An Enchanted Season Part 29

"A BUDDHIST, A MUSLIM, AND A REFORM JEW," MIKE stated with a laugh as he escorted his friends out to their car. "We sound like the start of a bad joke-hey, maybe I can come up with the rest of it?"

Bella snapped her fingers. A length of pipe materialized midair, just in time for their friend to walk into it with a bonk. "There's your 'rest of it.'"

Ca.s.sie giggled, watching Mike grimace and dissolve the apparition with a snap of his own fingers.

"Very funny, Balthazzar. Watch it, or I'll sic a camel on you!"

"No, thank you." Bella shuddered. "I still remember the trouble we had with them, and the delay we suffered over two thousand years ago."

"Me, too," Ca.s.sie agreed. "I much prefer modern conveniences."

Bella nodded. "Well. Next time, I think I'll be a female Baptist. You, Melchior?"

"I was thinking a female Pagan. Caspar?" Mike asked their third member.

"Greek Orthodox. And I want to be a man next time. Where are we going, anyway?" Ca.s.sie asked him.

Pulling out his electronic notebook, Mike consulted it with a few taps from the stylus. "Argentina. A city called Rosario, which is located on the western banks of the Rio Parana, at the edge of the State of Santa Fe. We'll be looking for a dance instructor, and the arrival of his long-lost childhood sweetheart."

"Sounds like fun." Peering all around them, Ca.s.sie gestured at their snow-dusted car. The wind was still blowing, but only lightly this time. The blizzard she had arranged was now over. "No one is watching. Shall we just go?"

"I don't feel like driving, so why not?" Bella shrugged.

All three laid their hands on the vehicle. It vanished with a soft white glow. Mike held out his hand to the two ladies. "See you in six months, then?"

"At the next winter solstice," Bella agreed with a smile, reaching to shake his proffered hand. Ca.s.sie, never one to stand on formality, pulled both of them into a group hug, making her friends laugh. Like the car, they vanished in a soft glow of light. The wind stirred for a moment, swirling rapidly through the parking lot. It covered their tracks, obscuring the fact that the VW Bug hadn't backed out or driven away, then gentled back down into a winter zephyr, stirring only a few flakes here and there.

From somewhere within the church, the strains of the "Wedding March" could be heard all the way out by the parking lot...had anyone been outside to hear them.

end.