Magic Touch

Chapter 7 - Things Unsaid

Grassy fields rolled by, painted orange by the setting sun. Kate was headed to dinner at her parents' house. They lived at the outskirts of town, so taking her car was a necessity.

They had adopted her when she was six, after the incident with her mother. It was a chance they happily accepted, while still being aware of the dramatic circumstances. Most of them anyway. Like everyone else they knew nothing about Kate being a witch, and she did her best to keep it that way.

She had considered declining the invitation, still feeling ruffled from the talk earlier in the day. In the end the want to not disappoint her parents won out and she decided to come anyway. Her parents lived in a small stone house near the edge of town. As she approached in her car she could smell the nearby farms.

She pulled up to the small brick house and parked her car next to the garage. The mailbox still had her name painted on it in spite of the fact that she had moved out more than twenty years ago. Good thing the town was small enough for the mailman to know them, other way some confusion about her mail might have ensued. Above her name were a couple of white hearts and the names of her dads. It usually brought a smile to her face every time she saw it. But not today. Thoughts about her encounter with the hospital director still swirled in her mind. She was essentially being coerced. Was that even legal?

Not wanting to be late, she tore her gaze away from the mailbox and walked up the small stone steps to the front door. She knocked, never having liked the sound of the doorbell. Almost as soon as she did the door opened and a tall, thin man grinned at her. It had earned him the nickname Beanpole, or Bean for short. The fact that he was a florist didn't help.

Kate barely had time to say hi before she felt herself pulled into an embrace. Both of her dads were huggers. While she still wasn't fond of it, she found it more tolerable when it was them.

Once he released her, Bean brought out his smartphone to show to Kate. His grin grew even bigger, nearly reaching from ear to ear. "Look, I caught the fire turtle thing at work today. Aren't you proud of me?"

Kate's eye twitched. He was always on about a mobile game by the name of "Monster Find", but that he could never seem to remember the proper name of any of the creatures. Kate had watched the series back when she was a kid, and even she recalled some of the names.

She squeezed her right wrist as an outlet for her annoyance. "Bean, it's called Magmatian. It says so right there on the screen."

"And?" He gave a hearty laugh. "I caught it so I deserve the right to make up my own name for it, don't I?"

Kate rolled her eyes. "We've been over this before. You're not even consistent with your naming. Next time you're going to call it something like tortoise volcano, or that pointy-headed fire thing."

"Hey, it's my girl!" A second, shorter man pushed past Bean. He had a beard and wore blue overalls. That was Chuck, Bean's partner. Kate usually just called him Dad. He lifted Kate off the ground and. Laughed loudly. "I'm so glad you could make it. It's been too long since last time."

Kate squirmed. For heavens sake, she wasn't five anymore. Yet he insisted on doing this. "Dad. Put me down."

The request had him laughing even louder. "What? Are you worried about my back? You're still light as a feather to me."

It took some self-control on Kate's part not to shout. "No. Please stop treating me like a little kid."

"Psht, you're never going to be too old for this." As if to emphasize his point he did a half turn while still holding Kate. To his credit, he set her down right after.

Kate groaned. That was what he always said. Every. Single. Time. "You can be a pain sometimes, you know?"

He responded with a smile and a thumbs up. "Of course. I'm a literal garbage dad and proud of it." He was a sanitation worker and he didn't hesitate to use that fact in his jokes.

Both dads stepped aside and allowed Kate to enter the attic. The inviting scent of beef and wine sauce wafted against her. She hoped that eating would put her in a better mood. The table was set outside, on the stone terrace above which grape vines grew. She crossed the small living room, walked through the terrace door and took her usual seat.

A jolt went through Bean and his eyes widened. "O-ho! There is one of the ceramic mouse things back in our garden. Hang on for a moment, I'm going to catch it before we eat."

"Don't trip and fall into the pond," Chuck called out after him.

Kate shot Chuck a look. "Don't you think he's a little too obsessed with that game?"

Chuck shrugged. "Not really. Besides, he's cute when he's excited."

"You're allowing him to form bad habits. Don't tell me you started playing too."

"Nah, I prefer my computer. Phones are just," he shook his head. "Can't hit those tiny buttons with my big sausage fingers." Chuck presented his large hands with a hearty laugh. Kate had used to refer to them as bear paws when she was little.

After some minutes of crawling around in the bushes Bean rejoined them at the dinner table. Kate could tell from his smile that he'd caught the critter. His phone went on the table where he could keep an eye on it. If a common monster appeared during dinner he would pass on catching it, but the same couldn't be expected in the event that a rare one showed up.

Kate and Chuck had already filled their plates, but didn't start eating before Bean was seated.

"This is heavenly." Kate closed her eyes as she savored the first bite. The taste of magical cooking depended on the user's concentration and skill. Hers was usually average, which tended to suit her just fine when she was tired from work, but eating at her parents' house was a treat almost every time.

Bean smiled at the response. "Now that's more like it! My girl smiling like she should be."

Kate raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"You didn't realize? You've been frowning since the moment you arrived."

Kate's grip on her fork tightened. She hadn't expected it to be that obvious. Then again, those two were the people who knew her best. It was a small miracle that she had been able to keep her powers from them. Even then, there had been a couple of close calls.

She gave a brief nod. "I had a bad day at work. Guess it's still eating at me."

Her parents didn't prod any further. They had used to, until one day where the cause of her gloomy mood had been the death of a patient she thought she'd had under control. After the question had been repeated more times than she could take, she related the incident in all of its gory detail. She deliberately made a number of comparisons between human organs and the food that was on their plates. Her strategy succeeded - both in robbing her parents of all appetite and firmly teaching them that one didn't ask about for details on Kate's bad days at work.

Sometimes she felt a twinge at the silence her uttering of the phrase brought, and the change of topic that followed. Not the fact that they didn't push her for all the gory details of failed surgeries. She was content to keep that to herself. No, she found herself wishing that she could discuss magic with her parents. These people who were supposed to know all about her, yet didn't know the secret that was essential to her being.

She was their dear, sweet Kate. But would she still be if they knew of her powers? That was the question she never dared to ask.