Nine: Do You Believe In Magic?

The dilapidated cabin looked gloomy amongst the towering elms. He ascended the front steps toward the door, already had ideas of what he was going to do with the steps and the small veranda. He put the key in the keyhole and turned it. It still smelled like old tobacco and wet wood. He entered carefully, the floor creaked, the hinges squeaked. Everything was still at its place, nobody had been in there since old man Bob's funeral.

He sat on the two seated ram shacked sofa, he took a small picture frame from the side table next to it, a picture of the old man and him when he was about 15 years old. He remembered how Bob used to show him magic tricks that were obvious to him, but he kept his mouth shut, pretended that it was the cleverest trick he had ever seen.

Bob asked him one day, "Do you believe in magic, Tommy?"

He said, "No."

Bob smiled and said, "You will ... when you see her," with a pat on his shoulder.

He never really understood what it meant until he saw Charlie.

He stood up, looked around, it was a tiny little space. It won't take too long for him to fix the whole place and made it livable. Samuel and Ryan were already out around town to gather materials for the renovation. He spent the weekend toiling with his friends to turn the cabin into a decent space, it was going to be a place he can call home. His friends will be welcomed to stay there too, just like the old days with Bob. He couldn't help but wonder if Bob had thought about this day when he decided to leave the cabin for him.

Charlene was busy being a good hostess to her guests. Her parents made her sit and went with them everywhere, just so she could spend more time with Landon. He never mentioned what he saw that night, he observed the situation and realized nobody else knew about it either.

Summer holiday was approaching, Bill Ludlow had already made plans for her to visit Gastonburry for a couple of weeks. Charlene was to go to an open house at UOG while he had a business meeting with Lloyd Friedman. They were to stay at Friedman's because they would return their hospitality.

"I can't wait to show you around and introduce you to some professors there that can help you get admitted next year," said Landon before he headed home on Sunday. Charlene responded with a smile. "Thank you for your hospitality, I really enjoyed staying at your lovely home."

"You're welcome," she said and shook his hand. Landon leaned forward to kiss her but she turned her face, he ended up kissing her cheek. She was annoyed by the fact that he was going for her lips when they had only met for a couple of days.

"I'll see you in summer," he said, still holding her hand.

"I'll see you then," she replied.

He went into the car with his parents and waved goodbye. She went straight to her room without any remarks about Landon to her parents, even though they were expecting her to make some comments about him.

"I saw you two were getting along," Catherine started the conversation when she went up to Charlene's room.

"He's okay ... we've only met for two days, I can't really say ..." she was combing her hair.

"Your dad just wants to make sure that everything's fine between the two of you because he's about to do a big business with his father," Catherine took the comb and started combing her daughter's hair.

If anything, she thought Landon was a bit forward, maybe because he was older, so she didn't say anything about it.

"I guess we'll find out more about him when you go there next month ... they have a really nice summer home there," Catherine added.

Charlene smiled reluctantly, "I really want to stay here for summer, it's my first summer where I can be out with my friends."

"It's only going to be two weeks, you'll have the rest of summer here with your friends," her mom finished combing her hair and put down the comb.

"There's going to be a town's gathering next weekend, the Mayor is going to announce your father's candidacy for next term election. He's going to be pretty busy very soon."

"Are we going to the town's gathering too?" her eyes widen.

"Of course, everyone in town will be there, we should be there to support your dad too ... there's going to be dinner, socializing, dance, bazaar, and other things after the town hall announcement."

Her mother stopped when she noticed something, "That's a nice necklace, is that new?"

Charlene touched her necklace and put it inside her shirt, "It was a birthday gift from Kayla," she lied.

"That's nice of her, well ... alright, I'll leave you, then, make sure you have a proper dress for the town's gathering," she told her before she went out the door.