[BoaF] Crash my birthday (John Henry)

     Her white sandals slapped against the colorful cobblestone as she followed her mother zig zagging through the shops. Sylvia sighed, noticing that today’s trek left her new sandals severely scuffed and worn.

     Sylvia was excited about today, but now she wished she could have stayed at home. Although she had come to Shackamaxon before, her mother Summer Crowne made today’s trip sound just as important as her first day of school. Her mother even told Sylvia to wear her white summer dress and new matching sandals that had been placed aside for a “special occasion”. Yet all they did today was shop, shop, shop…. anything in the town her mother stopped to look at was accompanied with a long-winded description or story of a fond memory that Sylvia’s mother felt the need to share. Most of all the stories Sylvia heard before, the others stories she quickly lost interested in.   

     The truth is her legs were tiered and she just wanted to sit down. She looked longingly back at the bakery and dessert café which they passed a few shops ago.  “Mom, can I have a snack….” she started to ask, as she caught site of her mother a few yards ahead, ducking into yet another door. 

     Running in after her, Sylvia was surprised that the displays that greeted her were camping gear. She looked at her Ilvermorny supply list, of which almost everything was checked off. No, there is nothing on here about camping supplies… She turned around the corner of a display of kayaks. Announcing while she was still looking at her list, “Mom, I don’t see…” Her sentence was cut short by a flash of a hat before her forehead hit something hard. “Ouch!” she said with one hand rubbing her head the other adjusting her glasses. Her eyes saw a boy with a mass of curls, picking up his hat while rubbing the back of his head, “Oh, I’m sorry.” She began to apologies.

“Sylvee, come try these boots on.” called her mother from the other side of the isle. 

      “I’m sorry, I have to go.” Sylvia said as she continues around the end of the isle. Her mother was examining the tread of a pair of young women’s hiking boots, but quickly replacing them back deciding on the initial selected pair in her right hand.

     “Sit down,” her mother directed her to a wooden bench with a tilt of her chin.

     Sitting down Sylvia began to argue, “But I don’t see any camping gear on this.” Sylvia’s attention was drawn to the list which must have also sustained the impact, for the crisp hand-written letter was laced with a spider web of wrinkles. She attempted to smooth out the paper on her lap, as her mother explanation turned into another story….
“Grandpa Franklin got me a pair of hiking boots during my first year, you need them to explore the grounds. I remember once we decided to hike…” Sylvia’s thoughts drifted to the boy she collided with. She glanced beyond the Kayaks and could glimpse of him between the boats. At first, she wondered if he was ok, then she only wondered what he was doing.

Running a muck was kind of John Henry's thing and today was no different. The rambunctious child was weaving in and out of the aisles saying hello to the large number of customers "back to school shopping" had brought it. They came in waves really, sometimes the store was packed, sometimes it was rather empty, but the hustle and bustle of it all energized the young wizard. He liked to see them in his families shop. He even tried to help them sometimes. He'd been on a run to the back to get something for a customer when he collided with another. He yelped at the pain as it shot down his spine and then scurried to put his hat back onto his head.

And then he howled with a laugh so typically John Henry it was ridiculous.

"That's alright!" He basically screamed at her from a few feet away with a bright bubbly smile falling onto his face. The space left behind from his missing teeth whistled a little as he took a deep breath to get back his bearings. "Didn't see ya!" He was still laughing a little when he took off running again. "I gotta' go get something!" He called to her from behind, nearly falling over the display of ski equipment as he did before ducking into the store room. He grabbed what the man wanted and then was back out in a flash only to see that the girl was gone. He would of asked if she was alright or needed help finding anything but his short stature kept him from being able to find her. It wasn't like he could see over any of the racks. Shrugging he moved on to the customer he was with, giving him the item, and then went back to today's original project:

Finding out how many of the new parka jackets he could put on all at once.

          Sylvia sat on the bench with her head turned to the left and absently followed her mother’s instructions to wiggle her toes. After a quick pinch of Sylvia’s toes, her mother Summer announced that they needed the next size, before heading back to the selves of hiking boots.

