Pass It On
Chapter Four

When they broke the embrace, they wiped the tears from their eyes and Destiny reached into her pocket and pulled out the coin. It had changed since the last time they’d looked at. Only the words “Pass It On” remained, everything else was blank now.

Destiny nodded as she rubbed the coin between her fingers. “I understand now.”

Katie shrugged her shoulders. “So tell me because I don’t.”

“Pass it on. Don’t you get it? We’ve used up the wishes and now we have to pass it on to someone else who needs it. That’s why all the other words are gone. There’s nothing left but to pass ... it ... on.”

Katie nodded. “Okay ... I get it, but who do we pass it on to?”

Destiny looked round the ball field and her eyes caught the sight of a young boy in a wheel chair. His parents were helping him into their van.

Destiny grabbed Katie. “C’mon.”

Katie followed Destiny down the bleachers and across the parking lot.

“Hey!” Destiny called out to the young boy.

He turned round to see two unknown girls running up fast. When Destiny and Katie got there he eyed them suspiciously. “Do I know you?”

Destiny shook her head. “Nope ... we’re just here to give you something.”

“Something we think you need.” Katie added with her eleven and half year old missing tooth smile.

Destiny put the coin in the boy’s hand. “It’s a magic coin. You look like you could use a little magic.”

The boy looked at the old tarnished coin and read the words aloud. “To the bearer of this coin come three wishes. Use them wisely.”

He quickly turned it over and read the rest of the message. “After using ... please pass it on.”

The boy shook his head, knowing there was no such thing as magic coins. He then looked up to ask his two new friends what all this was about but the girls had already jumped on their bikes and were riding off.

A second warm wave passed across the two girls and all memories of magic coins, wishes, psoriasis, and thirty nine year old little sisters faded away. All that remained was two very happy red headed little monkeys cycling toward home, but with two stops along the way: one at Kroger’s to get a free cookie and the other at McDonalds for a romp in the play place and a mini cone. As the girls disappeared from view their thoughts were on the day ahead. Destiny had a hoops and Dairy Queen date with Tommy on her mind while Katie was just looking forward to hugs, Taco night and writing a fairy tale.

Paris and Larry, dressed in black and invisible to all, floated just above the trees and watched the girls until they rode out of sight.

Paris smiled lovingly at them. “Aren’t they cute? I just love my sisters. They’re my whole world.”

Larry nodded and pulled his love in close. “Yeah ... they’re cute.”

Paris laid her head on Larry’s shoulder. “And everything worked out just like I said it would.”

“True ... true ... babe but how did you know it would? How did you know they’d use their wishes like that?”

“Because I know my sisters and there just like me.”

Larry chuckled and reached into his pocket, pulling out a pack of cigarettes. “Yeah ... they blew the first wish like you did. You wished for a pack of Marlboro’s and Destiny wished for the rain to stop.”

Paris took the cigarette that Larry offered and then lit it with a flick of her fingers. “But in the end ... they did the right thing. They used the wishes to help each other rather than help themselves ... which is exactly what we did.”

Larry leaned over and kissed his love. “Uh huh ... and when I wished for you to have magic at her fingertips, I knew you would make a beautiful witch who would use her powers for good.”

Paris put her arms around her love and returned the kiss. “Just as I knew you would make a handsome warlock who would use his magic to help others.”

Paris snuggled close, loving the sensation of floating in her love’s arms. “Well ... I guess that takes care of everything. We found the coin and we used it to give each other magic powers and make our love immortal. We passed the coin on to Destiny and Katie and they used it to give each other the one thing they needed most, and they passed it on to someone who will hopefully do the same.”

Paris lightly kissed Larry’s next and then sighed. “Well ... now that everything’s fixed, I guess we have to get back to pretending we’re mortals again. I so ... hate that.
Larry blew out a puff of smoke. “Yeah me too ... but there’s still one thing that bothers me.”

Paris looked lovingly into his big brown eyes. “And what’s that my love?”

“Where did the coin come from in the first place? I mean who could have made it and were we just lucky to find it at the playground or ... were we meant to find it?”

Paris shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know babe ... maybe we’ll never know the answers to those questions.”

Larry nodded and then snapped his fingers. The pair gently floated down to the grass and then making sure the coast was clear, they slipped into more human attire and became visible. With no further conversation they walked hand in hand, heading home the same way Destiny and Katie had earlier.

Unbeknown to the two young lovers, were two other lovers standing in the distance ... not quite as young but every bit as much in love.

Marc better known as Dad to the children who were heading home smiled at his beloved. “Well ... everything worked out as we hoped.”

Chris more commonly known to the children as Mom nodded and took her beloved’s hand. “Yeah ... but it was hard watching them all suffer so, especially Destiny and Katie. It would have been so much easier and so much less painful if we would have fixed those things for them.”

