Moving Things Along

            On my graduation day, I woke up with my head feeling weird. If I had to use a run-of-the-mill adjective to describe it, I guess I’d go with heavy. Or maybe full. I’d never experienced such a feeling before. It unnerved me for a few seconds, but then it quickly cleared up.

            It wasn’t a day to worry about things that were out of my control. I quickly forgot about the funny feeling when I changed into my cap and gown. Sure, the long shimmery robe tripped me up a few times, but that didn’t stop me from showing it off to my school-age sisters.

            At the ceremony, I was announced as most likely to become a sports star. I accepted the ribbon with mixed feelings. There were other titles I would have rather had, but I was pleased that I had been able to keep my motives hidden from my peers. And I had stolen my award away from all the jocks on all the sports teams.

            Good old Freddie was named valedictorian. I wasn’t surprised.

            I even congratulated my twin. It wasn’t a complete waste of my breath; I had made sure that Mom overheard. I needed a few points in her book.

            Gloria started a fight with some dork that had invited me over once.

 I didn’t want to be associated with such uncouth antics, so I took everyone home. That and I needed to rest up before my date later that night. Not to mention, stop at a certain store before then.

            Mom caught me leaving to meet up with Finch. “Francis, there are some things we need to discuss.”

“Too busy right now, sorry!” I called back.

“It’s about Mother and the witch. They’re upset with you.”

I ignored her and continued on my way to her car.

            Finch bombarded me with anxieties as soon as I arrived. He was “too old for a karaoke bar.” And “what would people do when they saw the two of us together?”

            I knew just the way to shut him up.

            First, I made him sit through a few sessions in the photo booth with me, all of which he paid for. I’m not sure why, but I wanted pictures like the one of Mom and Dad on the wall. It wasn’t like I was going to have any kids to show it off to or anything.

            After that, I decided to calm his nerves by bringing him over to the table video games I had really wanted to try out.

            It was fun. We lost ourselves in digital competition for several hours.

            By the time I had him loose enough to agree to a duet, the place was closing down.

            I hadn’t noticed my oldest brother inside the bar, but his presence was definitely noted outside on the street.

            Still, I was on a timeline. I needed to butter my beau up even with spectators. The family was going to find out some day anyways.

            After I had his heart sufficiently racing, I decided it was time to pull out the big guns. I told him to hold on a minute.

            I got one knee down on the chilly concrete, struggling to dislodge a box from my jeans pocket.

Once I got it out, I only fumbled once before revealing the cheap ring to Finch. “We shouldn’t wait—not when we both know it’s right,” I said with a large grin.

            My fiancé pulled me to my feet and then fell against me. “I’ve always been a logical man. It’s quite the rush being swept up like this.” Against my neck, I could feel tears filtering through his wrinkles.

            How could I object when he crawled into my arms? The man obviously needed to feel close to someone in his twilight years, maybe to fill voids cratered by his early life.

            I was as pleased with my trophy photos as he was with his cheap ring.

            The next morning, on my first day of work, I once again woke up with the full feeling in my head. This time it was accompanied by a familiar voice. It weaved words through my head, and I could almost see the letters when I closed my eyes.

“Just what are you doing?”

Not caring who overheard me, I said at conversational volume, “Whatever are you talking about?”

“You don’t like men, Francis. You’ve showed no signs of it your entire life!”

“Maybe I’m a late bloomer.”

“I don’t care how rich he is, you’d better break it off with him. How can you possibly make a new generation with another man?”

“This is something you probably should have planned for when you made your little curse. I refuse to break up with my love because of your lack of foresight.”

“Oh you do not love him!” There was a pause, but my head still felt crowded. “You’re not planning on having children, are you?”

“Oops, you got me!”

“You have to!”

“And why is that?”

“If you don’t, then the curse will never be broken, and I’ll be stuck with your monstrous family forever!”

“Again, foresight.” I could literally feel the heat from her fuming. I wanted to sit down, but to do so would be showing weakness.

When the witch finally spoke again, her voice had taken on the likeness of the mask she wore in my dream. “I’m going to leave you alone now; Vienna will discover that we don’t need to wait until an heir’s death to move on if I don’t return to Aspen soon. I’m going to advise you to reconsider what you’re doing before I go though.”

            I cheered myself on as soon as her presence was gone. Once again, I had bested the witch. What a way to start the day.