AS YOU SAY
by
David Lubar
I had no idea Tonya had all that power. None of us knew. If we did, we never would have taken her doll and teased her. We thought she was a normal kid like the rest of us. Still, considering the basically harmless nature of our behavior, I think her reaction was way too extreme. I've had a lot of time to think about it, and I'm pretty sure she went too far.
"A curse on all of you," she shouted, pointing at us while we tossed her doll around.
I sort of laughed. I know the others did. I could hear Larry's loud laugh, along with Ken's. Mike was chuckling. I'm sure Terry was laughing too. But I felt a bit sorry for Tonya. So I reached over and grabbed the doll from Mike and threw it back to her.
"We were just having some fun," I said.
"A curse," she said again, ignoring the doll that lay crumpled at her feet. "Beware what you say, beware what you do. From this moment on, all your words will come true."
"Oh wow, what a curse," Larry said. He laughed even louder. Then he turned away from her and said, "Come on, let's get out of here."
I waved at the gnats that had gathered around my head, then followed the rest of the gang. The bugs were bad this year.
"Did you hear her?" Mike said. "She really has a wild imagination. A curse. Hah." He swiped at the bugs.
I looked back. Tonya was still there, watching us, smiling. Something about the sight made me shiver. But it was stupid to worry about things that can't exist. I certainly didn't believe in curses.
Until two minutes later.
That's when Larry waved at his head and said, "These bugs are eating me alive."
The next part is a bit hard to describe. Suddenly, there was a cloud of gnats around him. Then more. And then even more. In seconds, Larry was covered with gnats. There was this big, black, buzzing Larry-shaped mass of insects. Then the gnats flew away. They left nothing behind. Larry was gone.
The rest of us just stared at each other for a moment. Mike, who never could keep his mouth shut, was the next to speak. "She did it," he said. "It's real... the curse. I'm sunk."
The instant the words left his lips, I knew he was in deep trouble. I suspect it took Mike a second longer than that to catch on, but by the time he did, he was already up to his ankles in the ground and sinking fast.
That was it for him. He sank from sight. The ground swallowed him like pudding swallows a spoon. He left no more of a trace than Larry.
We stood there, afraid to talk.
"Any ideas?" Ken finally said. He and Terry looked at me. I was supposed to be the smart one in the group. At the moment, I wasn't feeling very wise.
"We could apologize to her," I suggested, speaking carefully and making sure my words had no double meanings that the curse could feast on.
They nodded. That seemed like a good idea all around. We walked, in silence, back to where Tonya had been. She wasn't there.
"Now what?" Terry asked.
That's when I came up with the answer. "I am no longer cursed," I said. It was that simple.
Ken and Terry watched me, as if they expected something awful to happen. But I was pretty sure my idea had worked. I had to test it. I held out my hand. "I'm holding a baseball," I said.
Nothing happened. Relief washed over me. "You try it," I told Terry
"There's a baseball in my hand," he said.
Again, I was the first one to realize the mistake. Terry held his hand up, staring in obvious disbelief. He should have said he was holding a baseball. Instead, he'd said there was one in his hand. And there was. He had this huge, swollen lump bulging from his palm. I could almost see the stitches on the ball through the tightly stretched skin. It must have hurt. The way he went screaming down the street, I'm sure it hurt.
"Hey," Ken said after Terry had raced far enough away that we couldn't hear him anymore. "At least we know you cured yourself. I just have to do the same thing. I hate to lose this power, but I guess it's pretty dangerous."
"Yeah," I agreed. "This isn't the kind of thing we want to fool around with. One slip and something terrible could happen." I was talking pretty freely now that I had lifted the curse from myself. In a moment, Ken would do the same, and at least he and I would be ok. It was great to realize I had survived.
"Good thinking," Ken said.
"Thanks."
"You really are a brain."
I tried to answer. But my legs and arms and body and head seemed to have disappeared. I couldn't see or hear or smell or taste. But I could think. That's about all a brain can do. I guess Ken could make me normal again, if he thought of doing it. But, knowing him, that idea will never rise to the surface of his dim little mind.
Thanks a lot, Ken, you idiot. I hope you do something really stupid to yourself.
_______
From The Psychozone: The Witch's Monkey and Other Tales