Hocus Pocus

The boy pulled his jaw back up just in time to suppress an abnormal shriek after a long gasp.

 

 

Scene 2: Hocus-Pocus:

 

The sunlight had found a more significant presence as it timidly cast its rays on the budding blossoms of our frontyard under the remaining bits of grimy snow, which marked the rooftops, the streets, and the evergreen leaves, but spirit of the winter did not completely leave Ivory town yet. The front door was half-open. It let a cool draft in.

 

"Hey," he quietly said, sitting next to her on the second doorstep. Nara did not answer, her chin resting in a pair of palms supported by the thin arms against her thighs, "Don't you have some weekend assignments to complete? Maybe get ahead in your science book?"

 

"Ha-ha," she dryly said staring through with glassy eyes, "Go away, loser. I'm not in the mood for any of your nerd jokes right now…" obviously. Normally, she would have shot back something about him being a useless, skinny wimp who adores fluffy animals more than any little kid in town, and who doesn't know how to say no to anyone.

 

She hugged her knees and surrounded the sides of her face with both arms, "And don't even try getting to the shampoo topic. I'm not gonna touch it."

 

"What shampoo?" She knew that I knew…?

 

"Shut up, Jad." She said in a muffled irritated tone, "Mama told you everything."

 

"How did you know?"

 

"I saw her go up into your room? Which she rarely does?"

 

"Oh…" It was true…besides the bed sheets that remained unmade throughout the day, accumulated Herfy burger wraps, Pepsi cans, plates, and cups Jad had the tendency to toss clothes anywhere but on the hanger. The mother started frequent clashes over the tidiness of his bedroom, inwardly agonized everytime she compared it to Nara's spotless princess chamber, and when she couldn’t take it anymore, Ma made an oath to never step into the suffocating zone -a.k.a Jad's bedroom- again.

 

Okay, now Nara knew he'd been sent to change her mind about the treatment, and the boy was never that much of an artist with words. So he thought he'd do it the way any older brother would: Forged sympathy.

 

"It's gonna be alright, Nara."  He gently said.

 

"No, it's not."

 

"Yes, it is. I know you're scared, but trust me, once you use that shampoo, your--"

 

"It's NOT gonna be alright! My hair will never be clean again." although of different minds and directions, Nara and Jad shared a lot in common, besides the blue-black hair pigment. She was the kind of person who had to learn to control their emotions to some degree and to restrain them from surfacing in her features, but similar to his case, at times the disguise she'd carved would be so brittle and sheer you could see right through it.

 

"Hey, your hair is bathed twice a day. I'm sure those leeches would find it too clean and boring and just leave it alone."

 

She slightly uncurled, raising her head in Jad's direction. Big brown eyes stared at him for a moment before their frames overflowed with tears. She buried her face in folded arms. But once Nara started crying, it was far from the quiet, soft girly weeping. Her natural high-pitch was ear-screeching, and the last thing the boy wanted was for the shrunk old widow next door to peek from her window again and ask him why he made his little sister cry.

 

"No - no, Nara! Shh!" he flinched instantly scooting closer to his sister -Good work, Jad...- his hand almost touching the back of her head, lowering it to lightly stroke below her shoulder instead. She did not attempt to lean against his chest either. She understood because she even feared crawling insects more than her brother did. It's what caused her greater frustration.

 

Even if she did agree to use the anti-parasite cleanser, Nara told the mother later, she would have to miss out at least a few days of school, and after having spent a whole month next to an immigrant classmate with hair lice, it wouldn't be so hard to guess the reason of Nara's absence. Rumors would run around. It would be disturbing.

 

They needed a much more effective solution.

They needed something like divine intervension.

Or maybe just a hint of magic or as people named it: Shawada.

 

So, the mother sought the aid of Dr. Farfoor; an old friend of the family, and an annoying, supernatural geezer across the street. And, well, let's just say he ended the matter faster than any of them had expected…in a really really bad way…

 

Using an herbal potion was not such a bad idea after all, Jad smirked as he watched the doctor add his last touches and ruffle her hair with a towel.

 

"That's it?" the boy asked, still smirking.

 

"That is it." He confidently replied.

 

"Are you sure there are no side-effects…? Anything?"

 

"Hopefully not." Hopefully…not? "Now, child," he kindly spoke to Nara, "Just leave the towel around your head for at least ten minutes before you rinse it."

 

"Okay, doc. Thanks!" she turned her head up at him from her seat and smiled.

 

"You're very welcome," he chuckled, "Now, run along, dear."

