Strange Country Day by Charles Curtis Page A

“Martin, this is a bad idea.”
    “It’ll be fine,” he said with a wave of his hand. “Sophi, I want you to turn that television on for me. But do it while sitting right where you are.”
    She looked confused. Dad turned his chair and pointed to a small flat-screen TV mounted on the wall on the other side of the kitchen.
    Sophi looked at me and started grabbing at her hair nervously. “No, Mr. Ptuiac, I can’t.”
    “Dad, no. You already know what happened tonight,” I said.
    “Are you sure about this?” Sophi asked my parents “What if I can’t control it?”
    “Sure! Don’t even worry about breaking anything, we can replace it,” he said.
    “I’m more worried about what I did to Jared.”
    “I’m not,” Dad replied. “Some confidence might help you have some control.”
    After a long pause, Sophi looked at the three of us and finally agreed.
    As my parents moved their chairs aside, Sophi took a deep breath and exhaled, shaking her hands loosely as if she were warming up to play piano, then took another deep breath and lifted her left hand. She pointed her left index finger, her nail covered in purple nail polish, toward the television. Her brow furrowed, and her teeth clenched. I saw her hand start to shake. Nothing happened.
    Her hand shook a little more … and then started to glow.
    ZAP!
    A small lightning bolt shot out toward the TV. We had to shield our eyes as it crackled and snapped. I heard the sound of light bulbs popping as the kitchen was plunged into darkness … except for the glow of the local newscast on the TV screen in the corner, which was coincidentally showing footage of the mayor’s speech at the homecoming bonfire, our team standing in the background.
    The three of us turned to look at Sophi, who leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes.
    I remembered what Dex said to me weeks ago. My girlfriend really was a witch.

Chapter Fifteen
     
     
    “I’m telling you, I must’ve dropped it last night.”
    Sophi swore she couldn’t find her cell phone and had likely left it at the so-called scene of the crime in the woods last night. At least it was easier to wind our way through the tangle of bushes and roots in broad daylight.
    The clearing looked even bigger in the sunshine with the giant stump in the middle and the Christmas lights hanging over us, tied to the surrounding pine trees.
    Sophi’s cellphone was nowhere in sight. We searched around the perimeter, near the stump, even in some of the low-hanging branches.
    “Maybe one of the guys took it,” I suggested after Sophi shot me an exasperated look.
    “Why don’t you ask them?” she shot back.
    “Right.”
    “I wasn’t kidding.”
    Oh. I cupped my hands and called out to the woods, knowing full well they wouldn’t answer. “Did any of you pick up Sophi’s phone?”
    Sophi hit me on the arm, which came along with a jarring shock. “I meant for you to call your dad!”
    We heard the sound of rustling brush behind us. We turned around to see a hand sliding a cellphone into the clearing.
    “Uh, thanks?” I responded. Sophi moved slowly to go pick it up, wary of who the hand was attached to. The bushes shook again and I mentally prepared to fight whoever it was.
    Sophi bent over and picked up the phone, and shrieked when Dex jumped out at her with a shout.
    “You’re welcome!” Dex said with a giant grin, his hands propped proudly on his hips.
    “How did you find us? And thanks for the scare,” I said, giving him a small shove.
    He pushed me back in retaliation. “I was coming over to see if you wanted to hang out, but I decided to follow you to your secret makeout spot instead.”
    Sophi turned maroon, but Dex had moved on, looking up at the canopy of branches, thistles, and lights covering the area. “This is pretty cool. How’d you find it?”
    “That stump over there used to be an enormous tree. They cut it down and brought it to City for the annual Christmas tree-lighting in midtown. This is