Chapter 39: Summer Showers

The anger lingered, long after Wil felt it should have moved on.

To be fair, he dealt with it in the best way he knew how: he visited his father and confessed to burying his rivals up to their necks in dirt, threatening them, and breaking their stuff. He’d left out implanting a nightmare. After the fact, there was a bit of shame at his actions, but mostly Wil felt good about what he’d done.

“That was stupid, Wil,” Bob told him in the mayor’s office. He sat in the oversized plush seat, filling it in a way Sinclair never could. He was also more honest than Sinclair had ever been. “That could cause both of us a lot of problems.”

“I know,” Wil groaned. “But they’re showing off and selling weapons, Dad!”

Bob slid a small jar of candy over. Wil knew he was about to hear something he didn’t like, so he took a piece of hard candy and put it in his mouth. Sucking on a sweet while his father lectured him made him feel like a teenager again.

“That’s not illegal, son. Calipan’s always allowed the sales of guns.” Bob took a piece of his own and sucked on it. “We may not like it, but that’s not something we can really do something about.”

“And what about them spying on us and threatening us before?”

Bob shrugged. “You really should’ve filed a complaint that day if you wanted a trail of their behavior. You shouldn’t have let it go. I know this isn’t what you wanted to hear, but I can’t help you if you don’t help me. Not without proof. As it is, if they complain or file a report against you, they’ll have the upper hand.”

Inside, Wil boiled, but he understood. His temper had gotten away from him, and now he was on his own. “I understand,” Wil said around the candy in his mouth. He rose to leave.

“If you do get proof that they’re violating your privacy, stalking you, or trying to hurt you, then we can do something.” Bob stood as well. “Work with me and I’ll do what I can. Until then, I have to take care of Harper Valley, and that currently includes them.”

Wil left city hall annoyed and further worked up. When he returned home, Darlene waited for him on the porch. He got a couple of cold drinks and filled her in on what had happened. To his surprise, she laughed.

“You had to do your nightmare thing,” she said. “You really like doing that, don’t you?”

“It’s mostly harmless! And you said no hurting them physically,” Wil protested.

Darlene gestured wildly at him. “And then you moved the earth to entrap them and keep them uncomfortable, so you ended up doing both.”

“They were fine,” said Wil. “I was just making a point.”

“Oh, a point. Do you think, upon receiving it, that they’ll leave, or…? Look, I’m not mad at you. Just frustrated, and a little scared, I guess. What happens when they retaliate?”

Hugo’s face popped into Wil’s thoughts again, smug and mad. Some people, when they pushed, you had to push back twice as hard. Maybe a couple days of nightmares would make that bastard think twice. If that didn’t work, there was always…he swallowed, and realized he was shaking.

Darlene noticed, and her expression softened. With great effort, she got up and slid over on the bench next to Wil, pressing herself up against him. By reflex, he threw his arm over and drew her close. “You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah…” Wil cleared his throat and tried to project confidence. “I think maybe there’s some lingering trouble with…Things that happened before I left.” Oh, so now he couldn’t even say it. Shame flooded him.

“You don’t handle anger well,” Darlene said. “I hate seeing you like this. Look, we can beef up security for the house, right? Protect here and Bram’s place with spells, wards, whatever, and we can make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Wil nodded.

“Good,” said Darlene, “because my mom sprung something on me. Your mom too.”

His stomach twisted in anxiety. “What’s going on?”

“This might be a bad time for it, but we’ve got people coming by in a couple of hours. I highly recommend you have a drink or two, maybe smoke some staggerleaf, and take today off. Maybe get out entirely if you don’t want a bunch of mother hens squawking and trying to impart their wisdom.”

Dread filled Wil. They were about to have a baby shower.

Instead of leaving, Wil did as his girlfriend suggested and let himself relax, enjoy a few drinks, and a few bracing puffs while the occasional person walked the road past his house. It was hard to stay angry on a lovely summer day with a cold beer in hand. Besides, he could probably skip the festivities if he just sat out here.

Angelica Johnson drove up before too long, parking in front of the house. Of course the Johnsons were one of the few people in Harper Valley with the newest model of car. She got out and pulled a big box from the backseat, clearly struggling.

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Wil knew the right thing to do would be to rush off the porch and help her, but he was lazy and still the smallest bit annoyed. So instead, he pointed at the box and exerted a little will and power. The box lightened to the weight of a pillow. Angelica heaved a sigh of relief, and Wil didn’t even have to get out of the rocking chair he’d moved to.

“Heya Wil,” Angelica called out. “Surprised to see you here. You going to be here for the shower?”

He waved his hand and the front door opened for her. “I sure am. Here and nowhere else. You ladies can have all the fun you want without me. I promise I won’t make a peep.” Wil puffed on his pipe, blowing rings out into the summer afternoon.

Angelica laughed and walked in the front door. The faint cry of “Mom!” trickled out to him, but Wil chuckled and kept on rocking. Soon he’d need another beer.

After Angelica, Robin came over with a bulging pack over one shoulder. She had been one of his former classmates and a good friend of Darlene throughout the years. Wil couldn’t say they were close, but he vaguely liked her and helped her family with a fox getting in the henhouse almost a year ago. He waved at her.

