A Little Thing Called Magic 1

"Robin?! I got your call so I rushed over here at the sound barrier!"

Dick looks to me as my Uncle Barry announces his arrival, silently checking me and my friend over with his eyes then nodding in approval. I suck in a breath and fidget slightly, the little friend in my criss-crossed lap giving me a look similar to Dick's. I puff out my chest in preparation as I see Uncle Barry step into the room and notice me.

"WALLY! OH MY GOD YOU'RE OKAY-- what is that thing in your lap?" He begins to rush at me in a flood of relief, then stops abruptly once he notices my little friend.

"It's a cat. You learn about them in kindergarten." I wise crack as I normally do to relieve tension.

Uncle Barry raises an eyebrow at me in suspicion, "Why do you have a cat in your lap and have decided to mysteriously reappear after having mysteriously disappeared for a couple days?"

"Uh, because the cat is my friend and I figured it'd be nice to let you know I'm alive so you'd stop worrying?" I look to Dick to make sure I've answered correctly. He nods at me and my cat friend mews adorably, copying my tactic of trying to relieve tension no doubt.

Uncle Barry further elevates his eyebrows at the cat and it tilts his head at him with large, pleading green eyes and a cheeky grin. Uncle Barry sighs in defeat at the adorable sight and pats the cat's head. The cat rubs its head into his palm and Uncle Barry looks up at me in all seriousness, "Talk. Why do you have this cat and where have you been that you dropped off the grid?"

I take a deep breath and scratch the back of my neck, "I dunno... I doubt you'll believe me when I tell you." He narrows his eyes in annoyance at my dodging of the question and I exhale, "Fine... but if you don't believe me, I won't blame you. Rob knows it's true, at least."

Dick nods and affirms my statement, "Yeah. So does all of the team, really. Even Roy."

"Yeah! Even Roy!" I nod a few times rapidly and Uncle Barry sits back into a chair.

"Just tell me already." He rubs his temple in exasperation already, knowing some crazy story is coming his way. I mean, nothing ordinary ever happens to me. Fact of life.

"Okay, well..." I chew on my lip in hesitation and he stares right at me impatiently. I sigh and begin the story, "Well, I'm glad you're sitting, because this is one loooong tale... literally..."

------

"You know Wally, if you continue to eat ice cream as regularly as you do, you'll become what you eat. At least, that's how the saying goes..." Dick informs me as we walked down the sidewalk in the summer heat. We are each holding an ice cream cone; his mint chocolate chip (of course) and mine vanilla; and were licking them intermittently as we chattered. Okay so, maybe mine is like a triple decker cone and I was licking up a storm, but that's beside the point.

"Dick my man, you have to realize that I'm already crazy popular, super sweet, and hot girls can li--"

"Ew. Wally." He cuts me off with a raise of his free hand, "You go ahead and eat all you want, just don't go there."

I smirk in triumph and squash some more of the vanilla scoop in my mouth. I smack my lips before continuing, "Besides--" I wipe my mouth with my index and middle fingers, "You know how demanding my metabolism is in order to keep my body in tip top condition."

He rolls his eyes behind his sunglasses, "Sure, dude. You keep telling yourself that in order to feel less guilty about your addiction to sugar products."

"Sugar products are better than a lot of the other stuff out there and you have to admit, the ladies love a sweet guy." I wink at a couple of babes as they pass by.

Dick jabs my side with his elbow, causing me to teeter back, "Hey!"

The chicks laugh over their shoulder at me and I stab Dick with eye daggers. "Sorry man, but we have to keep that attitude of yours in check." He scoffs at me and continues onward without waiting for me.

I huff at him and go to lick my cone again when I notice the number of scoops has decreased in the last second. I blink in confusion then look around, noticing a couple of them had splattered on the pavement. "Agh, duuude..." I whine at him, "Look at what you did!"

He stops to look for a split second then gives his own cone a quick lick, "Karma. Even the universe is telling you not to ingest so much junk."

I glare at him pointedly then squat down next to the mess, "Sucks, it was good too."

I poke the melting mush with my finger and he blinks at me, "You're not thinking of licking that are you?" I roll my eyes at him then notice something enter my peripheral vision. I look back at the ice cream mess to see a little paw poking at the ice cream in the same sort of curiosity that I had.

