An incredible birthday

“Nine years old, can you believe it?” said his mother, looking up at him proudly. His nine year old frame put him as the tallest in his class. He didn’t know where he had come by his height, both of his parents were shorter than average. He had seriously thought, on many occasions, that he had been adopted, or switched at birth, but as he got older, it was more and more obvious that that was not the case. He looked so much like both of them that it was undeniable that they were his true parents.

He had never hoped that he was not their true son. He loved his parents; they were always good to him. They were never harsh with him unless he truly deserved it, and they had never beaten him, it just seemed so unlikely that he could be so tall and they so short. But that was the only difference, he looked and acted very much like they had when they were his age, though he didn’t know how except when their lifelong friends commented on it.

“Nine years old, and growing by the second!” She smiled and hugged him. She had been looking forward to his birthday even more than he had, counting down the days starting three months previously. He could not understand he enthusiasm, but he got caught up in it none the less. She had decorated over night, while he had been sleeping soundly in his bed, and he marveled at the extensive banners and wall hangings. He didn’t know how she had done it all and still managed to sleep too. Perhaps his father had helped, but that seemed unlikely as he was not adept at that sort of thing, preferring to be in the garage working on his old car, restoring it he said.

“You’re friends will be here any second.” Zachary gave a jolt. He had barely awakened and she was already starting the festivities. He only had a couple of friends, so he was not worried about an overcrowded house, and was not disappointed when only his friends, Kirk and Cassie, showed up both with their parents in tow, only a few moments later. They both ran up to him shouting happy birthday as loud as they could. They seemed even more excited than his mother. He didn’t understand what all the fuss was about, but was happy about it. This was going to be a good birthday.

And indeed it was, he had opened presents (a surprisingly big mound it had been, too) and ice cream after lunch. Then they all went outside where he found yet another present hiding underneath their large oak tree. A gleaming new bicycle. He nearly squealed when he saw it, and ran over to examine it. His first 10-speed! Now he would be able to keep up with Kirk and Cassie. They had both received new bikes on their ninth birthdays, almost 3 and 6 months previously, Cassie being the oldest. He begged his mom and dad to let him take his bike for a test run around the block. They feigned reluctance, before sighing in a very dramatic way and finally let them go. Shouting excitedly, Zachary leapt onto his bike and zoomed out of the back yard, through the gate Kirk was holding open for him, and they ran behind him till they got to Cassie’s house and she grabbed her bike from the back yard. Kirk jumped on the handlebars of Cassie’s bike until they got to his house and he jumped off and ran hurriedly around back to grab his.

They sped around the block a few times, racing now that they had bikes of comparable speed and then laughing on the third go-round, Zachary said, “I feel like I’m flying,” as he tipped his head back and watched the sky zoom past as he flew over the ground. He stayed like that for a few seconds, then wisely brought his head back upright so he didn’t accidentally ram into a parked car, or one of his playmates.

“Look down!” cried Cassie, and he did, and almost fell off his bike when he realized he was a good foot off the ground.

“Oh, my gosh! I AM flying!” he yelled at the other two. He looked where Cassie was riding, on his left, and saw that she too was riding about a foot off the ground.

“What’s going on?” he asked her in a slightly scared, but mostly excited voice.

“We’re flying! That’s what, you dofus! You eve said so yourself!” She said with an enormous grin plastering her face.

“B-b-but, how?!” his voice was slightly quavering now, from the fright and excitement coursing through his veins.

“MAGIC!” yelled Kirk from behind! Zachary turned his head around to look at Kirk and saw that his bike was even further off the ground than either Cassie or his. He sported a growing grin on his face too. “Pull back on your handles. Not too much, or you’ll flip over! And don’t stop peddling!”

