Chapter 3

While Sean was sitting in Suzie's backyard waiting for her to change into her swimsuit, he started thinking about his new magic gift. Talking to animals was okay, but it was kind of limited. His conversation with the wren hadn't exactly been a philosophical discussion about the works of the Bard. There had to be more to his gift than just that.

He looked around wondering what animals were in the area. Suddenly, every animal within the area glowed. He could see the glow even if the animal was hidden behind a tree or in the ground. He could tell what kind of animal it was by its shape. In addition to a couple varieties of birds, there were squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks, field mice, and even moles. There were a couple of toads and one snake. The ground and air glowed with insect life. He was quite shocked at how many living things there were around him.

"Hey, that's neat," he said to no one.

He turned to look at the house. He could see the outlines of Suzie's mother and father in the area of the kitchen. He could see Suzie in the area of her bedroom. A voyeur would find that gift a blessing. Sean thought about it, but then realized the only couples he could watch would be his or Suzie's parents. The idea made him ill.

He turned his attention back to the area behind Suzie's house. The whole area was filled with the glows of different wild animals. There were a lot of experiments he could perform with regard to his new magic gift.

Wondering if he could restrict what he was seeing to a single species, he said, "Let me see only the glows of the mice."

Much to his amazement and pleasure, all of the glows from the insects and other lifeforms in the area disappeared with the exception of the glows from the mice. He could see where a pair of mice had a nest with a batch of babies in it.

He turned off the glow and just looked around at his surroundings. There were trees, bushes, and grass. Despite knowing there was so much life around him, it was hard to see it. He figured that was a pretty neat aspect of his new magic gift.

Sean played around with his gift and discovered that he could find the nearest individual of a given species near him. He could also locate a specific individual animal amongst a group. He figured that he had plenty of time to learn more about his magic gift.

The sun was shining and the day was hot. He couldn't wait for Suzie to come out from the house so that they could go swimming. She was going to show off a new swim suit.

He looked over at Henri.

"Come on in, the water is great," Henri said while paddling around in the swimming pool.

"Don't use the pool as a toilet," Sean said.

"What's a toilet?" Henri asked.

Sean said, "It's a thing in which you eliminate waste."

Henri said, "Too late."

"Ugh!"

Suzie came out of the house. She was wearing a miniscule swimming suit that nearly took Sean's breath away.

"You look good enough to eat," Sean said.

"Thank you."

With a worried expression on his face, Henri looked over at him. It should be noted that a worried expression on a duck is much like every other expression that a duck was capable of making since there just isn't that much one can do with a duck bill to convey emotion. None the less, it was a worried expression with which he examined Sean.

Henri asked, "What? You're going to eat her?"

"No," Sean said.

"Why did you say that she looked good enough to eat?" Henri said.

"It's an expression meaning that she's really beautiful," Sean said.

Henri paddled around a moment and then asked, "So your mother was telling me that I'm a beautiful duck?"

"No. She was saying she wanted to eat you," Sean said.

Suzie said, "People are going to think you're strange if you keep quacking like that."

"I was just talking to Henri," Sean said.

Henri said, "So how do I know the difference between someone saying that I look good and saying that they want to eat me?"

Sean answered, "If Suzie or I tell you that you look good enough to eat, then it means you're a good looking duck. If my mother or her mother tells you that, then it means that you'd taste pretty good. With everyone else, well ... that's a good question."

"You're quacking again."

"I know. Henri's concerned about getting eaten," Sean said.

"You'll protect him," Suzie said.

"That's true," Sean said.

Suzie ran over to the pool and climbed onto the ledge that ran around it. She jumped in the water splashing Henri. The duck had to shake to remove the water from its back. Sean, on the other hand, was stunned for a moment from watching her run. It was amazing how so many body parts could move in so many different directions and just look flat sexy at the same time.

He joined her in the pool. The water was cool, the sun was warm, and Suzie was hot. Sean couldn't ask for anything better. He put his arms around Suzie and kissed her.

Startling the young couple, there was a sharp crack and then three splashes at the far end of the pool. Exhibiting very proper duck behavior, Henri took flight before Chom, Pip, and Thur rose to the surface. The water started draining from the end of the pool where the tree branch had flattened the wall of the pool.

"I told you that branch wouldn't support the three of us," Chom said.

"Well, I couldn't see where his hands were from the other branch," Thur said.

Pip said, "They were at the end of his arms."

Thur said, "They were also on her back."

"Don't be ridiculous, how can his hands be two places at once?" Chom asked.

Although Suzie had only moments ago been quite pleased with where Sean's hands had been, now had matters of greater importance on her mind. Suzie shouted, "You broke our pool."

"It's just a minor problem," Chom said while wringing the water out of his beard.

"Ninety percent of it is still in perfect condition," Pip said.

Nodding his head in agreement, Thur said, "You can't ask for much better than that."

"You're going to have to fix it," Suzie said.

Chom said, "I'm sure that we can do that."

"Two sodas each?" Pip asked.

Now standing in water that only came up to his knees, Sean said, "You broke it, you have to fix it for free."

"One soda each?" Pip asked.

"Free," Sean said.

"One soda for all of us?" Pip asked.

"Free," Sean said.

Chom said, "He doesn't know how to negotiate, does he?"

"Free," Sean said.

Thur said, "His vocabulary has suddenly gotten very small."

"That's true," Pip said.

"You're going to fix it for free and you're going to fix it now," Sean said.

"Why now?" Chom asked.

"My mother is coming home soon," Suzie said.

Thur asked, "So?"

Sean said, "My mother is going to be with her."

Pip asked, "What do you think they'll do?"

"They'll cut off your beard," Suzie said knowing how proud they were of their beards.