An average sized tom cat is sitting across from me on the other side of the ice cream, prodding at the mess interestedly. He raises his sticky paw up to his nose awkwardly and sniffs the melty ice cream smeared on his paw pad. My mouth hangs open as I gape at this cat as he experimentally licks his paw then 'mrrows' in satisfaction. I roll my eyes up to Dick and he is making the same awe struck expression that I am. The cat goes to lap up the ice cream but some how senses the shocked atmosphere and glances at each of us in turn quizzically.

"Dude, this cat is..." I begin then Dick finishes, "... a lot like you, man." I furrow my eyebrows and am about to protest when the cat notices some more girls about to walk by and scampers over to them. He meows in greeting at them and they coo at him and pat his head. My jaw practically touches the ground and my eyes become as big as my dinner plate as the cat looks straight at me as if to brag.

"What is with that cat?!" I exclaim and Dick shrugs since he's equally baffled.

"I don't know, dude!" He kneels down next to me and the cat hops back over. The tom looks at each of us with a brazen twinkle in his eye then bends down to lap up the melting ice cream. His tail flicks back and forth mockingly and I take personal offense. I mean, who wouldn't! I'm getting muscled aside by an alley cat!

My face heats up in irritation and I reach out to pull the cat's tail when Dick grabs my wrist to stop me. I'm about ready to continue my streak of dirty looks at him when he says, "Dude. It's just a cat. Calm down."

"Just a cat?! This mutt is mocking me!" I snap my wrist away from him and replace it at my side, all while giving the cat a dirty look. The cat looks up at me and meows in amusement, its ice cream dripping whiskers bobbing. I point at the cat square at its nose and am about to yell at it when Dick cuts me off yet again.

"Dude, take a good look at this cat." He murmurs with a worried expression. I pause to give the cat a look over and my own irritated expression softens in compassion. The poor animal is unhealthily scrawny, its ribs visible in either side of its body. His white and brown splotchy fur is matted and dirty, with tuffs missing here and there. One of its ears has a gash in it, dried blood caked in the wound as if it had recently healed. It looks up at us with its big, emerald eyes and blinks, wondering why our demeanor has changed.

Dick sighs, giving in and patting the cat's head. The cat's mouth curves in a smile and his body vibrates from purring. I smile slightly at the cat's ability to be happy even while in such a state and look at the cone in my other hand. I sigh and offer it out to the cat, "Here you go buddy."

Dick glances at me with eyes slightly wide in shock, seeing as he's the only other person I'd ever relinquish my precious food to; especially something like ice cream. The cat glimpses up at me with gratitude then laps at the ice cream in my cone. I rest my cheek against my knuckles and lament over the loss of my sweets. Dick puts his hand on my shoulder and smiles at me, "That's really nice of you Wally."

I roll my eyes and grin, "Gee, thanks bro." The cat finishes up the ice cream in the cone and passes its tongue over its cheeks to wipe up his messy face. I throw the empty cone into a trash can and lightly tap the top of the cat's head once, "You take care of yourself, mutt."



The cat dips its head and Dick nods in agreement. The cat meows at us then scurries away down a shady side street. We watch it go for a minute until Dick lightly socks my shoulder to turn my attention away, "We should get back."

I nod and peek over my shoulder one last time to check down the side street, shrugging and turning back once I see the cat has slipped out of sight.

------

"Little did I know at the time that that mutt would save my life." I stroke the cat's side in thanks. The cat beams at me with one of its tiny kitty smiles then flashes it at Dick and Uncle Barry. Dick reaches over from his seat next to me to scratch behind the cat's ear. Uncle Barry has rested his chin in his hands restlessly, not one for sitting around and listening (not that I am either).

He lowers one of his hands to the table to tap his fingers, "That still doesn't explain why you were missing for so long."

"Right..." I shy my gaze down to the cat and mutter, "Do you... believe in magic, Uncle Barry?" He raises an incredulous eyebrow at me as his answer. "You know how I got the Doctor Fate helmet after that one mission?" He nods in response, remaining quiet so that I have to keep on talking. "Well, I told you about it, I know that, with the magic and everything and how I fought that witch boy with the cat."

"Klarion." Dick adds in to help me out a little, as I'm unusually nervous being on the spot like this. But then again, it's not every day that you tell your superior something as crazy as what I'm going to have to say now. Uncle Barry and I nod in unison at the recognition of the witch boy's name and the cat adjusts itself in my lap to rub against me in unspoken support.

"Right." I continue to pet the cat slowly and it purrs reassuringly, "Well... I had a little run in with him and... would you believe that... I got turned into a cat?"