The Wishing Coin: A Modern Fairy Tale by Antara Mann

Author:Antara Mann [Mann, Antara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Antara Mann
Published: 2015-08-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

I was sitting in my office, rereading the lines for the following episode of my show, when the door sharply opened and Lewis stormed in.

“Something’s going on here. There must be some supernatural intervention. It’s just not right! My mother has gone completely crazy!”

“Oh, what has she done again?”

A week had passed since that unfortunate evening at the sushi restaurant and luckily for me, Jackie did change. She wasn’t pestering us all the time and it appeared that she’d started to like me. Or at least she didn’t hate me. A few days ago she had gone back to Seattle and we hadn’t had a single argument. That was all I’d wanted from that damned snobbish woman – a little respect.

“You just won’t believe it! First she went to the Chairman of the Social Democrats and offered her financial support if they made her a party member.”

“What?”

“Incredible, right? She told them she’d changed her political views and she was begging them to let her join the party. She promised to help them with money, connections –with everything she could.”

“Your mother, a Democrat?” I was dumbfounded.

I remembered how fiercely she had spoken against Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Even my wildest imagination couldn’t create this picture. “So what will happen to the meetings at that club?”

“The Republican Mothers’ club?”

“Yes, she was a Chairwoman, wasn’t she?”

“I have no idea. I guess they don’t know yet. When they find out, they’ll be shocked. You know what else she’s done? This is the most bizarre thing of all. She’s donated ten thousand dollars to Ballard Food Bank. Can you believe it? Ten thousand bucks for the poor and the beggars!”

This time, I was left open-mouthed, too. Jackie, who had thought that nobody should donate anything, not even food vouchers, unless the recipients were working; that immigrants were like weeds for the American economy and that the minimal hourly payment had to be discarded because it was against the basic market economy principle of demand and supply… Jackie had donated money to feed the poor in Seattle? That was inexplicable, and all the more so if we were talking about ten thousand dollars!

“I told you she’s gone crazy!” Lewis started walking to and fro in the office and finally stopped at my desk. “Look, I don’t want to sound crazy; I know it sounds strange but…” He hesitated for a moment and cautiously looked around to make sure we were alone. “I think that there’s some magic involved here,” he said, almost whispering.

I laughed nervously. I already felt as if I was a character in a Woody Allen movie.

“Lewis, I understand that Jackie’s behavior is…” I wondered what word to use. “Supernatural” felt too much. “…unusual, but she is at an age when very often elderly people like her begin to rethink their values. I don’t think there’s any magic involved here.”

“What magic is involved here?” Barry, The Screw’s screenplay writer, entered the room.

“Oh, nothing. I was just telling Julia how magicians did their tricks.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.