Chapter 23

Sean picked up the video tape labeled intermission. When the credits finally rolled past, he stopped the VCR and popped out the Dr. No tape. He put in the intermission tape and hit play as quickly as possible. It was getting rather late for his mother to be honking the horn. He looked up as a film started a countdown to the end of intermission. It looked like something that had been made thirty years ago. Shaking his head, he said, “I wonder where she got this.”

He looked over and spotted his mother walking into the house with Mrs. Emery. The two women were giggling like giddy school girls. His Dad and Mr. Emery were in line at the concession stand. He glanced over at the intermission film and saw that there were nine minutes to go before the end of intermission. He headed over to help Suzie.

Suzie looked over at him when he arrived and said, “Could you fix two sodas? Regular and Diet.”

“Sure,” Sean said grabbing two cups from the stack.

Mr. Emery said, “My date gets real excited watching Sean Connery.”

“I know what you mean,” Sean’s dad said.

“I already got to first base,” Mr. Emery said.

“Same here,” Sean’s dad said nudging Mr. Emery with an elbow. He winked and said, “I’m hoping that she’ll go all the way tonight.”

“I know what you mean,” Mr. Emery said returning a similar wink and a nudge.

“Stop that! I can’t fix your popcorn and listen to you talking like that,” Suzie said with a horrified expression on her face.

“Why?” her father asked.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” Suzie answered.

“Six minutes to go,” Sean said glancing over at the intermission movie. He set the two drinks in the carry tray.

Mr. Emery said, “Hurry up. We need to be in the car before the movie starts.”

“I need two sodas: one regular and one diet. One box of popcorn,” Sean’s father said.

Mr. Emery said, “When those two ladies get out of the women’s room, why don’t you give them each a candy bar? Tell them that we wanted our sweets to have some sweets.”

“This is so wrong,” Suzie said shaking her head.

Nodding his head in agreement, Sean said, “It is sick; that is what it is. Sick, sick, sick.”

“What?” his father asked innocently.

“We’re helping our fathers to score with our mothers,” Sean said disgusted.

“Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it,” Sean’s father said.

Mr. Emery said, “Hey, don’t go giving that boy any ideas now.”

“Sorry,” Sean’s father said. Turning to Sean, he said, “Keep it in your pants son. I know it is hard, but use your willpower to resist those evil urges.”

“Listen to your father, son. He knows best,” Mr. Emery said.

Sean stared at his father while the soda overflowed the cup. Realizing his hand was getting wet, he pulled the cup away. Shaking his head, he said, “You’re talking to me like that after telling me about how you’re hoping to get lucky with my mother?”

“She’s not your mother; she’s my date,” his father answered.

Sean put the two sodas in the carry tray. Suzie handed him the box of popcorn. He put it on the tray with the sodas and said, “Here you go.”

“Can we ban them from the concession stand?” Suzie asked after they had stepped away from the table.

“I don’t know,” Sean answered staring at the two men heading back towards their cars. He was thankful that Lily was over with the Dwarves.

His attention returned to Suzie when she said, “Those two fellows wanted you to have some candy.”

“Oh really,” Sean’s mother said while accepting a candy bar from Suzie.

“That’s so nice of them. Did they say why?” Mrs. Emery asked holding up her candy bar.

Suzie grimaced and said, “Sweets for their sweets.”

“Isn’t that adorable?” Sean’s mother said. She used the same little squeal when saying the word, ‘adorable, ‘ that women use when talking about a cute baby.

“It is. It really is,” Mrs. Emery said.

“How should we thank them?” Sean’s mother asked.

Wiggling her eyebrows, Mrs. Emery said, “We’re going to have to do something really nice for them.”

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Sean’s mother asked with a smile.

Smiling, Mrs. Emery turned to Suzie and asked, “Have you got any napkins back there? He gets so messy sometimes when he’s eating popcorn. You just have to rub and rub and rub and then suddenly you have a bigger mess than what you started with.”

“I could use some too,” Sean’s mother said.

“This is so wrong,” Suzie said looking at the pair of women.

“I want to die. Kill me now,” Sean said.

Suzie handed over two bunches of napkins to the mothers. Sean’s mother said, “Oh, look. Intermission is almost over.”

Sean looked at the screen and then ran over to the VCR to change the video tape. He had just reached it when he heard his mother scream, “Ahh!”

“Ahh!” Mrs. Emery screamed a fraction of a second later.

Sean looked over to see two screaming women pointing at Liam. The Leprechaun, deciding that it was some kind of new greeting, screamed, “Ahh!”

Sean’s mother screamed, “Who are you?”

“Who are you?” Liam screamed back.

“I asked first!”

“I asked second!”

Just as the fathers arrived on the scene, Lily said, “Hi, Mom. This is Liam. He’s a Leprechaun.”