          Without her mother’s presence Sylvia took the opportunity get up and walk in her bare feet around the kayaks display. She peered at the end of a middle blue kayak, leaning around its point.  Her hair felling a curtain at her side framed her raising eyebrows as her mouth became slack as her inquisitive look became more of one of wonderment.


           The boy she ran into earlier was now at the jacket racks. He seemed to be attempting to put on another jacket.  By her account it was his third since she watched him, although she could not count how many was already on him. He now was having a great difficulty with his latest layer.


          “Sylvia! There you are.” Sylvia jumped as if she was caught in the act of doing something she shouldn’t be doing and quickly spun around.  Her mother strode over with another pair of hiking boots. Her mother motions for Sylvia to stay put and quickly loosen the laces and slipped the boots on Sylvia’s feet. With a quick pinch of her toes, her mother nodded and stood back up. “Walk around. See how they feel.”


          Sylvia was directed to parade a few times in front of the boy she ran into earlier. She tried to keep her head forward and only allowed her self one glance to see if he was watching. Her mother must have notice Sylvia’s interest because after announcing the pair of boots will do, she went straight to the jackets approach the Boy. Sylvia's mother introduced herself and her daughter and asked it the boy will be attending Ilvermonry this year. After his response, she was half way through explaining it was Sylvia’s first year, when she must have noticed his work shirt peeking out from below his countless pile of snow jackets he had assembled on himself. “You work here? Oh. I mean, good. Can you help Sylvia find a jacket, while I grab her some matching dragon hide gloves?


             With a quick smile at Sylvia, her mother headed back to the front of the store to go through the gloves at the end of the aisle. After watching her mother, Sylvia wordlessly turned back to the boy that looked like he had been hexed with a fattening or ballooning spell.

"Second year Pukwudgie ma'am." John Henry replied to the older of the two witches that had approached him with a bright, exuberant smile, and a one sided super complicated (and totally secret) handshake denoting his house. His pride in his house was easily recognized but he was more interested in the fact that Sylvia was starting her first year. "Nice to meet'cha." He said to them with another one of those classic Bird grin's. "I do and I can." Eager as ever John Henry wasted little time when the lady finally left them alone and he turned back toward the jacket rack.

Unfortunately he neglected to realize that with the added weight (and circumference) his center of gravity had inevitably changed. With a whoosh and a murmured "woooah" he nearly fell over. His ankle rolled a little, his face turned as white as a ghost but he managed to catch his balance on another rack and stood his ground. "Almost bit it there, did you see?" He asked the girl and giggled a little.

"So what color do you want? What house do you think you will be in? We could get you something to match. We have all the best colors here." He pointed to a rack of green colored jackets, winking at her and grinning with his missing teeth making a whistling noise.

"I'm Jack by the way." He whooshed back around to face her again, words running a mile a minute and his jacket encrusted body barely keeping up. "John Henry Bird the Seventh, but that's a mouthful right?" He held his hand out formally, waiting for her to tell him her own name so they could get back to trying on jackets.

Maybe he could get her to join his game, after all they were always more fun with competition.

          Sylvia’s mouth fell open when she heard Jack say he was a second year Pukwudgie. She would never have had guess that he was older then her. His playful nature, putting all the coats and funny hand-shake reminded her of her brother. Along with his missing teeth and round face, she would have thought he was at most nine years old. She was sure his parent was going to come out from around an aisle and yell at him, to take off all the coats.

Did he just say he worked here? No way. She looked around to see if there were any other workers near. Do wizards get to work before they finish school? Will she have to get a job?

            Then her mother just left her, …with him. Sylvia had not had very many good experiences with other children her own age. Fears from when she was bullied and made fun of, bubbled to the surface.

             Yet these fears were instantly forgotten, when she saw the boy almost topple over. Although she tried to ketch him, he still almost took out two coat racks in the process. When his face turn pale, Sylvia really got worried. But before she could ask if he was ok, he straiten himself up and his face began to brighten, before saying "Almost bit it there, did you see?" Sylvia joined in with his giggle. She could not help it. Her nervousness and worries melted. She couldn’t imagine him being mean to her.

