I open the door. "Hey Chr- Whoa!" I look down and a short, scrawny, bespeckled teen with a backpack slung over his shoulder is standing on my front porch staring at me with his mouth hanging open. It's my best friend from school, Jake. "Hey Jake."
"Chr- Chris? Is that you? What happened to you?" He raises his hand and places it my bare chest before I swat it away. "Sorry, but is all that really you? I mean, no one from school has seen you in months and you weren't answering your phone."
"Lost it while diving." Which was true. It's so easy to lose your shorts in the reefs off the coast. But I can see the questions pile up in my old buddy's face. "You go diving now? Since when are you the athletic type? Well I guess you've been working on that." He looks over my taller and beefier frame again. The last time we saw each other, I was struggling to reach 6ft let alone fill up a door frame. "You at least could have stopped by the house to talk to me. That's what best friends do. But I guess you just wanna leave me behind." Jake turns around to walk down my front steps. I feel bad for keeping secrets from him. I at least could have called him to let him know I was okay but I was so caught up with Atla. I owe him some explanation.
"Jake wait." He stops. "What? So you can finally cut me loose?" Ouch. He's really hurt. "No not that. Just come in for a second. I'll explain everything. I'm sorry, but alot has gone down in the past few months. I even made breakfast for lunch. Please?" He thinks it over for a bit. "You got some of those raisin bagels I like?" I will in a minute. "Of course, Jake. Come on in. Let's talk." He walks up the steps and looks at me straight in the eyes. When I don't budge, he loosens up a bit. He sas "Good. Cause those things are the best" and walks in the door.
Jake drops his bag on the floor next to the island in the kitchen and sits down on one of the stools there as I walk back over to the peeled oranges. I wish up some bagels and say "Bagels are in the fridge." But Jake keeps watching me as I grab one and squeeze it by hand. The orange gushes over my hand as all of its juice drains into the pitcher below. I toss the dried husk into the trash and grab another. "Why don't you just buy oj from the store?"
"That's a weird first question but I do this because it's healthier for us." And because Atla likes to watch me squeeze the oranges. "You? Healthy? Well I guess a body like that needs to be super maintained." Jake hops off the barstool and opens the fridge. He grabs himself two bagels and heads to the toaster. But to get to it, he needs to walk behind me to get to the other side of the counter. I hear Jake move but he stops behind me and I can feel his eyes scoping me over. "Since we're on the subject, how did you get so big anyway? No way you got a foot and a half taller just by working out and suddenly eating fresh orange juice."
I said I wasn't going to lie to him. "Magic."
"Magic? Really? I thought you were going to be honest." "I am being honest. Look let me prove it. See this ring?"
"Yeah." "Well it's a magic ring. With it, I can do anything or change I want. And one of things I wished for was to be bigger." He stares at me for a minute. "A magic ring? Let me see." I toss him the ring. "How does it work?"
"Well, I just put it on and wish for something. But only I can make it work." He tosses me back the ring. "That's convenient, Chris. Prove it then." I put the ring back on. "Okay if it'll make you feel better." I look around the room to find something and lock eyes on the toaster. "Okay, Jake. Your bagel will pop out of the toaster... now!" And it does. "Big deal. I could have guessed when it would pop." He takes a bite. "Okay well now I want the bagel to turn into an apple." And it does. "What the...?"
"Need more proof? Okay now I want to turn into a fudge sundae." Poof. "Now a turtle." Zap. "Now a pair of sunglasses." Blip. "Now I want the shades to turn purple and for you to wear them." They do. Chris jumps at the change and takes off the shades to check them out. "Amazing! That really is a magic ring. But could you turn it back into a bagel please?" I do and add some melted butter on top. Jake sits down on his stool and eats his magic bagel. "This is so cool, Chris! Really it is. But how come you never told me? We could have had so much fun with this."
"Sorry, Jake. But as soon as I got the ring three and a half months ago, I got really busy." "Doing what? Fighting crime with your new superpowers?" He reaches over and slaps my arm laughing. I laugh and squeeze the last orange. "No I fell in love." He swallows hard. "In love? With who? Anyone I know?" "Yes in love. And you don't know her. Her name's Atla, and she is most beautiful woman I could ever imagine. She... why are you looking at me like that." "What? I can look at you anyway I want Magic Man. You have seriously fallen for this girl. The only other girl you liked was Kimmy and she never made you gush like this." We both laugh at that old news. Jake goes to bite his bagel "Well when do I get to meet this 'Atla'?" "She'll be out of the shower in a minute or so."
This time, Jake chokes on his bagel and I wish the chunk into the trash. Once he catches his breath, he says "Did you just? With the ring? Thanks. But 'out of shower'? She's here? With you? So you guys? My man!" He punches my arm again as I stir the orange juice, but it just bounces off. He pulls it back in pain and shakes it. "Dang bro. That hurt." "You hit me." "Doesn't matter who did what. What about your parents? No way your super strict parents are cool with this. They'll be home any minute. She's gotta get out of here before they get back from work."
