A Dose of Magic
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“Mommy, it hurts!” The words came out distorted, Katelyn’s face puckered with tears sparkling at the corner of her eyes.
“I know it does, honey,” I soothed. Inside I was crying, too. There was nothing worse than watching your child suffer and being powerless to stop it. Katie’s mouth had developed sores as a side-effect of the chemo, and even with the pain medications, she was barely sleeping. At least her doctors let her be at home between sessions, although with these new sores, it was looking like we’d be heading back to the hospital in the morning. I rubbed her arm where it lay on the comforter. Maybe I could distract her for a while.
“How about a story? Will that help?”
Katie nodded. “Something with magic,” she demanded, with all the imperiousness a six-year-old could muster while dealing with mouth sores.
I smiled despite myself. It was always magic of late. Boys might like dinosaurs and cars and spaceships, as my Evan does, but little girls loved magic and horses and princesses. With all she was dealing with, though, I couldn’t blame my daughter for wanting—no needing—something that would help her escape reality. In truth, I’ve retreated into fantasy stories lately, too. Who doesn’t need a little magic in their lives now and then? Lord knows, the reality of a daughter with leukemia needs something to keep me calm and focused, for my family’s sake.
“Do you need anything before I begin?” I asked.
Katie shook her head from side to side quickly, causing her wig to slip. She wore it always, even to bed. My little girl had a vain streak in her, but the cotton-candy pink she had picked for her replacement hair was pretty cute and not something she could easily do with her standard chestnut shade.
“Okay, then. I am going to tell you a story that is also a secret. I stumbled across this secret before I met your daddy, back—”
“There was a time when you didn’t know daddy?” Katie interrupted with disbelief.
“Do you want to hear this story or not?”
Katie nodded, remorse written all over her face. “Sorry, mommy. Please tell me the story.”
“Ok, then. As I was saying, this story happened back when I was still in college. It has forever changed how I see things, for I now know that there is magic in this world and that we are surrounded by magical creatures that hide what they truly are.” I paused and saw that Katie was gazing at me, her eyes and expression eager. Good.
I continued. “Late one night, a Friday, I was coming back home from class. It had been a rough semester, and I was feeling very down and a bit sad. The day was as depressed as I was. It was raining, for one thing. The clouds sat low to the ground, imparting their cold dampness to everything surrounded by the lamp-lit fog. I was walking home along the canal pathway. There was no one else about, probably because of the hour and the wet. Through this bleakness, a cat came strutting across my path, his grey body nearly blending into the soup of cloud and rain. His tail twitched as he passed to my side, and into the air, he let forth a strident cry. He continued into a clearing on the right of the path and sat, waiting.
“From the shadowed comfort of some nearby bushes, a midnight nose followed by a shiny coal face emerged. The nose sniffed, and an ebony feline stretched forth from her hiding place. Her slender body slunk via the darkest strips until she joined the grey tom, nuzzling him with vigour. Then she, too, let forth a mighty yowl. The tom stood, and the two walked, side-by-side, tail-tips touching, to the centre of the clearing.
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“The two cats began circling each other, their bodies twisting together, at first slowly, but with each loop, they moved faster and faster, their bodies blurring. As they continued their dance, the two cats seemed to merge, and their colour began to shift from the dark to something that flashed more brightly. There was an explosion of crimson light, and the cats were gone. My blood chilled, as in their place stood a glorious scarlet dragon, scales glittering like rubies as the raindrops slithered down its body.”
Katie gasped. “You saw a dragon? Made from cats?” Wonderment filled her voice, her eyes full and bright. “What did you do, mommy?”
“What else could I do? I remained rooted on the path, surprised and scared by the sudden appearance of a real-life dragon. Not that it was a big one—more the size of a wolf—but still, it was almost as big as I am, and it looked fierce with its large mouth full of teeth and long claws. Yet, it never approached me. Rather, it looked at me with a keen stare as it reared back on its haunches, stretched out its leathery wings, and swished its long tail. Its underbelly wasn’t red, but a shimmering mix of inky black, mottled greys, and random sparkles of what seemed like tiny lightbulbs. With a huge pumping of its wings, it took to the air and promptly vanished, blending into the fog and night sky.”
