To Learn a Lesson Part 7: The Division
#7 of To Learn a Lesson
Students filtered out of the school as the final bell rang. They headed for their cars, the buses, or for those who lived close enough, the sidewalks. The town was fairly large but was made out as if it were small. Tree-lined streets, brick city hall with an adjacent park, and lots of small businesses gave it a very retro feel. Virgil sat down in the passenger seat of Tim's car as Tim started it up and dove out of the parking lot. "Man, what if I told you that I found a book that can make our wildest dreams come true?" "I'd say you're crazy," replied Virgil while he messed around with the radio, "then again, you were able make that shrink dust so..." Virgil looked down at his pocket where his pet was still fast asleep. "By the way, did I tell you Ryan ran off last night?" "He did?" Tim smiled hoping for an excuse to punish the miniaturized bully. "Yeah, but he came back," Virgil stroked Ryan through the front of his pocket, "Isn't that awesome? I guess he actually likes being my pet." Tim nearly went off the road when he heard this, "He...actually came back..?" Tim was feeling an odd mix of disappointment and astonishment. Disappointed because this ruled out any chance of him inflicting pain on Ryan; astonished because he could hardly believe Ryan would go back to Virgil. "Umm-hmm." Virgil responded, he was too into the 60's style music now pouring out of the car's speakers to say anything else. "I can't believe you listen to that stuff, Virg." Tim continued driving, he'd show Virgil the book when they got back to his house. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Carlo's pen moved carefully along his straight edge. He'd promised his clients precision and he wasn't going to disappoint. His career as an architect depended on keeping his customers happy. He was almost done, when the phone rang. Luckily, he had trained himself to freeze up instead of spazz out when startled or the result of this sound would've been worse than just a spot of over-inked paper. Tim's father sighed and picked up the phone, "Hello?" "Hello son." said a female voice on the other end. "Oh hi Mom, is everything alright?" "Somewhat..." replied the one-hundred thirty-four year old sorceress on the other end, "I'm just worried about Tim is all. I honestly don't think that boy is ready for all the power he has. Think about it, a youth with the power to do almost anything he wants..." "Don't worry Mother, I haven't taught him anything too powerful yet." "Alright then, tell Timmy I said hi." "I will Mom, bye." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Right this way mousey boy and I'll show you the wonders of the arcane!" Virgil followed Tim down the basement stairs and into his bedroom. The room was very much like Virgil's in terms of style only smaller and with more outdated/cheaper technology; there were also many more posters depicting bikini-clad swimsuit models than Virgil would like there to be. They both made their way over to the improvised wire-spool table in the middle of the room and sat down. Virgil felt Ryan moving around so he decided to let him out of the pocket. "Thank you Master." said Ryan who was set on the table. "No problem." "So, I heard you ran away." said Tim eying Ryan sadistically, "How do I know you won't do it again?" The iguana showed his claws to the now shivering lion. "Stop it. He came back, Tim." said Virgil stroking Ryan in an attempt to comfort him. "P-p-please Sir, I've learned my lesson. My place is with m-my Master.." Ryan pressed himself into Virgil's arm which was lying on the table and Virgil placed his hand over him. "Fine. But if you ever hurt Virgil I swear I'll..." Tim sighed 'maybe people like him can change.' "I'll be right back, could you put Ryan over on the nightstand or something. We need room on the table." Tim walked out of the room and Ryan took the opportunity to ask his master something. "Master, why is Tim like that?" "Well... Tim and me have always been outcasts. So it's sorta been like me and him against the world. Tim is just... really protective. Once you're his friend, you're his friend for life..." "And if you're not..." "He just... doesn't care. Now that he has this magic stuff, I'm kinda afraid for everyone. I mean, I doubt he'd go after everyone, but..." The door opened and Tim walked in carrying an old leather-bound book. "Alright, check this out." Tim put the book on the center of the table and flipped it open to a page he had marked. "Go ahead and put Ryan over there in the cup." Tim pointed to an empty glass that was sitting on his nightstand. "My dad won't be home for a few hours so we've got time. You're gonna love this." Virgil went ahead and put Ryan in the cup and sat back down at the table. "Okay, take my hand." Virgil did so. Tim began to chat something foreign in a low voice while keeping his head held high. Suddenly there was a bright flash of light and Virgil and Tim were standing in a large, open field with some patches of dark-green grass here and there. "Cool huh?" asked Tim as he gestured for Virgil to look down. When he looked down the mouse was taken aback. They were standing on what looked like an incredibly small scale-model of their town. The tallest buildings barely reaching halfway up their toes. "Oh...My...God..." Was all Virgil could say as he looked down his colossal form to the town below. "Tim... what did you do!? We're gigantic!" "Not quite." said Tim as he lied down to get a better look of the place. "You shrank the town!?" "Nope, ever heard of astral projection?" "Yes..." said Virgil making sure not to move for fear of hurting anyone. "Well, picture that on steroids. We're not really big, we just appear that way. No one can see us, hear us, or feel us. We're basically giant ghosts." Virgil looked around unsure, "So, I can't hurt anyone?" "Nope, we can't affect anyone in any way... I'm just using this spell to get a feel for being big. I have to get the actual growth spell outta my dad sometime." Virgil lied down himself and crawled over so he could see his house. It was smaller than his fingertip! The mouse's giant spirit peered through the windows and he saw his mother dressed in her gardening clothes. Apparently his eyesight was drastically improved by the spell. Virgil watched as his mother walked outside and over to her garden. When she started watering the tomato plants Virgil decided to experiment a little. He reached out with his index finger and touched her. It was a strange feeling, he could feel she was there but his finger passed right through her (and the wall of the garden shed she was standing by). Next, Virgil took one large step over to the highway. As usual, cars were zipping down it one way or the other trying to get from point A to point B. Virgil took off his shoes and put one foot in the middle of the highway. He could feel the sensation of all the cars passing through his sole, tickling and massaging his paw-pads at the same time. He giggled. "Wow Tim, this is cool! Tim?" Virgil turned around and saw his friend peering into a house. "Tim, what're you doing?" Virgil asked putting his hands on his hips. "Nothing..." Tim grunted. "You're not watching a girl undress are you?" Tim stood up, "Aw c'mon, I'm not THAT perverted." "Yes you are." "Fine, I am. But at least I don't keep a shrunken boy-toy as a pet." Tim said jokingly. Virgil clenched his fists and glared angrily at Tim, "Put me back in my body..." "Virgil.. I was only-" "Do it!" There was another flash and the two were back in their bodies that had since slumped over onto the table. Virgil shot up out of his seat. snatched Ryan out of the glass. and headed for the door. "C'mon Virgil..." Virgil remained silent. "Virgil! It was a joke! Don't do this to me, we're best friends man..." Virgil stopped at the front door to shoot Tim a dirty look before leaving and slamming it behind him. 'God Tim, you really fucked up this time' Tim thought to himself.
"Master, what happened?" asked Ryan who was cupped in Virgil's hands. Virgil took a deep breath and forced a smile onto his face "Nothing you need to worry about little guy." He pet Ryan a bit, before slipping him back into his pocket. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tim burst through the door into his room. He ran down the stairs and frantically turned the pages of his father's tome. "That little bastard, this is all his fault!" He kept turning the pages until he found what he was looking for. "Yeah, this'll work..."