"They won't be a problem anymore." "You killed them!?" I shake my and laugh. "No dumbass. They're still my parents. No, I wished for them to be living in Australia. I haven't seen them since the morning I got the ring." "No kidding. But how can you be living here by yourself?" "I don't. Atla lives here too. And it's okay. I aged myself up to 20 so I'm legal now."
"Oh that's cool. I thought I saw some scruff on your face." He rubs his own jaw. "You know, before I leave, I have some suggestions for some new wishes. You do owe me after all." I wish the pitcher of orange juice nice and cold and put it on the table. "No problem, Jake. Now do you want to join us for lunch? I made plenty." "Sure dude, it looks good. By the way, when did you learn to cook?" At the same time we say "Ring" and laugh. While head for the table, I hear a quiet voice say "Chris?" I turn towards the bedroom door. Atla is leaning against the frame and is dressed in a short blue robe and slippers that I wished for her. The knot tied across her middle really makes her belly stand out, making it super obvious to Jake her condition. I walk over to her and lift her jaw up into a polite kiss. "Babe, this is Jake. He's my best friend and he just stopped by to meet you. Jake this is Atla." Jake stammers "Hey, hi Atla. Nice to meet you. You're so big. I mean pretty big. I mean lovely to meet you. You're glowing. Not because your pregnant, but because of your beauty. But still, you're pregnant so congratulations to you. To both of you. Or to just one of you? Sorry." "Jake. Eat some toast." "Yes, okay." He shoves a piece of toast in his mouth before he can dig himself down deeper into his hole. "Sorry about that Babe. I was telling him about thsee past few months and I didn't get to mention that you were pregnant." I look at her face again, noticing the bags under her eyes. "Babe, are you okay?" "I don't know, Chris. While I was in the bathtub washing my scales, I felt my stomach rumble. I changed back and walked over to the toilet and threw up." "I'm so sorry, Atla. I was probably outside talking to Jake and I couldn't hear you." She starts to tear up. "But Chris what about the baby? I still feel it but I'm scared. Mermaids don't do that." "Did she say mermaid?" "I'll talk to you later. Eat some fruit salad." " Yes boss." I turn back to Atla "Honey, relax. Human women often throw up during their pregnancy. It's part of the process. Gross but necessary. I can wish that part away if you want." "No Chris, it'll be okay. If that's what human mothers do, then I'll do it. I just wish I knew what I was doing." I kiss her on the forehead. "It's going to be fine. How about this? I wish for a stack of the best pregnancy books to appear on your nightstand. That way you can read them and learn whenever you want. Now you should probably get some rest. Want me to tuck you in?" She rubs her belly. "No its okay. I'll probably get up in a little while anyway. Have fun talking to your friend, babe." I place my forehead on hers. "Okay, babe. Whatever you want." I peck her on the lips before leaning kneeling down to her stomach. I place my hands on the sides her belly and Atla puts a hand on her lower back for support while rubbing the top. "Now look here, baby. This is Daddy. I love you but you have to be nice to Mommy. She loves you and just wants to take care of you. Try not to make her feel too sick, okay? Talk to you later." I kiss her belly one more time and stand up. "Now try to get some rest, babe." " I will." She cranes her neck out to the side "Nice to meet you too, Jake. Sorry I couldn't stay." "No worries, Atla. We'll be seeing each other again soon." She nods and walks back into the room closing the door behind her.
I take a deep breath and walk back to the table. I sit down and turn Atla's omelet into a turkey one and hand it to Jake. "Here you go. Get some protein in you." "Oh yeah protein. That's what the big deal is here. I thought were telling me everything. How come you didn't mention she was a mermaid? Or that she was pregnant? I don't know which is the bigger deal." "Okay first off, I was going to tell you she was a mermaid but then she came out of the room. And as for her being pregnant, we just found out this morning so we both are pretty new to that news ourselves." "How could you not know she's pregnant? Her stomach is already swollen and it doesn't look like it's from too many of these omelets." "Dude, yesterday, she was just bloated. This morning, her stomach was that big." Jake runs his hand through his hair in frustration. "But Chris, didn't you think to use some sort of protection?" "J, three months ago, I didn't think mermaids were real, then I met one. Then we both thought the two species couldn't mix. And now she's pregnant. And I know what you're gonna say. Yes it's mine. She was a virgin when I met her. So was I. But now we're going to be parents. And at least with this ring, we'll be ready for anything. And I really do love her, Jake. With all my heart."
We just sit there quietly for a while. Then the clock on the wall chimes for four o'clock. Jake stops swirling a strawberry around his plate and looks at me. "Well it looks like you got everything figured out, Chris. You sound like a grown up." "Well I am. Now. But don't worry about it. For now I want to hang out with my good friend Jake. But I need to keep an ear out for Atla in case she needs me. Is that okay?" "Sure thing, Daddy-O. Let's eat."
I look at the table. I almost forgot about the mini feast I had set up. But now my stomach remembers too, and a loud rumble erupts from my center. Jake looks at me with a raised eyebrow. "What? Superstrength means a super appetite." I wish for all the food to heat up/cool down and we dig in. The Dynamic Duo are back in business.