          The boy must really have been okay, for he began to excitedly talk and ask about the coats. Sylvia smiled back at partial toothless smile, and held back a giggle when he whistled. She did not want to appear to be rude, so instead she concentrated on the coat selection. She thought about what color she would wear. Her mother bought plenty of cranberry and blue school uniforms. So, it would make sense to go with those colors. But if she would choose it base on what house she wanted, she would choose…

          The boy interrupted her contemplation to formally introduce himself. Sylvia was at first surprised by the sudden show of manners. “Hi, I mean, it is nice to meet you, Jack.” Sylvia said while she took Jack’s outstretched hand. His grip felt strong, chubby, round and a little sweaty, likely due to the layers of jackets. “My name is Sylvia. Sylvia Ella Crowne.” She continued, as her smile matched Jacks. He was so friendly.

Maybe all the Pukwudgies at Ilvermorny were just as friendly as Jack … and my parents.  She thought. She really hoped she would be a Pukwudgie too.

          Sylvia looked back at the racks, he just gestured too. “I love all the colors, well except for gold. It looks a little to flashy. But I guess my favored color is green.” She looked back at Jack and she swore she saw a little twinkle in his eye. She walked over to the closest rack and looked for her size. “Maybe a size 6.” Looking at the distinctive features listed on the tag, she started to wonder what type of jacket should she get. “Do you get a lot of snow at Ilvermonry? How often do you wear jackets? … I mean, your jacket.” She blushed. She hopped he did not think she was making fun of him. Maybe there was a perfectly good reason that he was wearing so many jackets.

Her favorite color was green!? GREEN!? That could be such a good sign! He tried to contain his exmitement but it was difficult and he basically bounced up and down for joy at her confession. "Green is for the Pukwudgies! That's what I am!" He nearly shouted at her, the whistling between his teeth getting louder as he did. "I like gold because that's the Pirate's color!" He told her before diving into one of his favorite things to talk about with zero idea whether or not it was anything she was interested in: Baseball. "Pittsburgh isn't doing so great this season but I still have hope that they will pull through. Helluva pitcher they have this year." The preteen began to ramble on about the game that had happened the previous night, only stopping for quick breaths before finally winding down and answering her question.

He may of been distract able and talk way too much but Jack had a pretty good memory and with a toothless smile and about fifteen zip up and zip downs of the third jacket he'd put on (because the top layers wouldn't even come close to closing at this point) he spoke. "Yeah it snows ALL THE TIME!" He got excited again. "Like literally all the time, like there is so much snow in the winter. I think they use magic to keep it off of the side walks because it falls and you can see it and then poof its gone." Speaking loudly and animating the story with his hands he let his fingers trickle down toward the ground like snow falling and then whooshed them to the sides when it disappeared.

"Course that don't keep us from slipping and sliding and OH MY GOD!" He remembered something in that moment and he just abso-friggin-lutely had to show her it. "Follow me!" He shouted even though he hadn't taken off yet and definitely didn't need to be loud before turning on his heel and waddling across the store to the winter side.

It was chock full of ski racks for him to knock over, the thing he was looking to show her, and EVEN MORE JACKETS!

"Check these babies out." He said with a confident smirk and a bit of brag on his voice. "Top of the line." He pointed toward the brand new stock of Flexible Flyers. "When it comes to sledding man, you can't beat one of these."

          Sylvia was a little taken back how loud Jack was. She looked around to see if their conversations were disturbing anyone. The few customers she saw seemed unfazed, so she returned her attention back to Jack who now was describing of Pittsburgh baseball team. Although she heard of Baseball before, she did not know of anything more then it involved a bat, a ball and a large glove. She tried to nod and add “oh,” “wow,” and “right” in-between statements. Luckily, Jack did not ask any questions otherwise Sylvia had to confess that she know nothing. She wondered if other Ilvermorny students study Muggle Sports.

        Suddenly, he was back on subject describing the snow. She then remembered why she was holding the jacket. “Wow, that sounds like a lot of snow.” The Crowne Cottage at Duluth Minnesota gets snow, but usually less than a foot at one time. Although from Jacks description, Sylvia imagine that Ilvermorny would be surrounded by a wall of snow. She checked the label of the Green jacket and saw a snow flake, so she put it on. The green Jacket was a little big on her, but the cuffs were tight. It was a nice jacket but wondered if she needed a thinker one with the amount of snow Jack was describing.

