It was a long, long night.
Chimps.
Birds.
Pigs.
Dogs.
Mongoose and cobra (that had nearly been a disaster).
These and many more they had all tried changing one another into.
Marco, alone among the four, had tried to keep track of which spell did what.
Ric and Josh, as happy and excited with their newly-discovered book as could be expected, finally gave in to the hour.
Josh, in fact, had already fallen asleep, and Ric could barely keep his eyes open.
Francisco glanced at the clock in the kitchen. Jesus! it was 4:30 in the morning!
"C'mon, Marco, I think we need to get these boys to bed. If you'd like, we can stay up a bit, just the two of us, and experiment a little more...?"
Grinning from ear to ear, Marco nodded.
Francisco and Marco carried the boys to the bedroom and laid them out on the large bed. "Sleep tight," Francisco whispered as he turned out the light. "Guess it's
the fold-out couch for us tonight," he whispered to Marco, "but I don't think I can sleep just yet. One helluva date, huh?"
Returning to the living room, Marco kissed Francisco on the cheek after he had closed the bedroom door. "Francisco, I think I'm getting a handle on the layout of
this book. If you're, shall we say, up for it, I'd like to try something."