A magic carnival - Part 4

Martha and Sami still enjoyed the festivities when they suddenly heard the cries of a woman. They looked and saw a gorilla was carrying a woman over his shoulders. The woman was crying for help. Many people thought it was a carnival prank, but someone was already calling the police.

Sami looked at the ape with great interest. “Do you feel it too, Martha? This ape was magically created.”

“I can feel it, too. But I can’t make out what kind of magic it is.” Martha replied.

“Me neither.” Sami shook his head.

“Can’t we do anything about it?” Martha felt terrible for the woman.

“Not unless someone wishes for it. But we should follow them. Might be interesting.” Sami proposed.

Meanwhile, the gorilla had reached a church in the center of town. He started to climb one of its towers, still carrying the girl. On the ground, more and more people watched the scene. It was only a matter of time until police and animal control would appear on the scene.
Martha and Sami hurried and rushed into the church. They headed for the staircase and stormed upwards. When they finally arrived at the top of the tower, the ape was already there with his prisoner. Strangely enough, the ape treated the woman very carefully. Still, the woman was crying. “Help me, please. I wish I had my boyfriend back. Save me from this brute.”

“It’s a wish. Shall I grant it?” Sami asked.

Martha was reluctant. “You won’t screw this wish up for fun?”

“Do you trust me?” Sami asked.

Martha closed her eyes for a second. She was undecided. She knew that Sami liked to twist wishes. But, also, a part of her wanted to trust Sami. Martha listened to her intuition. “Ok Sami. Do it!”

Sami blinked and the ape transformed back into a man in a gorilla costume. Instantly, he ripped the mask from his face. “Charlie, I’m... I’m sorry! I don’t know what came over me.”

“Stay away from me...” Charlie, sitting on the floor, jumped up and ran down the stairs. Marc was following her.

“Wow. I’m so proud of you, Sami. You didn’t twist that wish and turned him back the way he was.” Martha said.

“Did you expect me to twist the wish?” Sami asked.

“Honestly, I was worried, yes. You have the tendency to screw up people’s lives with their wishes.” Martha admitted.

Sami scratched his head. “Yeah, I tend to do that. But this woman was totally innocent. So, I just undid the transformation that was placed on the man.”

“So he’s completely back to normal now?” Martha asked.

“His mind was strongly affected by the transformation, as well. It seems he’s back to his original mind, but I can’t guarantee it. The mind change wasn’t an original part of the transformation.” Sami explained.

“Anyway, I’m very proud of you.” Martha kissed Sami on his cheek. “Let’s go downstairs.” Sami nodded and led her down the stairs.


In another part of town, Anne-Laure was flying over the heads of the crowd. She really enjoyed being a fairy and also took some joy in transforming other people. Since it wasn’t permanent, no lasting harm would be done. She was looking for another person to transform, when suddenly a gauzy, gossamer net swept over her head and fetched her out of the air. Anne-Laure tried desperately to free herself, but just felt herself become more and more entangled. Suddenly, a hand appeared and forced its way through the net. The hand grabbed her and took her out of the butterfly net. The hand belonged to a young man dressed up like an explorer from the 19thcentury, with a khaki uniform, a pith helmet, leather bag and a butterfly net.

“Look what I caught here! You are indeed a rare specimen.” The man said.

Anne-Laure screamed.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Part 1: [link]
Part 2: [link]
Part 3: [link]

Part 5: [link]
Part 6: [link]

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The robot-maid in the background is Nomoko by