From the dining room came the Bloodhound’s voice. Hey, I heard that one, too! Geez, you guys really don’t understand how well dogs hear, do you? I mean, it’s the middle of the night on a weekend, and I can already hear the mailman coming this Monday.
As Maria pushed the door open to the dining area and saw her friends and her new boyfriend, she thought I guess talking Bloodhounds don’t have to make much sense, either.
“Not how that works, Sherlock,” she said. She was not surprised to see pink and orange stains around the dog’s muzzle. The flavor of the day, besides buckeye, was apparently sherbet.
They enjoyed each other’s company for a while after that. There was lots of laughter and smiles. Maria explained to Joe all that had happened to her over the course of the last few days, and he listened intently with his jaw hanging open, only closing it to occasionally clear his throat and nod. But after Maria, with the support of her friends and family, was done telling him, Joe didn’t pass out like he had done on more than one occasion. Nor did he say he didn’t believe her. He had seen enough to know that magic, witches, and wizards were the real deal, and if they were real, what’s not to say dragons, Elves, and spells weren’t?
Joe only said one thing before the laughter and enjoyment resumed.
“I’m glad you’re okay.” Then he hugged Maria, and they sat next to each other, hand in hand, while they ate ice cream.
It was a dessert feast.
By the time they were done, it was decided by Ignatius that they should all go home and get some rest. Maria was glad of that. She hadn’t slept in God knew how long, but as much as she wanted to sleep, she was too stubborn—Just like your dear mother, Gramps’s voice echoed in her head—to say that.
So out they went. Before Maria left for home, however, she stayed back in the parking lot with Joe, off to the side of the building.
“If you need any help defeating this…uh, spider-lord-thing, well then, I’m your guy.”
“Thank you, Joe,” she said, a touch of sadness in her eyes. “But I don’t want to put you in any more danger than you are already in by being with me. You know, I’m liable to just, like, explode at any moment. Magic, and all that.”
Joe laughed. “I think you’ve got the hang of it, for the most part. Matter of fact, you’d probably be a kick-ass security guard up at Rolling Hill. I could get you in after all this warfare blows over.”
A smile touched Maria’s lips. “Thanks, but no. I’m never going back to that hellhole again.”
Joe shrugged. “I don’t think it’ll be around much longer anyway.”
“Sad,” Maria replied.
She looked Joe in the eyes, having to crane her head up slightly to meet them, since he was nearly a head taller than her. She liked that. Dating someone shorter than her wasn’t exactly a deal-breaker, but it wasn’t a trait she sought out, either.
Of course, the same could probably be said about dating someone who practices magic. The term ‘witch’ has been known to leave a bad taste in peoples’ mouths from time to time. So I don’t know if you get to be picky, Maria.
To get her mind off of all of that, she asked Joe what he was going to do once the mall closed down.
With a shrug and a slight shake of his head, he cleared his throat before he answered. “I don’t know, really. I might go to college. I hear Akron University has some solid programs.”
Maria nodded. “Tabby likes it.”
“What I really want to do is become a cop.”
“You’d be good at that.” Maria had to put away the thought of Joe in a cop uniform before her face turned beet red.
“It’s been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember,” Joe said. “I’d play cops and robbers with my brother, and we never fought over who got to be who. Brad loved being the robber, and I loved being the cop.” He gave her a wink. “And I always won.”
Maria chuckled. “Then why don’t you do that? Go to the police academy.”
“Well, my mom said if I became a cop, you know, handling guns and busting crackheads and murderers, she’d have a panic attack and probably never cut the crusts off of my PB&J sandwiches again… Oh, no, I've said too much. Anyway, I love my mom. I’d hate to scare her.”
“That’s sweet,” Maria said, “but you can’t live your life according to someone else. It’s your life. I think it’s unfair of your mom to guilt you out of doing what you want to do.”
“I know, I know,” Joe said.
She could tell he was getting uncomfortable. Joe had probably thought about all of this before. Who am I to tell him what to do? And aren’t I being a bit of a hypocrite?
So she just smiled and took his hand. “You’ll figure it out, and you’ll be great at whatever you wind up doing.”
“Thanks,” he replied, returning the smile.
“Whether you wear a police badge and carry a gun, or a Rolling Hill name tag and carry a flashlight, you’re still a hero to me.”
“You’re gonna make me cry,” Joe joked.
Maria laughed and hit him playfully on the shoulder. “Okay, I’m out of here. I need to rest. I feel like I’m about to collapse. Conquering a Rogue Dragon, and all.”
Joe shook his head. Then they kissed and said their goodbyes.
When she got home a few minutes later, the lights went off and everyone passed out. Gelbus stayed in Sherlock’s ‘office,’ Frieda was asleep in the living room, and Sherlock slept at the foot of Maria’s bed, like always—and like always, his tail-end wound up near her face, right on her pillow.
When she woke up, the sun was on the horizon. She looked at