“And how would they’ve learned to be strong and to love each other enough to put someone else’s happiness above their own?” Marc gently reminded her of the truth Chris already knew.

“I know ... I know, but they’re my babies. It’s hard to watch them stumble while learning to walk.”

Marc pulled Chris in close as Larry had done to Paris earlier. “Me too ... but it’s necessary and now they aren’t just walking...” Marc’s eyes smiled. “Paris and Larry are flying.”

He coaxed a giggle from Chris. “Yeah ... and now we’ve got a witch and a warlock on our hands and ... TWO red headed monkeys ... not to mention what lies ahead for Michael.”
Marc sighed. “Well ... when Zeus said taking this job as Earth parents could be dangerous. I guess he meant it!”

Chris winked at her beloved. “Yeah ... but c’mon ... you know you love it and besides you were just as bored as I was laying around up there in Olympus with nothing to do but eat grapes and watch premium cable.”

Marc nodded with a wistful smile. “True ... but I do miss having all those movie channels.”

Chris agreed and then Marc changed the subject. “So ... do you think we should ever tell them that we were the ones who put the coin there?”

“No ... I think some things are meant to be kept secret.”

Marc’s eyes twinkled. “You mean like me being a god and you a goddess?”

Chris snuggled close to Marc, the same way Paris had with Larry earlier. “Yeah ... I think all they need to know is that we are the god and goddess of the house and can shoot lightning bolts up their butts if they don’t behave. They don’t really need to know we can stand on the clouds and sling the real ones.”

Marc nodded and then flashed his sexy smile. “Speaking of clouds, you wanna go fool around on one? It’s been ages since we’ve done that and the kids won’t be home for another thirty minutes? I’ll massage your feet? I’ll send Mercury to get a few candles and your favourite oil?”

To further entice her, his hand slipped down and gently caressed her hip, while his mouth found an ear to nibble on.

Chris giggled, “Silly boy ... you didn’t need to do all that. You had me at clouds.”
Without another word and not wanting to waste a single second of those precious child-free thirty minutes, the pair disappeared from view as Chris pulled Marc toward the love cloud of her choice.

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Dad aimed the remote at the television and the screen went blank. He stretched out long and lean and then looked over at his love. “C’mon Momma ... eleven o’clock ... time to make the final rounds.”

Mom yawned and nodded, then reluctantly moved from her warm and comfy spot next to her beloved. Dad offered her a hand and she took it as he helped her off the sofa.
They walked into the dining room where Momma couldn’t resist the chance to warm herself by the wood burning stove. Dad smiled at his little cold body and used the wait to look around at one of their newly remodelled rooms.

“This really came out nice. Didn’t it babe?”

Momma looked up as she warmed her hands above the stove. “Yeah it really did. The whole house is so ... beautiful ... just the way we knew it would be with enough work.”

“And enough money”, Dad finished for her.

“For which we have my cousin Katie to thank for.” Momma said as she slipped back beside her love and took his hand.

Dad nodded and squeezed the hand that had slipped back into his own. “Yeah ... she was a really sweet lady. I liked her a lot and I know how much you loved her.”

“The kids did too ...” Momma sighed in sweet remembrance. “Of course that makes perfect sense ... she was really just a kid herself or as Destiny used to say ...”

“She was just super fun-sized?” Dad finished for her.
Momma’s eyes misted as she smiled. “Uh huh ... and when she ran with the girls ... it was hard to tell them apart. She was just as happy ... just as sweet and just as generous.”

“Generous is right.” Dad agreed. “She left us everything she had when she died.”

“Well ... we were the only family she had ... or at least the only ones who loved her.”
Dad walked Momma over to the stairs leading up to the kids’ common area and bedrooms. “You think she’s happy ... you know ... with what we’ve done with the money?”

Momma’s eyes twinkled. “I know she is. That was one of the last things she asked us to do ... to take the money and make this house the beautiful home we always wanted it to be.”
The pair stood quietly at the foot of the stairs for a moment ... thinking about the woman ... the child ... who’d left their life, but never their hearts, and then headed up to check on the kids.

At the top of the stairs was the common area, finally finished and beautifully furnished for when the kids had friends over. Momma noted the plate of half eaten pizza rolls and the empty bottle of Doctor Pepper sitting next to the microwave. That meant that Paris had eaten at least once that day. Dad spied Kit Kat wrappers, empty Mountain Dew cans, and the Little Mermaid movie sitting on the coffee table. This told him that the rest of the rabble had passed this way too. Momma and Dad shook their heads as they stepped carefully through the “Natural Disaster Area” and headed down the hall to the kids’ rooms.

To be continued …