          Sylvia jumped at Jacks loud exclamation and wandered if something was wrong, yet his bright smile she put her concerns aside. She will have to get used to Jacks load and animated nature, it was very different form her reserved family. Still wearing the hiking boots and green jacket, Sylvia followed her ball of jackets wearing soon to be classmate crossed the store. She thought he was going to show her some snow boots that will help prevent her slipping and sliding in the Ilvermorny’s halls. Yet he instead stopped at a prominent display of a manikin wizard family, that were all dressed for winter. Each member of the family held a sled, snow tube and toboggan ready to hit the slopes. The colorful variations of the jackets, scarfs, caps or fur lined caplets they wore where displayed on the racks behind them. The bottom of the display read “Flexible Flyers, Fantastic Fun for the Family.”

       Jack pointed at a rack of coats just to the right of the display, proudly announcing the new additions to their store.  Sylvia ran over there to examine the young girls section of the jackets. These coats were thicker, with softer furlike lining, and had a ton of pockets. Sylvia noticed that one of the pockets was just the right size to hold a wand. Excited she found a white and green one that was her size and tried to put it on, forgetting that she already had a jacket on.  When she went to zip it up a cute white and green Flexible Flyer jacket and realized that she had two zippers. One from the jacket she had under the first layer and one form the Flexible Flyer. “Oh, I forgot I still had this one on.” She said as she started to take the Flexible Flyer off. Realizing she could not keep pretending that did not notice he had a bunch of jackets on too she decided to finally ask him. “So why do you have so many jackets on? Is it part of your job or something?” She looked at the price tag of the Flexible Flyer and announced “Oh! This is expressive.” She petted the pretty jacket before she went to put it back on the hanger. “It is nice though.”

"It is!" He replied brightly, shouting as usual and not minding the looks he was getting from strangers passing by. Jack was by nature a loud soul. He was never quiet, not even when he was sleeping. The small boy could snore the top right off of a mountain. "So much snow, its awesome!" John Henry loved the winter months just as much as he loved every other month. A glass half full kind of kid the wizard could find something fun to do any day of the year, including this day. When he had started the day he wondered what would happen that would make it incredible and he had quite the imagination but he hadn't thought he'd make a new friend! And now that he had this day was cemented into the Awesome Days hall of fame for life.

When he had been pointing out the flyers he had originally been motioning toward the sleds but when she moved to the coat rack he had no trouble following along. She put on another jacket over her first and he giggled at her. She was cool. And then she finally asked the million dollar question, of course he didn't have a million dollars to give away. He didn't even have a million marbles to give away. But his face lit up none the less.

"Finally~" He basically sang shouted at her and did a little dance. "I was wondering when someone was going to ask." Really he hadn't done it for the attention but at the same time he thought it was a bit ridiculous that not a single person had asked him what in the heck he was up to yet. Typically he got those kinds of looks when he did anything but today their strange glances seemed to glide right over him and it was almost depressing.

"I bet my sister I could get ten of them on, she said I couldn't get past five." It was true but that wasn't the moral of the story. Flashing her another toothless grin the boy turned toward the rack and then grabbed two more off of the rack and held the hangers out to her. "I'm up to eight, but I have to get to ten to win."

"Will you help me?"

           Sylvia felt like she won the lottery. Her mouth fell open with his reaction. She could not believe she was to shy about asking him and worried he would be embarrassed about it. He was anything but embarrassed, instead elated that someone FINALLY asked him about the jackets.

          Once she heard his explanation, could not help but laugh because she could relate. She too had a sibling that she would play with, dare, and do silly things with.  Although she would try not to do to much in a public store, their mom mostly had them keep their “shenanigans” in the back yard. In most situations she had to be on her best behavior. Especially around extended family or out in public.