Sean’s mother looked down at the little man for a second. She looked over at Mrs. Emery for a second. She looked back down at Liam. In a very conversational tone of voice, she asked, “Did I understand correctly that you are a Leprechaun?”

“That’s right,” Liam answered straightening the collar of his green suit coat.

Mrs. Emery looked at Sean’s mother and, in a very soft voice, said, “I seem to remember a story or two about Leprechauns.”

“Same here,” Sean’s mother said.

“Are you real Leprechaun?” Mrs. Emery asked.

“Yes,” Liam said. He looked from woman to woman feeling very uncomfortable all of a sudden. He noticed the two men standing behind him. He muttered, “Why is it that I suddenly feel like a worm surrounded by robins?”

“Get him!” Mrs. Emery shouted as she reached for the little man dressed in green. As if by telepathy, Sean’s mother was making her move on Liam as well.

Liam was long gone by the time either woman reached where he had been standing. Sean turned to Suzie and said, “He sure can move.”

“I didn’t even see him leave,” Suzie said nodding her head. She hadn’t seen Sean arrive either.

Looking around wildly, Sean’s mother asked, “Where did he go?”

Lily stamped her foot and said, “You scared him away.”

Patting Lily on the head, Sean’s mother said, “Don’t worry Lily, we’ll get him tomorrow.”

“You’re right. There’s a James Bond film to watch tonight,” Mrs. Emery said.

“A woman must have her priorities,” Sean’s mother said.

“Are you okay?” Sean’s father asked.

“I’m fine. Well, I’m a little disappointed. Actually, I’m a lot disappointed, but I’ll get over it when I catch the little fellow,” Sean’s mother answered.

Mr. Emery asked, “How about you?”

“The only thing that could me feel better is a little James Bond,” Mrs. Emery said.

Grinning, Sean pointed at the screen and said, “The film has started.”

His words sparked a mad dash to the cars. Suzie commented, “They weren’t that fast when they went after Liam.”

Lily said, “You’re right.”

Sean said, “I would say that the introduction to the magic folks went well.”

“Yes, it did,” Suzie said. She ate a piece of popcorn out of the corn popper.

Lily tugged on Sean’s shirt and said, “I’m tired. Can I go to sleep in my bed or do I have to go to the car?”

“I’d say that you could go to your bed,” Sean said smiling down at his little sister. It was way past her normal bedtime.

Lily said, “Good night.”

“Good night,” Suzie said.

“Do you want me to tuck you in?” Sean asked.

“No, I have to act like a big girl now that I’ve become an orphan,” Lily said with a sigh.

“Get in your pajamas. I’ll come to your room in a couple of minutes,” Sean said patting her on the head.

“Thanks, Sean,” Lily said smiling up at him.

After Lily went into the house, Suzie said, “You sure are good with her.”

“She’s a neat kid,” Sean said shrugging his shoulders.

“You’ll make a great father someday,” Suzie said. The idea of him being a good father excited her a lot more than the idea of him knowing his way around the kitchen.

“Do you think so?”

“Yes,” Suzie said. She leaned over to kiss him.

There was a slight clearing of a throat. Sean looked down and said, “Hello, Chom.”

“Hello Sean,” Chom said.

Suzie said, “I’m a little surprised that you interrupted us. I thought you were waiting for him to catch me.”

“To tell the truth, there was a lot more catching going on during that last play than we’ve seen you two engage in,” Chom said.

Suzie rolled her eyes and said, “I’m sorry we’re such a disappointment to you.”

“Don’t be sorry. We’ll be more than happy to watch you after the play is over,” Chom said.

“Thank you,” Sean said glancing over at Suzie. She didn’t look amused. He asked, “Until that time, what can we do for you?”

“We need some more of those wonderful beverages and boxes of food,” Chom said.

“How many?” Suzie asked.

“The fairies are still working on their first beverage. I guess six of each,” Chom answered.

“Liam left,” Sean said.

“He’ll be back,” Chom said waving a hand in a dismissive manner.

“Okay,” Suzie said.

Looking back at the house, Sean said, “Can you handle this? I should go tuck Lily into bed.”

“Go ahead,” Suzie said smiling at him.

Sean entered Lily’s bedroom and found that she was in bed. He sat down on the edge of her bed and asked, “Did you have a good time tonight, Lily?”

“Yes, I did. I really like the fairies,” Lily said smiling up at Sean.

“They are kind of cute, aren’t they?” Sean said.

Lily giggled and said, “They said you were a pervert.”

“They did, did they?”

Nodding her head, Lily said, “Rose said you checked out her naked body.”

“How did that topic of conversation come up?” Sean asked. He was pretty sure that Rose wasn’t going around telling everyone that he checked out her body.

“She caught me looking at her,” Lily answered looking a little embarrassed.