Unpredictable Magic Flash Fiction - Part II

This is part two of Chuck Wendig’s Flash Fiction Challenge – 200 Words at a Time Part Two (http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2013/11/29/flash-fiction-challenge-200-words-at-a-time-part-two/).   This is a round-robin fiction writing exercise where the first person writes 200 words, a second person takes those 200 words and adds another 200 for a total of 400, and then a third person will take those 400 and add on another 200 of his/her own and so forth until the end of the year.  I took J.D. Fitch’s 199 words and added a total of 206 of my own.  Here is the story so far:   

JDFitch:

God, how she hated dance music. Tony blared that crap every day at work, and after four years, she couldn’t take it anymore. Most had their I-phones or mp3’s and earbuds to stuff in their heads. The rest of them had to suffer. Her fist smashed the bread dough with a vengeance. One fist beat the soft, yeasty mass over and over.

“Screw this.” [Gloria] reached and ‘touched’ the electric plug that asshole’s antique radio was plugged into. Sparks crackled from the outlet, the acrid smell of burnt plastic ripped across the room.

“Judas Priest!” The sift super rushed over and yanked the cord from the wall. “Tony, this piece of crap is gone. You understand me? Three times in one week? Burn it, burn your own house down, but keep it out of my bakery.” Allen rammed the offending device into Tony’s chest before stalking off.

Gloria could not help the smile that crossed her lips. Then common sense took over. Shit.Why did magic have to be so unpredictable? Two years, and she still could not predict the outcomes, not like her teacher. Who would no doubt taste the magic in the air around her.

Life sucked chunks.

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She had to be more careful or else be caught by the Authorities.  They might taste the magic she leaked after tweaking the radio. 

Most kids were screened by preschool to see whether they had talent – somehow Gloria had been missed.  

Good thing Claudia had seen her magician’s performance at a child’s birthday party.  Everything had gone wrong that day – instead of a rabbit, she pulled a python out of the hat.  Of course, the party had been for boys, so that went over well.  But it didn’t go over with the parents when her bra and panties had pulled out of her sleeve along with the handkerchiefs.  Not sure how that happened. 

Claudia had tasted the taint and offered to tutor her if she promised to stop playing magician. 

Gloria needed to control herself first if she wanted to control the magic.  Otherwise, some Telemage would catch a whiff and she would be slammed into a Control Chair.  Then some Docmage would fry out her brain section that created magic – and they weren’t too careful about what else was around, like body functions or reasoning.  She didn’t want to spend the rest of her life drooling in the corner of a closed ward, finger-painting. 

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