          “Well, ten is a lot of jackets.“ Sylvia said thinking there was no possible way to get ten. But as he told her how much he was up to she was astonished. “You are up to eight!?! Wow. You are almost there.“

            “Sure, I will help you.” She loved helping people. It left her with a good feeling. Sylvia took the hangers and examined the jacket sizes.  “Are the jackets big enough?”  She realized they were big enough to fit her father. She decided there was only one way to see if they would fit over Jack and eight layers of coats.

         She held out the first jacket, so that he can slip in an arm in one side and then the other arm in the another. She had to helped Jack pull it over his shoulders. It was tight. The last jacket will have to be a size or two larger. Sylvia ran back to the racks to look for a larger size. “So what will you win? How will she know? Its she here?”

Some people might of found his request strange. It wouldn't be out of the question for her to of completely ignored him and went about her day with less crazy in it but she didn't. Instead she did the exact opposite and Jack could not of found that more exciting. "You will!?" He basically jumped for joy, the outer waterproofed lining of the many jackets he had crumpling together loudly as he did. Like a ball of energy Jack was hard to stop once he got going and this would be no different.

He watched her with wide excited eyes as she started to examine the jackets and nodded profusely when she brought up an excellent point. A point that had not yet occurred to John Henry. He had been trying to put more and more of the same size jacket on before and that was what had stopped him. Winter jackets were made to be fluffy and over sized, so one could wear sweaters and mittens underneath, but he hadn't considered using jackets that were far too large to go over top of the regularly sized ones. He thought over the deal he'd made with his sister for a moment, mentally going through the non-existent rule book, and then bounced once more.

"That is genius!" He said to Slyvia after he had concluded that using jackets that were too big would not break any kind of rule and he would still win. Winning wasn't everything but it was definitely something. "If I win.... hmmm..." He followed her toward the new rack and scratched the top of his head with the bill of his baseball cap. "You know we didn't even talk about that..." He probably should of talked about it with Mary Lou before accepting the dare but that really wasn't his style. Do first, think later.

"What do you think would be a good prize?"

         When he called her a genus, she dismissed it. She was just thinking, that is all. She just likes to think things through. It is like having a game plan and all. It makes life easier. Well, sometimes. Maybe not always, but sometimes. Sylvia realized just why her mother tells her that she thinks to much. But Genus. Did he really think so? [/i ]Sylvia told herself that he was just being nice. She tried to focused on the racks and looking for the biggest sizes. A smile still came to her face. This is fun. I am really having fun.

         She realized right then, she loved to shop for others, much more them she liked shopping for herself. Well she was not shopping, more like helping. Either way she was having the most fun she had all day. Plus, she met one of her classmates, well soon to be classmate of her soon to be school.  She really hoped she was a Pukwudgie. That way they could be very close friends at school. She then remembered that he was a whole year older then her and it was unlikely that they would get a lot of classes together even if she was in Pukwudgie.

        At the back end of the row she finds the largest sized jacket. "If this one doesn't fit, none will. " She announced theatrically, and a little out of corrector for her. She was a little excited. She can't believe he did not know whet we was going to win. There has to be something that he should ask for. Something fun or yummy, or something he always waned.

         "You should ask for something you love! Like... like... umm like your favorite cake or pie." Sylvia said holding out the final layer of jacket for Jack to attempt to put on. "You know. I asked for a cherry -chocolate birthday cake for my birthday and they are making it for me today!  I did not even know that it existed and now it does! Just cause I asked." 

         She thought about it, as she fixed his sleeve cuff.  Then continued to help him put on the big tenth jacket. " You should...ask for something you love. A lot of something you love.  Like a crazy amount."

"Keep em' coming!" He said in a sing song voice with another toothless grin as she was looking for jackets that were in bigger sizes. She really was a smart witch, he would of never thought of that. Now he could fit even more. The daredevil part of him was seriously considering upping the ante on the bet, maybe saying he could put on even more jackets but an even bigger prize.

But first he'd have to figure out what the prize would be.

She had another good idea and as he crunched around in the oversized layers of down feather parkas he nodded to her. He held an arm out to put through the hold of a jacket that was still attached to the hanger, finding it easier to slip into that way, until it wasn't anymore. "Hey could you get that?" He asked, trying to point up at the hanger that had tangled itself in his curly brown hair but the thick layer of jackets kept his arms from moving upwards even slightly.

