Autumn Calling by T. Lynne Tolles

sideways raising his ears
to show his interest.
    She pulled the vial from her pocket and
uncorked it. “Here goes nothing,” she said. She poured the contents
down the slender frame and handle bars. The purple furry goo clung
to it and dripped its excess. Retrieving the scroll from her pocket
she said,
     
    “Goddess of Air
    Most just and fair
    The gift of flight we do abet
    Your munificence we’ll not forget
    I’ll soar like an eagle through clouds up
high
    Beholding a beauty that’s only seen by
sky
    Then safely return from whence I came
    Never again to be the same
    Your loyal servant I’ll always be
    Now mote it be and times it by three.”
     
    The purple muck spit and smoked then a
shower of what looked like glitter shot from it like an explosion,
making Summer jump back in surprise. When nothing else happened she
decided it was time to try it out. She seated herself on the
squeaky yet large comfy seat than patted the wooden box behind
her.
    “Want to go for a ride?” she asked
Sully.
    His ears perked up and his tongue emerged
from his mouth as he panted in eagerness. She patted the inside of
the large crate again and he got to his feet, sniffed the wood,
looked at her again for confirmation and then leapt in.
    “All righty then…Now what?” she said to
herself. Sully licked her cheek from behind.
    “Any ideas?” she asked him, but he only
nudged her with his nose.
    “Giddy up” she said. Nothing happened.
    “Up!” she said. Again nothing happened.
    “Gosh darn it. What do you suppose makes it
gooooooo,” she said as the trike took off like a bullet. “I guess
that’s the word, huh, Sully?”
    He licked her and made a squeal as his jowls
flapped happily in the wind.
    “Wooooo-hooooo! Auntie Myrtle… Look at us!”
she bellowed as she swooped down near her aunt’s bedroom window.
Summer waved at her when she beamed a wide smile from behind the
window pane holding onto the curtains. She waved back at the two
flying by.
    “Look, Sully. There’s Morti. Shall we give
him a scare?” she said devilishly to the tickled-pink hellhound pup
behind her. He nudged her hard in the neck and licked her. “Here we
go,” she said steering the tricycle towards the unknowing cat. They
dive bombed the feline, making him screech and run. Sully barked
and barked as if laughing, saying “Again.”
    Summer did follow Aunt Myrtle’s precautions
of staying over the property, and that was okay, because she still
didn’t feel super confident in maneuvering the trike and she was
worried Sully might fall out if she did anything too fast. They
flew over the tree tops, some tapping the cracked rubber of the
tires and the moon shone brightly to light their way. It was
magical in every sense of the word. The view was astonishingly
gorgeous, with the mountain’s darkening purple and the clouds still
reflecting the pink orange of the sleeping sun.
    It was cool, almost nippy and she was glad
her gigantic furry hellhound was behind her giving off a tremendous
amount of body heat. A swoop past the graveyard and Summer spied
her beautiful dark angel below waving at them. Sully barked as they
whooshed by the tree Morti had scurried up in his fearful retreat
from them previously, and he hissed as they went by once more. She
applied the brakes and angled the tricycle towards the cottage
bungalow she called her home where an impatient man waited for them
to land.
    The seat squeaked as they touched down
without jarring and came to a complete stop. Sully jumped out of
his box and galloped to his new best bud, Daniel, for a rough ear
rubbing and loud belly pats before Sully rolled over so all fours
in the air, waiting for a good belly rub from Daniel.
    “Well, look at you?” he said standing from
his crouched Sully-itching pose, wrapping a strong forearm around
Summer’s tiny waist and pulling her to him in one fell swoop,
planting a hungry yet tasteful kiss on her eager lips.
    “Having fun?” he said when he pulled away
from her