“Wow,” Katie breathed. “Where did it go?”
“I don’t know, love. But I stayed there, on that path in the wet and dark for hours, waiting for it to return.”
“Did it?”
“Yes, just before dawn. I was so chilled and stiff, my clothes soaked through, that I almost didn’t see it as it emerged from the ceiling of cloud and touched down gently—barely a whisper of noise—in the field beside where I stood. It saw me, though, catching my eye before walking right up to me.”
Another gasp from my daughter. “Were you scared, mommy?”
“I sure was! I was trembling with fear. But again, the dragon surprised me by placing its head under my hand and nudging softly.”
“Just like a cat does when it wants petting!” Katie squealed.
“Exactly! So, there I was, just before dawn on a Saturday morning, in a small field beside the canal, stroking a red dragon.” I paused, seeking the words. How does one adequately convey the emotions of such an experience? “It was one of the most moving and amazing experiences of my life, right up there with marrying your dad and having you. I forgot all about how tough my life was, and to this day, I always look for the positives and unexpected joys in life.” I paused, realizing how true this was, as my depression rarely made an appearance anymore, even with all we were dealing with at the moment. I must have gotten lost in my thoughts for a moment, as Katie was suddenly pulling on my sleeve.
“What did the dragon feel like?” she queried, her voice brimming with excitement, barely a hint that her mouth was full of sores.
“Soft, softer than I would have ever thought possible for scales. It was like stroking velvet-covered metal, pleasing to touch yet very hard at the same time. The dragon obviously enjoyed my caresses, though, as it began to purr.”
Katie knowledgeably nodded. “Well, it was made from cats, after all.”
I laughed at her youthful wisdom. “Indeed.”
“What happened to the dragon, mommy?”
“After I stroked it for a while, it moved back into the clearing, and in another flash of crimson, it vanished. Then the grey tom and his black female companion were back in the field beside the path, just before the dawn began in earnest.”
“Have you ever seen the dragon again?”
I shook my head regretfully. “No, Katie. I haven’t.”
“That’s sad. It would be wonderful to see a real dragon.” She paused, clearly thinking about meeting dragons, before asking another question. “What happened to the cats? Did you follow them and find out where they went?”
“I didn’t have to. After the cats returned, I continued on my way, as by that time, I was exhausted, wet, and cold. When I got to my building, however, I found that the two cats had followed me!”
There were no flies on my youngest. “Ebony and Shadow are the dragon cats!” she squealed with amazement, loudly enough that the two cats in question heard their names and came running into Katie’s room to jump on the bed beside her.
The two cats were just as sleek as when I first saw them, although, after thirteen years, their faces and coats were flecked with dashes of white. Katie was staring at them as if this were the first time she had ever seen them, her hands reaching out to pet each tentatively, until both cats nuzzled her palms, demanding proper caresses. Shadow’s eyes caught mine, his gaze filled with the same intelligence I had seen that night in the dragon’s shining orbs. “You will keep Shadow and Ebony’s secret, won’t you, Katie?”
She nodded her head vigorously. “Of course!” Then she added, with wisdom her age belied, “Besides, no one would believe me. The kids at the hospital would just call me “chemo-brain,” and the kids from school would only grab my wig and play keep-away with it.”
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“Okay, then.”
There was nothing else I could say on hearing Katie’s stark acceptance of the teasing and bullying the other kids heaped on her. It hurt that my girl was learning so many harsh lessons at such a young age. I decided to let her play with the cats while I went to get some pain medication to tide her through until I could call her doctors in the morning. As I left the room, the cats were circling on the bed. As I headed down the stairs, a flash of crimson lit my way. I crossed my fingers, daring to hope that the cats were giving Katie a dose of magic, just as they had once done for me.
Sam Mason
Sam has a love for all forms of speculative fiction across all media. Possessed of natural curiosity, Sam enjoys learning and new experiences. Each new piece of knowledge or endeavour adds to who she is and how she sees the world. She is a firm believer that some of the most amazing experiences and events could even be in your backyard (figuratively, if not literally).
