wandering animals or objects. One night, having neglected taking Bleu with him, a cream, brown colored coyote had trailed him for a two-mile walk.

He never felt threatened. He enjoyed the fresh air and time to process the day’s events.

They were a two mile walk distant from home when Bleu suddenly darted forward, emitting a frenzied yelp of excitement. He stopped abruptly about 200 feet beyond Mike’s reach and stared stoically at something on the ground a bit below his nose.

“What’s up, Bleu, bring it here.”

Bleu was good at obeying various commands. One of them was fetching tennis balls or frizzbies, which he could catch in midair.

The dog paused at Mike’s command then darted suddenly at the unseen object. Mike could see Bleu’s white head illuminated by the quarter moon’s light as it raised with a glowing object grasped between his jaws. Mike’s curiosity was aroused, thinking it might just be a child’s phosphoric toy.

“Bring it here Bleu.”

Bleu trotted up to Mike with a long wand, which had a florescent-lit tip. The thing appeared to be a wand.

“Probably some kid’s; give it here Bleu.”

Bleu dropped it on the ground, tail wagging, expecting Mike to toss it for him to fetch.

“No, Bleu, no games now. Let’s see, it’s about two and one half feet long.”

Mike swirled the wand upward into the sky leaving a light trail like Fourth of July sparklers.

“Cool. All right let’s go another mile or so and then turn around. We’ll head back home.”

He and Bleu continued walking. “Here, Bleu get it!”

Mike tossed the toy wand at a high-pitched arc. The wand landed about 30 yards into the distant darkness. Bleu spurted after the wand.

Mike followed the trajectory and saw it land followed by vibrations of an explosive burst of light. The light was the color of green chlorine gas.

“Bleu get over here!”

The dog halted at the explosion and ran back to Mike. Mike was overcome with curiosity and hesitated but eventually ventured forward. As he approached he thought it might have been a firework’s charged device. Figuring its powder charge had been spent; he walked forward to retrieve the intriguing toy.

He noticed that its tip still glowed a translucent white hue.

Overcome with further curiosity, Mike picked the wand up. He was impressed by its handle, which glowed a soft yellow color. He figured it to be gold plated, but wondered whether it was solid gold due to its weightiness.

“Gold gives off just such a sheen, I’m pretty sure it is, even in this faint light.”

There were etchings like hieroglyphics on its band separating the handle portion from the long cylindrical shaft. It was a well-balanced device. Its diameter was about 3/8ths of an inch, roughly the diameter of a kindergarten’s yellow pencil, narrowing at the tip to about 1/4 inch.

The tip continued to glow. He noticed its glowing length to be about 3 inches.

It felt expertly weighted in his hand, perfectly balanced, possessing a fine equilibrium in its hold; a counterbalance grip to its overall length. The wand delighted him. He began swinging it in various arcs of sliced air.

“Bleu, I hereby knight you Sir Bleuaahad!” With the same effort, Mike gestured a forward thrust toward his dog. The night air lit up as if the wand were a sodium vapor light illuminating a 50-foot radius of magically golden light. Mike’s enchantment was overcome by his startled apprehension. The light itself frightened him. He sensed a sinister element to the newly found device.

“What in the hell . . . this damn thing is weird.”

His curiosity overcame his fear. His thought became devious and obeyed its impulsive will to play out an age-old instinct. Mike made a wish as he brought the wand in a downward motion as if he were about to strike invisible object.

“Bleu, I wish for a . . . ”

“Give it back!”

Mike jumped. Someone or something behind him shouted out.

“Fricken Slender Man. Fuck! Maybe Moth man . . . !”

He whirled around like a spun top, arms extended still clutching the newly found wand.

“I said, give it back Mortal!”

“Who are you?!” Mike surprised himself with his own voice. It sounded authoritative whereas, he realized should have sounded feeble.

“No concern of yours. Give the wand back to its owner.”

Strange how a mere mortal such as Mike would not stand down, or at least appear to stand down a suspected alien. And yet he did not. Perhaps it had to do with a power the wand endowed to its possessor. At least that is what seemed to be the case in this situation. Bleu had run for cover in home’s direction, leaving Mike alone, facing a strange being.

“I will not.” “I don’t know how to use this thing, but obviously, it has great value for you.

You’ll have to take it from me.”

At that Mike raised the wand threateningly at the shadow figure.

“You play with fire, Mortal. The power you wield can destroy worlds.”

Mike hesitated. “Really? And what if I just choose to hurt you with it if you don’t back off?”

He felt a great responsibility of a sudden. He was not a violent man and he sensed a tinge of injustice at taking something that did not belong to him. The figure standing a stone throws away remained separated and motionless. This added to Mike’s fear.

“What’s this thing for?”

“The device fell from my craft. Anti-gravity functions normally near earth’s magnetic fields, yet there are anomalies. You are familiar with the area known as Bermuda Triangle. Many strange phenomenon occur within the parameters of those coordinates. The device fell from my craft’s platform through my porthole. I request you give it back.”

Mike stood silent pondering the stranger’s words. The whole event was surreal. He felt a bizarre metallic flavor in his palate he recognized as fear. His testicles quivered a warning he ignored. With a swift movement of his right arm and forearm he aimed at the shadow and shouted, "Be gone!”

An instant thunder of power emitted from his wand followed by a straightforward charge of white ultraviolet light. The air crackled sharply. Mike felt the concussion against his face and chest and a burst of energy he’d never known. In all of this Mike felt kingly. He felt god-like, indestructible, proud and noble. Mike felt invincible and narcissistic, feelings he could not restrain.

He walked to what was left of the stranger whose charred remains lay on the ground.

Mike then, wand inextricably gripped in hand swaggered toward home.