Enough!

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

It had been a day that tried Gwendolyn’s patience. Nothing significant, but the death by a thousand little cuts kind of annoyances. When did people decide to just stop common courtesy? Gwendolyn’s personal theory ties the lack to the emergence of Smart Phones and the ubiquitous addiction to them that followed. Earlier she had decided to park in front of her building with the intention of making a trip to the grocery store in an hour or so. She had her dog with her fresh from his bath and she didn’t like leaving him to wait in the car or she would have stopped off before going home.

At the pet supply store no one was using the tubs…at first. She was about five minutes into Shadow’s bath when shrieking erupted from the front of the store. “My word!,” she murmured to her dog, “Is someone dying?” Before long a woman and her son entered the bath area…the victim was a rather overweight Labrador mix who sounded more like a howling monkey than a big dog. Gwendolyn tried to make polite small talk, but the dog continued to scream at a level that could shatter glass. Per the woman, this was just how he was and wasn’t the least bit embarrassed or apologetic.

So she was already well into her mood when she pulled up behind a car that had its back end hanging over into her space by a good twelve inches. “What is wrong with people?” she asked her dog. “Honestly! If it were up to me, they’d get a $500 parking ticket for failure to stay between the lines!” she grumbled, “And they’d tow them as well!”

When she went to park in her lot after shopping and had to squeeze her car into the spot because another driver couldn’t mind the white lines either, something snapped.

She marched into her building, greeted her dog, and put away her groceries. She found her old Polaroid camera still with some film loaded up, took one of her late husband’s golf clubs from the back of the closet, and informed Shadow she would be right back.

As she stepped out into the courtyard she paused and closed her eyes. She hadn’t conjured up one of her spells in quite some time. It took a moment to remember the correct words, she chanted the Latin and waved the golf club in a circle over her head until she vanished. She was still there in front of her building, but a passerby would only see a strange shimmer of light where she was standing.

She proceeded to the parking lot. She snapped a photo of the misparked car and placed it in her pocket. Given the position of the vehicles her easiest target was the back window. She positioned herself and swung the club with all her strength. The glass shattered in a most satisfactory way. A car alarm pierced the air. She took the photo out of her pocket. The image of the back end of the car clearly crossing the designated white line was coming into view. With a grim smile she tossed it through the broken window and watched as it fluttered to the back seat.

She turned and gasped, startled by the presence of a man across the street, momentarily forgetting she was essentially invisible. He was standing there slack jawed, staring at the car where the window seemed to have imploded for no reason. He kept adjusting his glasses because the golf club was not as invisible as she was and to his nearsighted eyes he thought he had seen something hovering in the air behind the car.

Gwendolyn stuck her tongue out at him and quietly giggled a bit wickedly. She walked down the block to avoid the stranger and made it back home. Shadow stared at the door opening with no one there…he smelled his Gwen…he let out a low growl as he cocked his head to the side. “What’s the matter with you?” she asked causing the dog to bolt to the other room. “Oh, of course,” and she recited the reversal spell before calling to her dog to calm him down.