 

A lock of wet blue-black fell beside the back leg of the chair. Eh…? Jad narrowed his eyes. The loosely wrapped towel slid from Nara's back-tilted head as she moved and it dropped on the floor. There was much much more than just a few locks of hair drooping out of that towel and what's left of it on Nara's head = none. Was that supposed to happen?

 

"Ah, it fell." she said without looking back, scooting to the edge of the chair to stand up.

 

OH MY GOD! Jad pulled his jaw back up just in time to suppress an abnormal shriek after a long gasp. Dr. Farfoor looked as terrified as he was, adjusting his small spectacles as he stared at his sister's bald head, hanging on to the chip of hope that he might have miss-seen what he had just seen.

 

Behind the chair lay her bundle of precious blue-black hair, and across her left shoulder was their late grandparents' old mirror or as Nara and he used to call it: the ghost mirror, because it displayed melted blurred reflections once they stood before it. But no matter how unclear your reflection seemed in its glass, there was no way you'd mistaken a bald head for… something else.

 

God knew how Nara would react if she found out what had happened to her crown of beauty. I had to react quickly, Jad thought, "Na-Nara!" he retorted, appearing right beside her left shoulder in a heartbeat, "Race me up back to the sitting room, alright?"

 

"Why?"

 

"Be-cause Ma's been worried, you should probably go tell her everything went fine."  Dear, Lord… If she even slightly turned around to where Dr. Farfoor stood beside the towel, everyone in this house was doomed.

 

"And what about you?"

 

"I uh…need to ask Dr. Farfoor a few questions. And they're kinda embarrassing, now I've told you, happy? Okay, go." he tried to pull her arm towards the stairs.

 

"Okay." She said.  That was easy, the boy sighed with relief and his breathing settled as she moved along with, "Oh, wait, I wanna see what my hair looks like. It feels kinda light and Doctor said the potion would give it back its natural shine," She turned half around and tried to get past her brother.

 

"N-No you don't," he nervously said, spinning her back towards the stairs. But that wasn't convincing. Think, think! "I mean-- you can check it out later."

 

"O-kay…" she said still frozen in her place, warily scanning his shifty brown eyes with hers. She must have already figured out there was something wrong, "I'll just pick up that towel. He said it should stay on --"

 

"I'm sure he wouldn't mind you taking it off now," he mildly pushed her shoulders driving her forward, signaling the doctor behind his shoulder to minimally cooperate, "Would you, doc?"

 

"Oh--of-ofcourse not, dear."

 

"Mashi (alright)," she said, "Salaam, Dr. Farfoor." She turned fully around to wave at the doctor, who immediately dragged the edge of the towel with his foot and hid it behind his mass of long robe, waving back at her with a smile.

 

"Phew…" Jad slid down against the door on the top of the cellar stairs, "that was close." covering his eyes with one palm in a moment of silence, "Alright," he looked up at the magician with a frown, "what in the world did you do to her hair?"

 

The doctor cleared his throat, raising the wrinkled eyes from the open brown squared case in which the some of his crazy kit was being packed, "Well, generally, my house products are safe to use but--"

 

"Yeah, safe!" the boy interrupted in an edgy tone, pulling himself up on his feet again, "You've practically proved safety just now. Going suddenly bald at the age of eleven is very safe!" his feet moved down the stairs as he resumed the sarcastic comments, "Have you even tested the potion before?"

 

"Yes I have, I think…" he narrowed his eyes as he tried to remember.

 

He thinks…Jad winced in disappointment. If we assumed he had actually tested the product, then what went wrong here?

 

"Oh, no!" the boy's eyes went wide and air momentarily froze in his chest, "Mirrors! There's still another mirror in the hallway…and also her bedroom! I should break them all!"

 

"That would not do you any good, son," he said, "sooner or later, your sister will find out her hair is gone."

 

He was right, Jad thought. Even without mirrors, she could simply feel her bald head with both her hands…but wasn't the doctor being a little bit too calm when he's the one who messed it up? He turned to look at the old man with a cheerless expression. After all, I was the one who told Nara things were going to be 'alright' so, after my mother, I was next in line to blame.

 

"But not to worry," Dr. Farfoor continued after a pause, apparently searching his unfastened brown case for something. Jad's eyes slightly lit up and he waited for that sentence to be completed.

 

Author's Note

Comments? Reviews? Ideas? Corrections?

*Image: Magic
*by *stardixa
*Link: http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=§ion=&q=magic+wand#/d1w2pn9