Chapter 17

If all this sounds silly, unreasonable, or impossible, you’re not alone in that evaluation. But there’s one key variable that hasn’t been mentioned.

The wand.

At graduation, Mindy used it on Bobby when the choir sang the school song. She had to be careful, and she thought for a long time about what she’d do, in very specific terms. She didn’t want any unwanted side-effects. As she made the circle/zee, she stared at Bobby and recited her memorized incantation.

“It’s not urgent that we meet. We have plenty of time. Mindy will take care of everything. You need to think about college.”

She had no idea if it had worked. There was no outward indication of its effect. When the choir was released, Bobby sat down with the rest, and graduation was normal.

It did work, though. The urgency with which Bobby might have tried to meet with her was dulled. When things got in the way of them getting together, he accepted that as unavoidable. In his mind, they did have plenty of time. He hadn’t planned on “coming out” with her until the next summer anyway.

In his mind, they had time. And she was worth waiting for.

College was remarkably like high school, except there were many fewer rules. Being away from home and parental scrutiny lowered the inhibitions of most freshmen. Alcohol was much more available. You could go to bed whenever you wanted, and get up that way, too. If you skipped a class, nobody called your parents. There was no detention to threaten students with.

The course work was demanding, but mostly because of the amount of reading that was required. For Bobby, the standard courses in English, history, math, and so on could be put up with because the law enforcement classes were fascinating. Most citizens don’t really understand either the constitution or the bill of rights. That ignorance does not serve them well when they run afoul of law enforcement. Most people think they know their rights, but most people don’t really understand how those rights work.

Take, for instance, the part of the Miranda warning that says: You have the right to remain silent. Lots of people think that means they don’t have to roll down the window or identify themselves when stopped by a cop. That’s not what that aspect means, though. It means you can remain silent when asked incriminating questions. You can be compelled to identify yourself, and provide normal identifying data. Even if you happen to know there are outstanding warrants for your arrest in the system, then refusing to identify yourself because your very name might be “incriminating” doesn’t wash. Saying your name doesn’t incriminate you in a crime. It merely attaches you to crimes already committed.

The next line is: Anything you say can be used against you in court of law. That one is more clear. Anything you say voluntarily can be used against you. Say you get stopped and asked where you’re coming from. It’s a common question. But think about that for a second. The officer isn’t just being chatty and friendly. Why would he need to know where you’re coming from? Why would he need to know where you’re going, either? That’s another common question. Those don’t sound like incriminating questions, but your answers to them can incriminate you. If you’re coming from someplace a crime was committed, that puts you at the scene. The reason they ask both of those questions is to see if you’re on a reasonable route ... if you are likely being truthful with them. If not, then suspicion is created. If suspicion is created, then they start asking more questions.

And if you lie about any of this, that’s a crime, itself. If you’re coming from a crime scene, the answer to that one might be, “I don’t want to tell you that, officer.” You do not, after all, have to answer any question that might incriminate you.

Not to belabor this, but one more line needs to be addressed: You have the right to talk to a lawyer for advice before we ask you any questions. You have the right to have a lawyer with you during questioning.

This does not mean you cannot be questioned. On TV it’s called “Lawyering up” and it always seems to be depicted as meaning the perpetrator gets to walk free and avoid questioning. That’s not the case at all. You can compel a suspect to sit down while you ask questions. He can refuse to answer those questions, but he has to sit through them. His lawyer can advise him not to answer, but both of them have to sit there while you ask the questions. The thing is, that even if you don’t answer verbally, your body language may be screaming. A good interrogator can tell as much from your body language as what you say out loud. Your lawyer knows this. That’s why he wants to get you out of there as quickly as possible.

These are the kinds of things Bobby learned about, and which made being at college, and being separated from his lover, worth it.

And, of course, the spell Mindy had put on him hadn’t had an expiration date. That’s the one thing she hadn’t thought about.

Their plan was doomed to failure, of course. It was after all, silly, unreasonable, and impossible, despite all the rationalizations they made. Ironically, it was Christmas, normally a time of joy and happiness, that undid them. It was ironic because it was during Christmas break that Bobby ran into Mindy at the supermarket while he was on an errand from his mother to go get some eggnog. He saw her head, in profile, over the top of a rolling stand that had day-old bakery products on it. His heart leapt in his chest, and his pulse increased by thirty beats per minute.

When he rounded the rolling cart, on his way to talk to her, he saw the rest of her in profile.

She’d been too hot in her coat, so she took it off and put it in her cart. The sweater she had on under it clung to her body like a second skin. Her pregnant belly, which now held an eight-month-old fetus, looked almost exactly like she’d swallowed a basketball.

He stumbled to a halt, overwhelmed by the impossibility of what he was seeing. He had just decided he was mistaken, that this woman only looked like Mindy, when she turned and saw him. Her right hand went to her belly unconsciously. Her jaw sagged just like his.

Dumbfounded shoppers watched, curiously, as the two crashed into each other and cried. Curiously, those shoppers were disturbed by Bobby’s crying while, at the same time, accepting Mindy’s as normal. It was most of thirty seconds before they separated, at arm’s length, and Bobby gasped, “What happened?”

She blinked. She was still overwhelmed by their meeting, by having felt him in her arms. His question seemed ridiculous in a way that made her want to laugh, hysterically. Her body was flooded with hormones, and that included her brain. She’d been so lonely she sometimes cried herself to sleep. Her outburst, at that moment, was unintentional, but full of emotion.

“We had sex, you idiot!”

She had spoken with a raised voice. Their little crowd of observers grew by three people. Now it was Bobby who blinked. His youth came into play as, like most young people, his mind rejected the idea that he could actually be a parent. That was something that happened to other people. It was callow youth that made him respond.

“Is it mine?”

The question in his voice could be interpreted in several ways. What Bobby meant by it was that he needed confirmation that this impossible thing was true, that he was, in fact, a parent-to-be. To Bobby, it was like saying, “Really?!”

The other way to interpret that question, however, is to replace the words with, “Who else have you been sleeping with, who might also be responsible?”

If she’d had time to think, Mindy might have recognized the wonder in his voice. A woman nearby, though, one of their crowd of interested people, sighed, “Oh my,” in a voice that was full of pity and shock. Compounding that, Mindy had been telling the story she’d concocted, about how she met a man and went on dates with him in Cheyenne, and then, too late, found out he was married. She’d told it enough times that her own mind was beginning to accept it as truth.

But the idea that Bobby didn’t trust her was devastating.

She abandoned her cart and turned away. Her eyes, full of tears, caused the world to become blobs of color. She half ran all the way to the doors of the store and onto the sidewalk outside. She was crying openly, now, tears of rage, instead of joy.

The cold bit into her like little teeth and she skidded to a stop. Her coat. It was still in her cart. She stood, shivering. She needed her coat. The temperature was in the lower teens. She turned and went back in, but then stopped as the rush of warmth in the store slammed into her.

She couldn’t go back there, to the dairy aisle, where Bobby was. She couldn’t deal with it. Then hope replaced despair as she saw the woman who had gasped out her own consternation as Bobby questioned the parentage of their baby. She had Mindy’s coat and was hurrying toward her.