“Looking relaxed, Wil. Gonna give anyone a hand, or are you going to be a bum?” She grinned at him.

Wil responded by puffing and blowing smoke at her. A quick, precise flick of his fingers formed the smoke into a single word: no. Robin laughed and walked through the open door.

More people trickled in as the day went on. More former classmates, a young woman who Wil believed worked the General Store with her a while ago, Angelica’s sisters, and then, naturally, Wil’s mother. She was accompanied by Wil’s least favorite relative.

“Wilbur, sweetie, there you are!” His Aunt Linda rushed up and invaded his personal space. Her hands went right to his cheeks and threatened to rip them right off his face. “And the mustache and goatee, I like it, I like it. I’m still used to thinking of you as just a teenager and -- “

Wil looked past her to his mother, silently begging for her help. Sharon looked as instantly exhausted as he felt. Aunt Linda was a good example of how hard it could be to love your family. With her talking a mile a minute only a few inches from his face, he felt less than charitable.

“-- and of course, your mother was jealous of me, and --”

“Aunt Linda,” Wil interrupted her. “Lovely to see you. Please, be welcome and enjoy a drink inside on this hot day.” Please, for the love of gods and demons alike.

She released his face and backed up to an acceptable foot away from him. “Aww, you’re such a sweet boy. But we must talk soon. I’ve got all kinds of wisdom to share about raising kids.”

“C’mon,” said Sharon, putting her hand on her sister’s shoulder. “Wil’s already having a bit of a day, and could use some quiet.” She gave him a pointed look before leading Linda inside.

Wil groaned. Right as he’d managed to forget about his previous bad mood. Aunt Linda had a way of doing that. He finished off his beer and went inside to use the toilet.

They’d decorated his house in pink and blue, with a huge banner featuring a stork carrying a wrapped up baby from its beak. It said, “Darlene McKenzie’s Johnson’s Baby Shower” in rainbow letters. Darlene sat in the middle of the living room, with a stack of wrapped presents beside her. He raised his eyebrow and nodded toward the sign.

“Mom thought we were getting married,” Darlene said with a laugh. “Or that maybe we already had. By the time she realized, it was too late.”

“Want me to fix it? I’m going to fix it.” Wil twirled his finger in the air. Simple illusions didn’t take much focus or power, so he made it look as if there was no crossed out name, and then just for fun he made the letters wiggle. And then the stork flew across the banner in the background, before it managed to break free of the banner and circle the room, a two dimensional bird doing a three dimensional loop.

“Show off,” Darlene teased. “Do more. Our house is really kind of boring for you being a master illusionist.”

“Oh really? Really? Okay.” Wil looked around, and decided to have some fun. To the walls he added several babies crawling around and burbling nonsense. He made the stork chase them and added them to the banner, then he moved on to her stack of presents. Wil had to rely on his imagination for a lot of it, but every present she opened would have a baby crying, laughing, or otherwise making a sound.

The ceiling fan, he gave a touch of frost to disperse over the room, making it cooler. Just for fun he put a few mind altering spells on the couches and chairs. Whoever sat in them would gradually feel more relaxed. One of them he designed to put someone to sleep if they stayed too long, then added another one to a chair he mentally assigned to his aunt. And then, just because it was obnoxious, he created a spinning orb that projected colors to the walls and rooms as it passed.

“Better?” Wil asked.

Darlene hummed, and then nodded. “For now. But by the end, we might have you perform for us.”

“I’d love that!” Robin came out of the kitchen with bowls full of fruit. She sat down in one of the sleep-enchanted chairs. “Remember how he used to do whatever he could to entertain us after school? You’d make dancing lights, or make people sound like cows, and one time you set the schoolhouse on fire!”

Wil’s cheeks burned. “I’m still really grateful no one tattled on me. Got away with saying it was Billy-Ray smoking that did it.”

Darlene laughed. “I worked really hard at keeping people quiet, thank you. If you got in trouble, there’d be no more shows.”

“Absolutely. On that note,” Wil saluted them and disappeared into the bathroom. After he washed his hands and came back out, he grabbed another beer and a hunk of bread with seasoned butter and cheese and slipped out the back door. He found his seat again and relaxed.

He opened his beer and brought it to his lips when his aunt’s head popped out the door. He froze, and she took her opportunity.

“Hey love, can I take this time to talk about something serious?” she asked.

Wil swallowed. “I’d rather not, actually! Maybe later.”

Aunt Linda sat on the bench across from him and made herself comfortable. “Having a baby changes things.”

“I know, Aunt Linda,” he said. “I’m pretty well prepared.” He dreaded what came next, and his aunt didn’t disappoint.

“No, you don’t understand. Things will get harder for you and Darlene, and if you’re a real man, you’ll make sure they’re both provided for. You’re going to have to work harder than you ever had to before.”

Gods. Wil wondered if it would be unethical to hypnotize his aunt into leaving him alone. He decided against mind magic and settled in for a slog as she moved on to diapers and complained at length about her third husband and his unwillingness to be a parent. Wil drained his beer and prepared himself for pain.