And of course he found that absolutely hilarious.

Laughing brightly he began to walk about the store like a penguin, hands stiffly out to the sides as he bobbed back and forth. In between laughs and gasps for air it came to him and he turned back toward her with a grand smile. "You know, I do like chocolate pudding." He said with conviction as he began to settle on the idea. "And Mary Lou is always trying to get me to eat healthier stuff like weird green plants and granola...." And then it was decided. "Yep I will ask for pudding."

"Do you like pudding?"

          Sylvia’s brow arched with the demand for more jackets. She thought ten would be enough. Was that not the bet? After a moment of hesitation she obeyed and grabbed a few more in the larger sized . Maybe he is proving to his sister at he could get more then ten. She thought in a tempted to justify it to herself.

          This time he attempted to put the jacket on while still on the hanger. It actual worked. The hanger held the jacket open for Jack to skip into. Sylvia attempted to remove the hanger form Jacks back, but the hanger did not easily sip out and got caught on his hair. “ Oh I’m Sorry.” She proclaimed trying to gingerly pick out the white hanger form his mass of dark curls. “Hold still… It is tangled…“

          Jack seemingly overcome with the comedy of his own odd inability to manipulate his arms, he stared to laugh hysterically and Wadding about and slightly flapped his arms in a comical faction. Sylvia chase his holding two hangers in her hand and tempting to reach for the third sill tangled on the back of his head. Within a minute her giggles over took her.

She could not help it. It was funny.

          It was not until he decided on Chocolate Pudding that he stopped and came back to Sylvia who was wiping the tears of laughter form the corner of her eyes. When she finally composed herself,  she commanded him to “Hold still,” and spun her puffy friend around. She held on to his shoulders to make sure he kept his balance. He untangled his hair and a tag form the hanger as she answered. “Pudding sounds great! You should ask for one case of pudding for each jacket over six? Or whatever number she claimed! Yes,  I like pudding. Well actually, I love all forms of chocolate.”

          “Syl-Vee, what are you doing?” The voice of Sylvia’s mother made Sylvia jump.

          Sylvia turned to find her mother, Summer standing with her hands on her hip… and another mother shaking her head behind her. “Oh, um… I am helping Jack with... um”

          “I thought you were finding a jacket…” Summer interrupted, before trailing off as she first eyed the hangers in Sylvia’s hand and then her eyes got wide as she noticed his new layers of jackets. “Well, it looks like you two were hitting it off…”  there was something that flashed in her mother’s face a briefest smirk before she regained her adult stern composure. “I am sorry, Sylvia we have to meet Grandpa and Grandma Franklin at the restaurant. We have just enough time to ring up the boots, these gloves and A jacket.” 

          Sylvia's face fell as she looked to her friend, expressing a look which wordlessly said she was sorry to leave. Sadly, Sylvia placed the spare hangers on a near by rack and started to take of the jack she had put on earlier.  It was then that Summer turned to Jack and asked “Jack if you are off of work any time soon, I would love for you to just us for Sylvia’s Birthday dinner.”

          A beaming smile flash a pawn Sylvia’s face, before she looked to her friend with a plead. 

Sylvia was turning out to be a great friend, even as Jack was being less than helpful, she was managing to remove hanger after hanging from his hair. It was a good thing too because his precious Bird curls, despite being luxurious and soft, were not all that strong. Not before long however the two had started to laugh up a storm. There is a strong possibility Jack may of even accidentally squeaked a few times during his own fit of laughter so much so that he had to stop to catch his breath. Hearing the voice of an adult instantly gave him hiccups and no matter how hard he tried to contain them he couldn't help but pop out a hiccup every time she began a new sentence. He moved to cover his mouth but the ridiculous amount of layers on his arms kept his hand from being able to reach as the hiccups persisted and grew in volume.