Zachary did as Kirk said, and was amazed further when his bike reacted by pulling further away from the ground. He was now almost five feet from the pavement below and he thought, fleetingly, what would happen if he feel from his bike while up this high, but dismissed the thought when he realized he wasn’t really that far from the ground anyway, and he hardly ever fell off his bike, even when he was firmly on the ground. He was using magic now, and his confidence grew. He pulled even further from the ground. He yanked hard on the handles and he flew backwards into a magnificent arch. He came out of it a little shakily, but still seated firmly on his bike and a good seven feet from the ground. They circled the block a few more times like this, until they heard Zachary’s mother calling them for dinner.

They flew back around and landed in the driveway, pulling up short of the garage door.

“Have a good fly around the neighborhood?” asked his mother, smiling under her wide brimmed straw hat, and he started to answer before he realized what she had said.

“Yeah! It was awesome, we. . . you knew about it?” he finished, incredulously looking at his mother as her smile widened.

“Of course I knew, we bought the bike and enchanted it ourselves. Of course it wouldn’t have lifted an inch off the ground if you hadn’t put some magic into it as well.”

“You can do magic too?” he said, his disbelief mounting by the moment.

“Of course, I am a fully fledged witch and your father is an extremely accomplished wizard, and you are just coming into your powers. It’s something of a new tradition to introduce young witches and wizards to their powers through an enchanted bike, but it works rather well it seems.” She smiled at the other two, who were reveling in his disbelief. They had gone through a similar situation not long ago indeed. “But there will be plenty of time to talk about this later, dinners’ on the table and I don’t want it to get cold while we stand out here chattering idly.”

They all sat down to the dinner feast, and dug in immediately. They were all starving after their prolonged flight around the neighborhood. It seemed using magic used energy, which made sense to Zachary, it had to come from somewhere. The adults were absorbed in their own conversations, and the children started talking like they had picked up a conversation long delayed.

“Did you both learn about this on your birthdays as well?” Zachary asked them. They both nodded.

“How come you didn’t tell me.”

“We couldn’t.” said Cassie defensively, “Not even adults are allowed to mention it until we reach the age when it starts. I’m not sure why, but we can’t. It’s been harder for me ‘cause I had to wait for both of you. I was so glad when Kirk finally turned nine, ‘cause then at least I had someone to share it with. Now we’re all there! Isn’t it great! Think of the fun we’ll have now!”

“I can’t wait!” said Zach, “So what exactly can we do?”

“Almost anything,” said Kirk, “we just have to be careful, because you can burn yourself out by doing too much. I’m tired already just from riding our bikes, but you get stronger the more you do it. It’s sort of like exercising, the more you work out, the stronger you get. And we have to make sure we don’t do anything like set the house on fire.”

“We can control fire?” Zach said incredulously. Just imagining starting a fire with the power in his mind was startling.

“Some are better than others, and some are better with water, and some with wind. It just depends on your strengths. I’ve blasted a hole in the ground before, but I’m not sure if it was fire or earth that I was using. It didn’t look singed, but it was definitely like an explosion fire would give.”

“So are there any real magical creatures?” he asked hopefully. At this his father came in on the conversation.

“There used to be, a long time ago, but they seemed to have disappeared or died out, with the coming of more and more people that can’t use magic. Magic is dying out in humans as well. We weren’t even sure if you would be able to use it. I’m very pleased to find that our fears were unfounded.” He said, beaming at his only son. “I’m looking forward to teaching you, as I’m sure your mother is as well. Of course, there are things you will have to find out on your own.”

“Like what?” he asked curiously.

“There are some things that only come by accident or from need,” his mother interjected, “some things you can’t control. Sometimes it feeds of your emotions, and you’ll find you’ve done something incredible, or,” she looked at her father knowingly, “terrible, that you didn’t even intend, and the more powerful the emotion the bigger the reaction, so you have to be careful with that as well.”

“So when can I start learning?” he asked eagerly. He couldn’t wait to start, to find out what he could do.

“Well let’s start by wishing you a happy birthday and you blowing out your candles,” said his mother brightly, with a big smile on her lips. She went into the kitchen and returned with a big birthday caked layered in chocolate icing, She set it down right in front of him. A chorus of happy birthday rang through the room and at the end he closed his eyes and thought of a wish.

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