It was then that Slyvia's mother spoke about her birthday dinner and Jack nearly lost his mind with happiness at being invited. "I freaking love birthdays!" He said in between hiccups before beginning to shed his jackets with fervor. He dragged the molded bunch of parkas along with him as he spun in circles, shaking them off in about the least graceful way possible. "I'll have to ask my mom if I can go...." He began as he stepped closer to the two witches and lowered his voice to a comedic whisper. "They don't actually pay me here..." He told them, a sarcastic grin on his face, as he shed the last jacket. "Be right back!"

Jack scooped up the mess of coats he'd just taken off, feeling about fifteen pounds lighter, and ran with them awkwardly to the back room. Shouting could be heard from the store front as he went on the hunt for his mother but not soon after he returned to his new found friend with a bright smile. "She said I can go as long as I'm back before eight!" If they were going outside of Shackamaxon his mother wouldn't of let him go so easily but this was their neighborhood. Jack knew his way home from just about anywhere in town and even though she probably shouldn't of his mother still trusted him to make good decisions.

"Ready when you are birthday girl." He said eagerly, completely forgetting that they still needed to get her rung up.

          With Jack’s response Sylvia let out an involuntary jump for joy and drawn out her squeal. It has been for ever since she had a friend at her birthday, well besides her many cousins. When she realized that Jack was attempting to shed off his many layers of jackets, Silvia tried to help while still holding her jacket. Luckily the layers came off easier, then then were to put on.

          Sylvia let the final jacket fall to the top of the mound and looked up at her mother. Sylvia’s smile fell as she glimpse her mother, Summer disapproving face. Summer cleared her throat and she stated to bend down to pick up the jacket pile. Yet Summer attempted was just a little too late, for Jack scooped them up before she could reach them. He announced that he had to ask his mother and was off, leaving the two Crowne witches to themselves. Summer grabbed Sylvia’s jacket form her. Sylvia looked down, waiting for her mother’s questioning and berating already hearing her mother’s standard rant “this was a store, not a park” in her head. Yet no words came. When Sylvia finally looked up, she found her mother finish her examination of the jacket, turn and announce that they should get the items purchased. Sylvia started to follow her Mother, Summer to the register stoping only a moment to exchanged abiding pleasantries with the other mother before standing in the school rush line at the register.

          There, two Crowne Witches heard shouting for Jack in the back. The boy seemed to make his request known to the whole store. This seem to concern Summer as then turn to her daughter and quietly stated “I expect you will to be on her best behavior at the restraint in-front of the Grandma and Grandpa Franklin.” To which Sylvia soberly agreed with a nod while Summer continued, “Well,... I am sure Jack would behave in-front of the Franklins. Considering they three of them are his teachers.”

          Jack joined them as they step forward in line and announced his ability to go.

          “Oh, Yay! You can come?!?” Sylvia blurted out as she clapped her hands.

          This was followed by her mother’s tamer reply, "It is just down the road. It would be no problem for you to be home by eight.” Then she checked her watch seemingly to calculate the allotted time.

           Sylvia was bouncing with excitement, while she followed Jack out to the door. " I am so excited! I am SO happy you can go! I mean, I am, I mean we.. are not having pudding, but there will be cake. It will be awesome. I am so glad you can go."

           Trying to pull her coin purse out of her bag, Summer did not notice Sylvia and Jack were heading out.  It was only because she heard Sylvia's trailing voice did she look up and called the children back to the line. "Sylvia!?! Did you forget about your boots, gloves and jacket? We have to get these first before you leave." She waved the small pile of items in her hands at Sylvia.

            "Oh!"  A pink blush lit Sylvia's face. " I'm sorry, Mom. I ... forgot. "  She scuttled back to her mothers side as she stepped up the register. The few items were rung up quickly, Summer handed the appropriate amount of Dragots and Sprinks to the Cashier and placed the rapped items in the magically expanded bag with a little strain and effort. It was only after this was done that Summer announced to her younger wards, that they were ready to go. Sylvia eyes turned to Jack and she linked her arm with his. Sylvia held back this time, making sure to dutifully follow her mother out. Yet still, she was full of so much excitement that she was piratically skipping out the door. "This will be great!"

            Her eleventh birthday, she will start school at Ilvermorny soon and she already made a great friend to show her around! This year will be great!